AMANDA PLATELL: The Royals are right to fear Meghan Markle’s next money-making scheme

After the universal derision heaped on her make-or-break Netflix series With Love, Meghan, my fear now is that Duchess of Sussex will go Spare… and write her own devastating book.

I’m admittedly no fan of the woman who is demanding to be called ‘Meghan Sussex’, but even I could not have predicted the tidal wave of mockery that swept the world following the release of her new show.

She’d put all her eggs in this basket; it was her last chance to redeem herself with Netflix after producing two flops for the streaming giant and with her and Harry’s $100million contract due to expire this year.

But Megs ended up with egg all over her face with a show that frankly became an international laughing stock overnight.

True, it still impressively hit number 7 in the Netflix charts this week. But I’d imagine for all the wrong reasons – people like to watch it because it’s so bad. And as for the second series that Meghan fans are hailing as proof of its success, that was filmed back-to-back with the first as a job lot.

Media insiders suggest Netflix isn’t too worried if the show is a monumental dud, or if Meghan is ridiculed from the US to the UK – because it all means With Love, Meghan is getting huge publicity and that’s what matters.

Even the Hollywood bible Variety magazine, which had long been a staunch supporter of Meghan, savaged the show, saying: ‘With Love, Meghan is made with a great deal of love – in the sense that the greatest love of all is the love that a person has for oneself.’

Adding that it was a ‘Montecito ego trip not worth taking’. Crikey, that must have hurt.

Hollywood bible Variety magazine, which had long been a staunch supporter of Meghan, savaged the show, cruelly denounced it saying: ‘With Love, Meghan is made with a great deal of love – in the sense that the greatest love of all is the love that a person has for oneself’

The Royals are desperate for Meghans’s show to succeed, as Daily Mail royal expert Richard Eden has said, it would mean ‘she and Harry would not need to exploit their royal connections again’

Tellingly there haven’t been any gushing tweets of sisterly solidarity from her so-called besties such as Serena Williams, Oprah Winfrey or Amal Clooney who were, of course, all cherished guests at her wedding.

As for Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace, there’s not been a word of encouragement from those quarters either. No kind words from William and Kate, just a stony silence.

The irony is that the Royals are desperate for Meg’s show to succeed. As my colleague, the royal expert Richard Eden has said, it would mean ‘she and Harry would not need to exploit their royal connections again’.

As it is, Mrs Sussex could be left high and dry in 2025 if Netflix pulls the plug. Where then would she go to harvest more millions?

To be fair, Meghan has presented many incarnations of herself, to try to get where she wants to be – ie. mega-rich and famous.

We’ve seen the sexy Suits actress. Then she was the glorious new girlfriend of Prince Harry who breathed fresh air into the stuffy old royals with their £32million wedding.

Next, we saw the victim, so abandoned by the Royal Family that she told us she had to make a resolution not just to ‘survive but strive’ and was forced to flee Britain and all its horribleness for a millionaires’ lifestyle in the US.

After that there was Meghan in her pomp with her hateful Oprah interview, and the couple’s one Netflix hit – the 2022 documentary series Harry & Meghan in which they denounced the royals again and again.

Tellingly there haven’t been any gushing tweets of sisterly solidarity from her so-called besties such as Serena Williams (pictured), a cherished guest at her wedding

Interspersed through all this was Meghan the feminist, Meghan the A-lister on the red carpet, Meghan the fighter for mental health issues, and Meghan the World Vision Global Ambassador in India campaigning for cleaner toilets for girls, and fighting for gender-equality in Africa – as well as the fearless fighter for clean water in Rwanda.

Now we have moved on to Meghan the home goddess, clean water available from every sparkling faucet in her borrowed home as she filmed With Love, Meghan. With no mention of the millions of women and girls in poverty-stricken countries she once championed, her advice to women today is to sprinkle cookies with flowers and put them in an ice-cube – that’s how to feel empowered girls!

Perhaps With Love, Meghan was an attempt to rekindle the days when she launched her successful lifestyle website The Tig (which she closed when she got engaged to Harry).

Perhaps With Love, Meghan is a cashmere comfort blanket, a desperate attempt to resurrect her career by returning to her warm and cosy roots.

Whatever the case, the Palace dearly hopes it will prove to be a ratings hit.

Because as one courtier speculated, if this venture fails, what other depths can she possibly plumb for profit, especially as it’s believed she kept a diary since joining the royals.

‘The last thing anyone wants is another Spare, this time from Meghan,’ said the courtier with deep apprehension.

Sadly, the failure of With Love, Meghan presents the monarchy with the terrifying thought of exactly that ‘TIGging’ Time Bomb. A vengeful book from the desperate Duchess of Drivel would be the worst form of royal revenge.