Story summary
Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, was spotted dining with Malala Yousafzai at Claridge's hotel in London on October 17. This marks Meghan's first public outing since she and Prince Harry moved back to the UK from Montecito, California, with their two children earlier this year. The pair had previously collaborated in 2020 for a virtual discussion about girls' education during International Day of the Girl.
Meghan was seen wearing neutral shades alongside Malala at Claridge's Hotel in Mayfair, both having tea together. Despite the high-profile nature of the meeting and their significant public profiles, the two were reportedly trying to keep a low profile. However, Meghan’s outfit included a £7,000 Chanel bag, and her entire ensemble was estimated to cost around £28,000.
Meghan recently launched an expensive holiday product line through her lifestyle brand As Ever, offering items like a chocolate advent calendar priced at over £112. Despite this luxury branding, friends of Meghan have described her new phase in the UK as being more "humble," though they acknowledge that keeping a low profile is challenging given their public status and frequent media attention.
Written for “Meghan Markle And Malala Meeting” on 2026-10-09,
grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.
For some years now, Meghan has leaned rather hard into her status.
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Meghan → lean → status
Consumption has been conspicuous, signalled by the diamonds, the gold accessories, the Cartier watch and so on.
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Consumption → signal → diamonds
Offerings – even of ordinary foodstuffs like jam and tea – have been ‘elevated’ by fancy packaging and sky-high prices.
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Offerings → elevate → packaging
The chocolates in her infamously expensive As Ever advent calendar that went on sale last week cost nearly £6 each and are stamped with gold calligraphy, based on her own handwriting.
And yet, even as pictures emerged of her shrouded in £1,700 white trousers and hanging on to a £5,000-plus Chanel handbag outside Claridge’s in Mayfair on Wednesday, friends were briefing that this is actually a new ‘humble’ version of the Duchess of Sussex.
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this → go → Sussex
Not that you might immediately notice.
uncertain
you → notice → ?
‘She is very conscious about how she wants pictures to land which is why you have barely seen her,’ says a friend.
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friend → want → her
‘She has honestly been trying to keep a low profile.
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She → try → profile
I mean, on one level obviously if you meet someone at Claridge’s it will be noticed, but look at how quiet she has been on social media, how little she has been out.
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she → mean → media
Indeed for a ‘public figure’, which is how her spokesman described her, she has been barely seen since she and Harry arrived by private jet on August 26.
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she → describe → August
Meghan and Malala were spotted in London yesterday after the duchess's return to the UK
The Duchess of Sussex and the Nobel Peace Prize winner first met during Covid, six years ago
And yet now here she is, with a Nobel Peace Prize winner no less, the immaculately philanthropic figure, Malala Yousafzai.
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she → spot → winner
Malala, who was a 15-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl when she was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 after advocating female education, is a charity powerhouse par excellence.
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she → shoot → education
The pair first met during Covid, when Meghan was among the celebrity voices lending their heft to a campaign for female education in 2020.
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Meghan → meet → 2020
Indeed, at times you get the impression that Meghan is a collector of influential female figures.
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Meghan → get → figures
First, there was TV powerhouse Oprah, who was invited to her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry even though the pair had never met.
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pair → be → Harry
Then there was Amal Clooney, the human rights lawyer wife of Hollywood star George, who also found herself in the pews of St George’s Chapel.
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who → be → Chapel
Again, it wasn’t clear if they’d ever met either.
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they → meet → ?
Sources indicate that neither woman is in contact with Meghan now.
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woman → indicate → Meghan
Another high-profile woman whose orbit Meghan entered was feminist icon Gloria Steinem, whose death last month she marked by posting an oddly self-referential tribute in which she shared three pictures of the pair together.
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she → enter → pair
Other women with whom she has ‘palled up’ – philanthropist Nicole Avant, wife of Netflix boss Ted Sarandos, and designer Tracy James, married to former Paramount boss Brian Robbins – also appear to have become distant from her.
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she → pal → her
We shall see what happens with Malala, 29, who looked notably ill at ease alongside the duchess on the pavements of Mayfair.
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who → see → Mayfair
Malala, who is now married and lives in Birmingham, runs the Malala Fund and campaigns to bring education to girls globally.
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who → live → girls
The meeting at Claridge’s, where the two had a £95-a-head afternoon tea, has notably not been shared by Meghan on social media.
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two → have → media
A source close to the duchess said that it was simply a personal meeting and that there was nothing to be briefed out of it.
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it → say → it
The meeting at Claridge’s, where the two had a £95-a-head afternoon tea, has not been shared by Meghan on social media
It is true that there appears to have been efforts by Meghan to have a lower profile since coming back to England.
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It → have → England
She and Harry were pictured together for the first time last week, walking into a Cotswolds pub.
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She → picture → pub
That was five weeks after their jet touched down in Birmingham.
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jet → touch → Birmingham
Meghan has made a smattering of Instagram posts: one, on September 14, showed the Sussexes settling into their rural life, with the children in wellies and a snap of a blazing fire, plus the family fishing at a lake.
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Sussexes → make → lake
A friend said: ‘They are all really happy with how things are going, with the children at school, with where they are living, and with being in Britain.
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they → say → Britain
The place where they are staying is perfectly private and they couldn’t be happier with that.
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they → stay → that
Things are going well with Harry’s family as well, but nothing more to be said there.
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Things → go → family
It’s all good.
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It → ’ → ?
The friend adds: ‘The relocation to the UK is being served with a dose of humble pie though.
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relocation → add → pie
There are genuine concerns from them both about how they are being received, how they want what they are doing to land.
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doing → be → what
‘They have been thinking about it and being very deliberate.
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They → think → it
They think that if they start posting stuff on Instagram it will land badly.
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it → think → Instagram
It is part of a thought-out plan to keep their heads down between now and Christmas, when they will go back to California for the holidays.
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they → think → holidays
They don’t want to shove themselves down people’s throats.’
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They → want → throats
Some self-awareness of the couple’s deep unpopularity seems like a good place to start.
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awareness → seem → place
Approval ratings have plummeted since their Windsor wedding.
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ratings → plummet → wedding
Harry’s memoir Spare, their Oprah interview and the wholesale trashing of the Royal Family and the ‘institution’ in the hit Netflix docu-series Harry & Meghan have turned many against the couple.
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memoir → turn → couple
…and 26 more, not listed.
The Aporia
