San Francisco Frontiers - Meghan faces difficult return to the UK

Through bombshell interviews and tell-all documentaries, the 45-year-old former American actress has never hidden how difficult she found things after her fairytale wedding to Harry in 2018.

And both she and Harry have complained about her treatment by the British media which Harry told a court this year made her life "an absolute misery".

"I think there's more questions sort of over her and how she re-adapts to the life back in the United Kingdom" than about Harry, said historian Ed Owens.

How she will cope "is difficult to answer at this stage because you know she's tried successively over the last six years to reinvent her public image to relaunch her brand", he added.

Deeply attached to his charitable work and keen for his children to build closer ties with his family, King Charles III's younger son has retained strong ties to Britain.

But for Meghan, things appear more complicated. What will she do away from her sunny Californian base where she is clearly more at home?

Their surprise move back to the UK -- six years after triggering a storm by quitting their royal duties -- has reportedly in part come about because Meghan, who had a starring part in the US show "Suits", has been offered an acting role in a UK-based production.

The news was broken by Australian news website news.com.au and was not denied by a spokesperson for the couple contacted by AFP.

Experts believe Meghan is likely to focus primarily on family life, particularly her children Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five.

In past interviews she has acknowledged that she enjoys doing the daily school run for example.

The two kids have already been enrolled at a British school and the couple have already reportedly chosen a new home.

- 'Destroy me' -

In the United States however, her prospects appeared to have dimmed following the end of her Netflix deal for her lifestyle and cookery show "With Love, Meghan".

A film made late last year is set to be released soon in which she has a brief cameo appearance playing herself.

And during a trip to Australia she made a guest appearance on an episode of "MasterChef Australia".

"If Meghan decided tomorrow that she seriously wanted to act again, directors and producers would absolutely want to meet her and audition her," talent manager Jonathan Shalit, chairman of InterTalent Rights Group, told the Press Association news agency.

But in Britain, Meghan remains deeply unpopular. According to a YouGov poll released in late July, 65 percent of Britons hold an unfavourable view of her.

Following their bombshell departure, Harry and Meghan publicly denounced her treatment at the hands of Britain's powerful press.

"Truth be told, no matter how hard I tried, no matter how good I was, no matter what I did, they were still going to find a way to destroy me," Meghan said in a 2022 Netflix documentary.

The media had initially welcomed her arrival as a breath of fresh air for the royal family, sometimes known as the "Firm", steeped in centuries of tradition.

But she swiftly fell out of favour, with the tabloid press carrying reports portraying her as demanding and unwilling to accept the constraints that came with the privileges of royal life.

Her ventures are still regularly mocked, including her lifestyle and food products brand, As Ever.

- Lingering tensions -

Since leaving Britain, Meghan barely returned, notably for Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in June 2022 and for the late monarch's funeral later that year.

Last month she joined Harry and their two children for a short holiday during which they met Charles and Queen Camilla, a visit widely viewed as a sign that relations may be thawing.

Yet her return risks bringing back into focus "the conflicts and issues that originally caused their departure", including accusations of racism, said Nathalie Weidhase, a media specialist at the University of Surrey.

There are also lingering family tensions exacerbated by Harry's 2023 memoir "Spare".

In the book, Harry accused his brother William and William's wife Catherine of being unwelcoming towards Meghan complicating her integration into the royal family.

In an interview with US television host Oprah Winfrey, Meghan also alleged that a member of the royal family had raised questions about the skin colour of her unborn child.

But royal expert Owens said the family was "not coming back for another fight with the wider royal family, that's not their purpose here.

"They want stability for their family ... stability for their children".

M.Powell--SFF