Meghan Markle’s solo visit to a Los Angeles gala without Prince Harry is part of a new plan that will see them doing more events separately, a friend said today.
The Sussexes will still do joint engagements – but will also be seen in public alone, more often, as they pursue their own passions.
Prince Harry has been away from home for a fortnight on a pseudo-royal tour to New York, London and South Africa.
And Meghan was at a glitzy children’s hospital gala in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
Insiders have said that this reflects a new shift in direction in the couple’s public lives.
‘The Duke and Duchess have now hit their stride as individuals – not just as a couple. The Duke appears focused on his patronage work, and the Duchess focused on her entrepreneurial track,’ a friend of the Sussexes said.
The insider told People: ‘It’s clear that a twin-track approach is evolving’.
Meghan Markle was out alone on Saturday night – but repeatedly squeezed tightly to friend Kelly McKee, holding her hand on the red carpet.
One body language expert said she appeared ‘lost’ without her husband.
At the event she spoke about the joys of motherhood as she praised a children’s hospital during a gala in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, who was at the event without her husband Prince Harry on Saturday, revealed she was ‘happy to be there to support’ LA Children’s Hospital.
‘The work that they do otherworldly,’ she remarked.
‘And I think from my standpoint as a mother no one wants to be in a position where you need to go to a place like this – but if you have to, the best place in the world you could go would be Children’s Hospital LA.
‘And I have close friends who still have their children there going through treatments either from high school, close mom friends now that are having their children.’
Meghan – who shares Archie, five, and Lilibet, three, with the Duke of Sussex, said that ‘the staff is incredible’.
She added: ‘The amount of work that they do for families that could really not afford this level of care is something that I think should never be overlooked’.
Elsewhere at the event, she enjoyed a sweet moment as she told a young boy ‘it’s past your bedtime’.
Footage shows the Duchess greeting a family before joking to a little boy about being up so late.
‘It’s past your bedtime for sure,’ Megan said as she addressed the child, who was being held by his mother.
She added: ‘How old are they? Oh so really close to our kids. Three and five.’
Meghan has often spoken about her experiences with motherhood.
In May, she said she fulfilled her dream of becoming a parent as she opened up about her ‘very chatty, sweet children’ during the second day of her Nigerian tour with Harry.
The Duchess was speaking at a Women in Leadership event she was co-hosting with Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organisation.
Meghan told the audience how much she loves being a mother but admitted that balancing her family and her career posed its own set of challenges.
During the talk, Meghan was asked how she juggled being a mother with her career and she replied: ‘I love being a mum.’
Despite being told more than ten years ago by her friend and mentor that she would never be able to balance the demands of motherhood and her work, the duchess said she enjoys being a mother and her priorities are constantly changing.
During the panel discussion, Meghan said that ‘balance’ in her life has changed over the years and looks different to ten years ago before she was married and had Archie and Lilibet.
She said: ‘What I think that to mean now is that that balance will always change for you. That balance, what seems balanced ten years ago is going to shift.’
It comes as Meghan caught all eyes as she re-wore a striking red Carolina Herrera gown to the children’s event on Saturday.
She previously wore the stunning gown at a 2021 gala in New York City to celebrate the military on the eve of Veterans Day in the US and Armistice Day in Britain.
She greeted the young fans before preparing for a star-studded night featuring a performance by Demi Lovato and appearances by presenters Kaley Cuoco, Jamie Lee Curtis and Colin Hanks.
It comes after Harry and Meghan made a series of separate plans, including Harry’s solo trips to London and Lesotho in recent weeks.
The Duke has appeared at ten solo engagements in the last 15 days without his wife as he embarked on a ‘quasi-royal tour’ across three countries, including New York, London and Lesotho.
It has also been reported that Meghan wasn’t able to make it to a charity event she was set to attend with Prince Harry because she was ‘sick.’
And when Prince Harry was goofing around with chat show host Jimmy Fallon in New York, film star George Clooney – a guest at his wedding in 2018 – was hosting a humanitarian awards ceremony in the Big Apple – and Harry was noticeably absent.