Duchess of Sussex should play Meghan in Act Two

When the Duchess of Sussex made wild claims about the royal family in her interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier this year, the Palace’s response of “recollections may vary” was an instant classic.

The phrase has even since entered the lexicon as a euphemism for serial truth-stretching. This week, Meghan herself proved how valuable the phrase was as she recalled being the source, after all, of unflattering accounts of her family that appeared in her unauthorised biography.

“I’m sorry I forgot”, she told Appeal Court judges in a privacy case, when her former aide revealed she had indeed instructed him to brief two writers about her relationship with her half-siblings and father, a row over the Queen’s tiara, and her and Prince Harry’s move to Windsor (not the castle, disappointingly, but a cottage in the grounds).

Her previous denial that there had been collaboration over the book “Finding Freedom” was blown apart by Jason Knauf, her then press secretary, who divulged details of a two-hour meeting he’d had with the authors following “helpful” emails from Meghan.

This in itself wouldn’t be surprising – why not put her side of the story – except for the fact that she’d been so adamant that she had not been involved in the book.

Meghan has gone to extraordinary lengths (including suing the Mail on Sunday) to fashion her public persona according to her idea of how a duchess might deport herself.

Crucial to this marketing masterclass is maintaining a dignified distance between her royal personage and scurrilous tabloid tittle-tattle about warring relatives.

But we now know, thanks to Knauf’s testimony, that the version of Meghan as a martyr is a false one. The spider has been caught in her own web, to paraphrase her estranged half-sister, Samantha Markle.

We also learnt that Meghan fully expected a “private” letter to her father to be seen by the press and had tailored its prose and content to that end.

“Obviously everything I’ve drafted is with the understanding that it could be leaked, so I have been meticulous in my word choice,” she said in a text to Knauf, which has been seized on by lawyers for Associated Newspapers seeking to show she had no right of privacy over the letter.

For her own good as well as ours, I think it’s time the real Meghan stood up: conniving conspirator settling old scores or loving daughter cruelly betrayed; haughty hypocrite or vulnerable victim.

With the appeal judges considering whether to send the case to trial, the Duchess will be agonising over how she is going to play this.

Some advice. It may not get her off the hook now, but for Act Two of her life, she should go for broke and embrace her inner diva. The innocent abroad act doesn’t ring true, and crafting an image at odds with reality has taken a toll on her credibility on the world stage.

Ever the actress, Meghan is used to convincing people some of the time, but it has been the most challenging role of her career. Even her performance with Oprah had audiences suspending disbelief. However, they might have sympathised with her former goldfish bowl existence at court.

If global adulation is the goal, Meghan can have that by being her authentic self. When she first burst on the royal scene as a straight-talking Californian soap star, she was warmly welcomed by a kindly public, hoping she was the one for Harry.

It was only when she began to strive for sainthood that we saw glimpses of Meghan the manipulator. She “self-sabotaged”, to quote that tricky sister again.

Meghan was the eco-warrior with a penchant for private planes; the fledgling member of the Firm who spoilt her otherwise successful trip to South Africa by turning the spotlight on her own problems (“no one asks me how I feel” she whinged to Tom Bradby against a backdrop of sub-Saharan poverty).

In America, without the support of seasoned royal staff, the gaffes have grown. In September, she and Harry appeared at a gig in New York calling for action on climate change before heading back to their Montecito mansion aboard another private jet.

The greater the sanctimony of Brand Sussex, the greater the risk of being caught out. It’s much better to harness money-grubbing ambition along with the Netflix contracts and commercial endorsements and go for world domination Hollywood style.

In Meghan’s US exile, there is respect for a royal bride who dumped hundreds of years of history in pursuit of personal fulfilment. Now she just needs to find a suitable outlet.

Meghan, the multi-millionaire “writing as a mom” to senators on behalf of ordinary parents was typically tone-deaf, but it also suggests she sees a political opening for her talents.

With her fame and fortune, there is no limit to what she could do next. It’s time she abandons her airs and graces and be more Meghan.