Aug. 6, 2026
Meghan’s Birthday Dance Is Mocked as Palace “Divorce Plan” Rumors Explode
Meghan Markle celebrates her forty-fifth birthday with tiaras, dancing, pool jumps and another round of online criticism. Plus: the Royal Family’s birthday silence is explained, tabloids claim the Palace has discussed a hypothetical Sussex divorce, and Mark Dolan responds after being condemned by Harry and Meghan.
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Palace Intrigue is a daily British royal family podcast covering King Charles, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Kate Middleton and the House of Windsor. New episodes every day. Follow on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen. Part of the Caloroga Shark Media network.
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Caloroga Shark Media. Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I
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am your host, Mark Francis. To mark a forty fifth birthday,
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the Duchess of Sussex shared a series of lighthearted videos
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on Instagram showing celebrations at home with Prince Harry and
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their family. One clip shows Megan dancing around the kitchen
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wearing a tiara and a white T shirt reading it's
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giving missus, while Harry films from behind the camera. As
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Meghan twirls around the room. Harry can be heard laughing
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before offering a two word reaction, oh dear. Critics on
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social media accused Meghan of borrowing another familiar idea. Some
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online newsers claimed her birthday dance resembled a video Victoria
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Beckham shared from a family holiday in Canada in twenty
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twenty four. One user post of the clips side by
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side on x, prompting a wave of reactions. The account
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Fashionista Ara wrote, not only did Megan copied Diana's jumping
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into the water pose with jewelry, but now she's happily
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copying the Beckhams dance. Another user wrote, I'm convinced that
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she's doing it so she's mocked, and then she cries,
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I'm the most troll person. The video then shifts to
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a birthday breakfast spread of Bagel's cream, cheese and tomatoes,
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before Meghan takes over filming duties to capture the family's dogs,
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beagle Mega and black labrador Boolah, wearing party hats. As
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the dogs refuse to cooperate, Harry can be heard saying
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oh dear once again before the couple give up on
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the hats. Earlier in the day, Meghan posted two black
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and white photographs of herself jumping into a swimming pool
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while holding birthday balloons. Alongside the images, she wrote simply
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thank you for the birthday love. One social media user wrote,
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who posts happy birthday to themselves? The neediness is embarrassing.
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Others focused on Meghan's accessories, pointing out that she appeared
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to be wearing dark sunglasses along with several pieces of
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jewelry as she jumped into the pool. One critic asked,
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who jumps into a pool wearing sunglasses and expensive gold jewelry? Another,
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nothing she does is spontaneous. Radar Online also reports that
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some critics compared the birthday photos to iconic images of
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Princess Diana wearing a black one piece swimsuit, arguing that
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the resemblance was intentional. Similar comparison's surface last month, after
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Meghan posted vacation photos from Europe wearing a black backless
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swimsuit that some online commentists said reminded them of Diana's
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famous beach photographs, Radar noted that Meghan took a similar
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approach on her forty fourth birthday, posting a solo photo
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of itself blowing out birthday candles, even though she later
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revealed she had celebrated with Prince Harry, friends and family
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at a Beverly Hills restaurant. Meanwhile, her lifestyle brand as
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Ever also marked the occasion with a birthday tribute, writing
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happy birthday to our founder Megan, before adding lighting number
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eight four to celebrate. One thing that didn't happen was
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a public birthday message from the Royal family. Some outlets
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quickly described the silence as a snub, but Royal commentator
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on Sykes explains two page six birthday wishes to appro
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its citizen would be sent privately. There's absolutely no way
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anything will be put on social media feeds or anything
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like that. Roe commentator Kinsey Schofield made much the same points,
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saying the royal family has consistently reserved official birthday wishes
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for working royals, and Harry, Meghan and the children haven't
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been included in that policy for several years. Palace officials
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would tell you it's protocol, not personal, Sikes believe. Sikes
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believes King Charles would almost certainly have acknowledged the occasion privately.
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The King is scrupulously The King is a scrupulously polite man,
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and I'm quite certain he would wish to send his
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daughter in law his birth the wishes. Schofield agreed that
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a private gesture would be in character for the King.
