‘Meghan’s an influencer, Sophie has real influence’: Royal expert’s damning verdict on Harry’s wife ‘wasting her potential’ on jam and rosé – while Duchess of Edinburgh visits war zones and champions women’s rights

Meghan Markle is a self-proclaimed feminist and vowed to continue her work for women’s advocacy even when she stepped down from official royal duties with Prince Harry. 

But since the launch of her Netflix series and lifestyle brand, As Ever, it’s another royal who was become synonymous with working tirelessly in the women’s rights realm, while Meghan’s public persona is all jam and flower sprinkles. 

Just last week, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, was at the Imperial War Museum to visit the UK’s first exhibition on the victims of sexual violence in conflict and gave an impassioned speech, where she spoke movingly about a visit she made to Kosovo in 2019 and the ‘shame and stigma’ of the rape survivors she met. 

Discussing the horror of the many women who fell pregnant by their attackers, she said: ‘The stigma that is sadly placed on the women….it’s about the mothers. In so many countries they can’t even go back into the home place.’

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told MailOnline that this is exactly the kind of hard-hitting advocacy work that could have allowed Meghan to flourish in the Royal Family given it’s so far removed from the ‘softer’ duties, involving cutting ribbons and shaking hands.

‘Meghan is struggling to be an influencer, Sophie has influence in ways that really matter, which Meghan could have been,’ he said. 

‘Meghan has always boasted about how she promotes feminism. 

‘Yet contrast the occasional speech she makes in comfortable surroundings with the remarkable work of Sophie who actually visits areas of the world such as Sudan and Chad which have been devastated by war and attempts to comfort the women who are victims of rape and exploitation.

Meghan is pictured on her Netflix show, which launched earlier this year alongside her range of As Ever lifestyle products. She is now planning to expand the brand by releasing her own rosé 

In recent years the King’s sister-in-law, who is married to his brother, Prince Edward, has travelled to current and former war zones including Chad, the Congo, Kosovo, South Chad, Lebanon and Sierra Leone (pictured)

‘If Meghan had seriously wanted to make a difference, she should surely have remained a senior working royal. 

‘It does involve compromise, but think what could have been achieved for an important cause she claims is so dear to her heart.’

He added that Meghan’s departure from frontline royal duties is a case of ‘wasted potential’, while Sophie has ‘proved she’s the Royal Family‘s champion of women’s rights‘

‘While Meghan sends pots of jam to celebrities, it is the Duchess of Edinburgh who meets survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and displaced women in a landmark visit to Ukraine,’ he said. 

In April last year, Sophie bravely denounced Putin’s forces for using rape as weapon of war as she became the first British royal to visit Ukraine since Russia‘s invasion in February 2022.

In 2015, before she began dating Prince Harry, Meghan gave a keynote address on gender equality for UN Women in New York. 

She received a standing ovation from guests including Ban Ki-moon, then UN secretary-general. 

Then in 2018, Meghan went off-script at the Royal Foundation Forum and spoke about women’s empowerment.

Sophie, 60, pictured at the Imperial War Museum with Waging Peace Co-Executive director Maddy Crowther, has spoken out on the issue for years and met hundreds of survivors around the world

Sophie bravely denounced Putin’s forces for using rape as weapon of war as she became the first British royal to visit Ukraine since Russia ‘s invasion in February 2022

But it was during the same visit that she was criticised for touching on the political issues of Time’s Up and #MeToo.

She said: ‘Women don’t need to find a voice because they have a voice, they need to be empowered to use it and people need to be encouraged to listen.’

Richard explained: ‘In her visits to Rwanda in 2016 and India in 2017 and in a memorable speech to the United Nations International Women’s Day Conference in 2015, she campaigned for equal opportunities. 

‘She stressed this in her visits to the Antipodes and South Africa when she and Harry were still senior working members of the royal family. 

‘This potential has surely been wasted since she and Harry stepped down from royal duties.’

When she first joined the Royal Family Meghan said she was committed to continuing her advocacy work in her new role. 

She said: ‘With fame comes opportunity, but it also includes responsibility – to advocate and share, to focus less on glass slippers and more on pushing through glass ceilings.’ 

She previously said it’s essential to use one’s voice to advocate for change and that ‘hashtags are not enough’. 

Meghan appears to have turned her focus to her reported $100million, five-year deal with Netflix

With Love, Meghan, features the Duchess’ insights on cooking, gardening, crafting, and hosting

This comes as it was reported that Meghan reportedly plans to add hotels and restaurants to her As Ever lifestyle brand after her raspberry preserve, flower sprinkles and crêpe mix quickly sold out.

Brand experts have claimed hotels and restaurants fit in nicely with the Duchess’ business brand.

Richard said: ‘Her handling of her lifestyle brand As Ever, is erratic, she apparently will be releasing more products contrary to her intention to step back after the first batch supposedly sold out. 

‘We await the second series of With Love, Meghan, filmed back to back with the first, with trepidation. 

‘Netflix seems on board for a part renewal of the contract with the Sussexes but how, one wonders, will that benefit the charitable causes that are supposedly so dear to her heart, especially when her family, with the exception of her mother, so distant and so publicly so.’

Most recently Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, has spoken passionately of her campaign to highlight the plight of victims of sexual violence in conflict.

Sophie, 60, has spoken out on the issue for years and met hundreds of survivors around the world.

The Duchess visited the UK’s first exhibition dedicated to the subject earlier this month at the Imperial War Museum in London.

The Duchess meets mothe planning and maternal care services to women 

Sophie stands alongside survivors of sexual violence in conflict from the Kosovo War and Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Survivor Champions in October 2019

The expert noted how the Duchess of Edinburgh, pictured at the Aberdeen Women’s Clinic in Freetown, has been tirelessly working in the women’s rights realm over the past few years 

The Duchess is pictured during a visit to the Kosovo Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims in Pristina

The exhibition, Unsilenced: Sexual Violence in Conflict, will run until November 2.

Featuring shocking stories ranging from the First World War until the present day, the royal expressed her frustration as she toured the displays at the way the issue is still swept under the carpet – and the cultural norms that give rise to the degradation of women even to this day.

It is a subject the Duchess – who was making her visit to the exhibition ahead of International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict on June 19 – says is woefully ‘under-discussed’.

In recent years the King’s sister-in-law, who is married to his brother, Prince Edward, has travelled to current and former war zones including Chad, the Congo, Kosovo, South Chad, Lebanon and Sierra Leone.

She has devoted much of her latter working life as a royal to supporting the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and is passionate about championing gender equality.

Shocking stories of the use of rape and sexual assault as a weapon of war against both women and men have emerged from the current conflict in Ukraine.

Meanwhile Meghan appears to have turned her focus to her reported $100million, five-year deal with Netflix.

In her most recent series, With Love, Meghan, the Duchess shares lifestyle and cookery tips such as how to perfectly cut a pineapple. 

The Duchess of Sussex also launched her new podcast series, Confessions of a Female Founder, which features interviews with female founders and friends about their experiences launching and building businesses.

The podcast aims to explore the successes and challenges faced by women in entrepreneurship.

Her previous podcast, Archetypes,  which aired on Spotify in 2022, explored the labels and stereotypes that hold women back.

The series featured interviews with notable figures like Serena Williams, Mariah Carey, and Paris Hilton.

While successful in its first season, the podcast did not get renewed for a second season, and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Spotify deal was terminated.