Meghan Markle's 'less than subtle jabs' at royal family deepen divide: expert

Meghan Markle said she was "nesting and healing" after her royal exit — a remark some royal experts interpreted as a "less than subtle" jab at Prince Harry's family.

On Oct. 14, Markle was invited to speak at the Fortune Most Powerful Women summit at Salamander Hotel in Washington, DC. She discussed her and Prince Harry's decision to step away from the royal family and move to California in 2020.

The Duchess of Sussex explained that at the time, there was "no plan" beyond "nesting and healing" as they adjusted to their new reality. 

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"I think five years ago was a very different situation for all of us. Archie was so little, and I had just gotten pregnant with Lili around that same time. So we were nesting. Nesting and healing. 

"And also, I don't know if I had the bandwidth at that time to think about what the 'big picture' dream was. There was no plan. It was just 'let's just get through these next couple of years', create community, which was always so important to both of us in our new environment," Markle said, according to the Daily Mail.

Markle and Harry moved to Montecito, California, in 2020, stepping away from their senior roles in the royal family. They have two children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4.

British royals expert Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital that Markle's speech at the summit was a way to "reshape her narrative" while making subtle jabs at the royal family.

"MM [Meghan Markle] is yet again doing her utmost to reshape her narrative, yet again banging on subtly with past grievances regarding discomfort within the royal family, while again projecting her independence. Her remarks are less than subtle jabs again at the monarchy’s supposed interpersonal shortcomings," she said.

Fordwich continued, "She loses either way. Either she is oblivious to the digs she is making or they are deliberate. If she’s oblivious, then she lacks self-awareness. If they are deliberate, she reinforces all those who see her as traitorous and vindictive. Particularly her cryptic ‘nesting, healing,’ comments and references to the lack of a plan come across as rebuking royal norms while being so self-centered they further confirm her total lack of institutional loyalty."

British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard agreed this was Markle taking a jab at the royal family.

"Meghan is in her midst of a PR blitz promoting her brand. She is determined to succeed in building her commercial empire. Meghan has no allegiance to the British Royal Family or UK. She does, however, know the value of the Royal Family to her brand and will ensure that she is attached to this valuable asset," she told Fox News Digital.

"By reminding people of her awful time with the royal family and in the UK gives her the excuse to offend and do as she pleases without a care in the world," Chard added. "It’s simply onwards and upwards for Meghan." 

Royal commentator Amanda Matta told Fox News Digital that hearing Markle say she didn't have a plan helps "contextualize" a lot of decisions she and Harry made in 2020.

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"I've long thought exactly this about Harry and Meghan's early years in California, so it's nice to hear her vocalize it! Hearing Meghan say ‘there was no plan’ helps to contextualize a lot of the decisions the Sussexes made in regards to their first business deals with Spotify, Penguin Random House, and Netflix." 

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Matta continued, "Those deals, 5 years on, now read less like a grand strategy and more like a scramble to build stability after leaving royal life. You have to wonder whether having a ‘big picture’ vision in place would have meant more thoughtful, specific partnerships rather than broad, sweeping, multi-year deals."

Matta said she doesn't "interpret" Markle's remarks as a jab towards the royal family. 

"It sounds more like an honest reflection on how hard it would be to reinvent yourself after walking away from an institution that dictated every detail of your life. Nesting and healing would have been priorities, but so would the more material aspects of survival," she said.

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Former royal photographer Ian Pelham Turner agrees with Matta's take.

"The process Meghan is going through right now is to come to terms with what has happened to her. The constant abuse and negativity on her attempts to create a working life is enormous. The comments and her motives for her current activities are, in my view, purely a means to come to terms with moving her life and her family forward," he told Fox News Digital.

Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told Fox News Digital that Markle forgot to mention "beginning destructive family rifts" in her speech at the summit.

"Her comments on her brief period as a working royal were low-key for her. Presumably by ‘creating community’ and ‘healing’ she was conveniently forgetting beginning destructive family rifts," he said.