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Charles has always had a compassionate streak, and despite everything
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that's happened, he has rarely gone out of his way
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to be overtly unkind toward Meghan. A discreet gesture would
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be entirely in keeping with his character. The outlook is
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rather different when it comes to the Prince and Princess
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of Wales. Sikes said, I don't think they will be
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expecting any from Prince William and Catherine. A blind item
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here as we put the show together, we are seeing
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a lot of chatter this week about a prince, a
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mistress and a divorce. We're only seeing these rumors in
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what we consider minor and gossipy sites, but the chatter
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is around. Radar Online's headline is Inside the Palace's secret
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divorce plan if Prince Harry and Meghan Michael call it quits.
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The report, which relies entirely on unnamed sources, claims Pallace
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officials are discussing contingency plans as Harry spends more time
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in rebuilding ties with his family while Meghan remains committed
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to life in California. Radar's source claims the Palace may
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be quietly drawing up contingency plans in the event of
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a split. The same source alleges that Meghan has no
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interest in returning to live in Britain alongside Harry, but
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Meghan won't want to come back from the US and
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that schism is potentially dangerous. Radar also claims that in
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this hypothetical scenario, Meghan would be allowed to continue using
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the Duchess of Sussex title. According to unnamed sources, the
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agreement would also grant Meghan the continued use of a
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Duchess of Sussex title. The Palace sees it as a
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face saving measure because tearing it away from her could
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spark im media war. The report goes on to suggest
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that King Charles is hoping the Sussex marriage succeeds rather
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than fails. The unnamed source tells Radar this isn't about
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trying to come between Harry and Meghan. In fact, contrary
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to what a lot of people might think, King Charles
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is actually rooting for them. He wants Harry to know
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that if he ever reaches a point where he's overwhelmed
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or confused, there's no judgment waiting for him. He'll be
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there to listen and offer whatever wisdom he can. Ultimately,
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all Charles wants is for Harry to be happy, but
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he also wants him to face whatever lies ahead with
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his eyes wide open. He doesn't want Harry to bury
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his head in the sand and pretend everything's fine if
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it isn't. More than anything, Charles wants Harry to know
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he doesn't have to shoulder this all alone. For now,
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this topic remains firmly in the category of reported tabloid
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speculation rather than established royal news or palace. In just
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a moment, broadcaster Mark Dolan says he has been subjected
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to a wave of online abuse after representatives for Arian
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Meghan publicly condemned comments he made about the couple. The
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dispute began after Dolan appeared on royal commentator Tom Sykes podcast,
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where he discussed what he saw as the long term
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future of the Sussex family within the monarchy. Afterward, Harrian
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Meghan's representatives issued a statement saying they were disgusted by
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Dolan's remarks. Speaking on the Daily Expresso podcast, Dolan said
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the reaction had taken a personal toll. It's been an
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extraordinary experience. It's been devastating, it's been horrific. It's been
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a white knuckle riot. It's been unsettling, it's been disturbing,
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and it's been deeply wrong. The journalist never wants to
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be the story. What we do is gather information, exercise
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our judgment and share our thoughts with readers and viewers.
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That's our job. Dolan insists his comments were about the future,
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not about Prince Archie or Princess Lilibet as children. I
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literally said teenagers and then clarified by saying young adults.
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This is not Dolan beating up on a five years
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I'm talking about the future the royal family. According to Dolan,
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the Sussex's representatives mischaracterized what he had said. They've twisted
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it to create the impression that somehow I've attacked young children,
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and it's not true. I've been attacked by the Sussex
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squad before online. It's horrible. They are relentless. Despite that,
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he urged his own supporters not to retaliate. I'm a
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free speech absolutist. Don't go after these people. Let's not
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be the way they are. They can take the low
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road or take the high road. Dolan also rejected the
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suggestion that his criticism was driven by personal dislike of
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the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. No, what I don't
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like is their behavior. I don't like people who lie,
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and I don't like people who attack others for personal gain.
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And there you have it. If you'd like to email
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us addresses the palasintrig at gmail dot com. If you're
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on Spotify, leave us a comment. If you're on Apple,
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hit that button that says listen uninterrupted and it just
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five bucks a month. You get this show commercial free.
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I'm Mark Francis, My thanks to John mcdoomott. This is pallace,
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intrigue and good damn
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