Meghan Markle's former friend urges her to 'mend bridges' instead of 'courting' publicity
By Jo Abi|
A former friend of Meghan Markle has advised the royal to "try and mend the bridges" with her family and the royals instead of "courting" publicity.
British TV personality Lizzie Cundy, who struck up a friendship with Meghan before she began dating Prince Harry, made the comments a day after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex released a video showing them calling unsuspecting winners of the ?inaugural Responsible Technology Youth Power Fund grants.?
Cundy has turned her former friendship into a lucrative career as a royal commentator, sharing her advice for Meghan with The Mirror.
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?"I wish and hope they could try and mend the bridges with the royal family as well as her own and just start being a normal couple," Cundy told the publication.
"If they didn't want publicity, why are they courting it?"
Cuddy labelled the video release by the pair as a "publicity stunt", adding, "and I think the whole world can see that."
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"I love that they're doing stuff to help the youth but that's what they should stick to doing," she continued.
Watch the video above.?
"Maybe they could have made that call without the camera crew. Isn't it about time you stopped the court cases, trashing the Royal Family and stop the setup photoshoots?
"Just be a real couple and get on with your own lives like you wanted จC you wanted the privacy so go and have it."
The Sussexes moved from the UK to the US in 2020 after resigning as senior working royals, publicly criticising their time as part of the monarchy.
This included accusing a royal family member of racism during an Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021, sharing more details of tensions with the royals during their 2022 Netflix special Harry & Meghan and Prince Harry going into further detail in his 2023 memoir Spare.
The couple settled at a home in Montecito, California, where they live with their children Archie, four, and Lilibet, two.
The couple signed lucrative deals with Netflix and Spotify, however their deal with Spotify came to an end at the start of 2023 after one single Christmas podcast episode and a solo podcast by Meghan called 'Archetypes' which failed to gain traction.
The duke and duchess have been uncharacteristically quiet since their appearance at the 2023 Women of Vision Awards in New York City in May, after which they alleged they endured a "near catastrophic" paparazzi car chase.
Entertainment producer and coach Paul Duddridge has also offered the couple advice, saying the current Hollywood writer's strike gives Prince Harry and Meghan a "much needed opportunity" to revive their careers in the US.
"It will give them a much-needed chance to review their creative strategies while using the industry shutdown as cover," Duddridge told Express.?
Prince Harry will travel back to the UK in the coming weeks for his privacy lawsuit against The Sun.
He will also travel to Singapore this month to play in a charity polo match for Sentebale, the charity he founded in 2006 to support children and adolescents living with HIV.
It isn't known if Meghan will join Harry for the trips but she will join him for the Invictus Games in Germany later in the year.
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