The Oddest Things Meghan Markle Has Done So Far In 2025

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, made a lot of headlines in 2025. While Prince Harry continued his royal rift with Prince William and King Charles III, Meghan was all about focusing on her business endeavors. In 2025, the Duchess of Sussex started a new lifestyle brand called As Ever. She also launched two seasons of a lighthearted crafts and cooking Netflix show called "With Love, Meghan," and published 13 episodes of her podcast, "Confessions of A Female Founder."

If that sounds like a lot to take on, it definitely was — not to say that Meghan wasn't up for the challenge. Her lifestyle brand has reportedly sold a whole lot of jam, and her Netflix show was popular enough to warrant a holiday special. And, if "Confessions of A Female Founder" won't be returning for a second season, the reason is not a lack of engagement. The podcast boasts over 3,000 reviews on Apple, which means that people are listening.

Despite all the positive moments of Meghan Markle's 2025, the duchess has had quite a few odd interactions. Like many other public figures, she has made her share of faux pas, editing mistakes, and awkward comments. All of these incidents combined have meant that the year held some bizarre moments for the Duchess of Sussex.

From the very outset of 2025, the Duchess of Sussex was not afraid to embrace odd behavior for better or worse. She ushered in the year by creating a new Instagram account and posting her very first content — a video of herself frolicking on the beach and writing "2025" in the sand. What was perhaps intended as a seemingly natural video of Meghan running through the sand and exuding care-free vibes ended up missing the mark. The reason? Meghan's video accidentally hinted that she may, in fact, care a lot about what others think.

In the video, leading up to the point when she wrote the year in the sand, Meghan ran toward the ocean. At one point, the camera inadvertently captured her hurrying past another "2025" that had previously been etched in the sand in Meghan's handwriting. In other words, it was pretty clear that this had probably not been the duchess' first take. Considering that she had potentially been perfectionistic enough to want to run the scene a number of times, it seemed odd that Meghan would want to post a video featuring one of her previously written 2025s.

One of the biggest accomplishments that Meghan achieved in 2025 was the release of her Netflix show. Unfortunately, the series, titled "With Love, Meghan," was brimming with cringe-worthy moments. One of the oddest of them all occurred in Season 1, Episode 2, when Mindy Kaling made a guest appearance. At one point in the episode, Meghan turned to Kaling and said, "It's so funny you keep saying 'Meghan Markle,' you know I'm Sussex now." This assertion was essentially the key ingredient for instant awkwardness. Kaling looked like she'd just been shoved in her place and quickly explained that she hadn't known. The two women moved forward, but viewers perceived this exchange as both odd and tense.

After the episode aired, viewers began to question whether Meghan's last name really was Sussex. After all, the duchess has long been known as Markle, and her children's birth certificates both read "Mountbatten-Windsor." According to royal experts, though, Meghan was actually just following protocol. In a piece for the Daily Mail, longtime royal correspondent Rebecca English clarified, "Members of the Royal Family — indeed, the peerage generally — often use their dukedom or title as a 'shorthand surname.'" Meghan only erred in that she didn't elaborate more to Kaling, who probably would have understood. Mindy Kaling doesn't go by her real name, so she's used to a multiple-surname situation.

Part of having your own lifestyle show is purchasing expensive cookware — or, at least, that's an idea that the Duchess of Sussex embraced. The newly minted media personality is the proud owner of Le Creuset kitchenware. Dutch ovens from the brand will set you back hundreds of dollars, and their frying pans aren't any cheaper. When the public got wind of her pricey pots and pans, Meghan was criticized by royal-watchers everywhere. Even though Prince Harry and Meghan have long lived an insanely lavish life, some of the couple's fans had hoped that their recommended products wouldn't be so out of reach for average people.

The odd thing, though, was Meghan's reaction when The New York Times asked her to react to these critiques. Clearly bewildered, Meghan tossed her hands up in the air and exclaimed, "This is a thing, in 2025?" Her confusion about the controversy may have seemed out of place. However, per the outlet, the duchess had not been aware of the Le Creuset criticism in the first place — thanks to a team that habitually scans through her comments and DMs on social media. In the end, it was Meghan who baffled us all by being at the center of a controversy that she didn't even know about.

The year 2025 was a big one for Meghan, who launched both her lifestyle Netflix show and her brand, As Ever. Following a series of trademark issues with the brand's original name, American Orchard Riviera, Meghan probably thought she was out of the woods in terms of intellectual property rights. However, when she shared her logo with the world in February, she was criticized by the Spanish town of Porreres. According to the town's mayor, Francisca Mora Veny, Meghan might have drawn a bit too much inspo from the village's coat of arms. "The only difference with their logo and our coat of arms is that theirs shows two hummingbirds, and in ours are either swallows or pigeons — historians cannot agree," Mora Veny told The Sun.

While it was certainly odd that nobody on the duchess' team cross-referenced their logo idea with historic coats of arms, it seems that the As Ever logo is here to stay. Meghan has demonstrated few signs — if any — of wanting to alter it. Some royal analysts have even found that the logo's main elements — a palm trees and two hummingbirds — hold a lot of significance for the Sussexes. Per People, Prince Harry and Meghan view a pair of tangled palms in their yard as a representation of their own love. Hummingbirds, meanwhile, are the couple's spiritual sign.

On her podcast, "The Jamie Kern Lima Show," host Jamie Kern Lima touted her friendship with the Duchess of Sussex. Remembering a time when she was feeling really low, Lima said that Meghan offered her support via ice cream and a special strawberry sauce. The host even went so far as to share a picture of a card sent from Meghan. The note read, "With the compliments of H.R.H. The Duchess of Sussex." "H.R.H." is an acronym for "his (or her) royal highness."

Absolutely none of the details of this exchange would be considered newsworthy had Prince Harry and Meghan not stepped away from the royal family in 2020. Queen Elizabeth II forbade them from using their H.R.H. titles in any public capacity. The titles are a massive deal in Great Britain, where they hold specific social implications. According to royal protocol, this means that Prince Harry and Meghan can privately retain their H.R.H. titles, but across the pond, they would be expected to bow to the royals who outrank them in the hierarchy, including King Charles III, Prince William, and Princess Catherine. As long as Prince Harry and Meghan remain in the United States, these titles hold very little importance. With this in mind, it seems odd that Meghan has continued to use her old title stateside.

Prince Harry and Meghan have long been protective of the privacy of their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibeth. Given the couple's fraught relationship with the tabloid press, this makes sense. As royal correspondent, Matt Wilkinson, put it in an episode of "A Right Royal Podcast," "My understanding of this or up to a certain stage is that Harry would much rather his children were not seen. He doesn't want them to be papped" (via honey).

Oddly, though, Harry and Meghan have not been consistent in shielding their children from the media. On the occasion of Archie's birthday in May 2025, Meghan shared a photograph of him in an Instagram post. With his back to the camera and his countenance facing the sun, Archie remained anonymous to royal fans. One month later, when Lilibeth turned four years old, there was much less protection over her privacy. In a two-photograph slide posted on Meghan's Instagram, the first shot featured the upper portion of Lilibeth's face. The second revealed her newborn face. 

The dissonance between the way that the duchess hid Archie's identity but teased Lilibeth's struck many royal-watchers as strange. Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told the Express that this dynamic was confusing, stating, "The saga as to whether Meghan reveals the back of her children's heads or part of their faces makes no logical sense."

The British royal family embraces a policy of "never complain, never explain," but the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have never been fans of this weird royal rule. Prince Harry and Meghan have long spoken out about major issues — ranging from racism in the royal family to the unlawful practices of the tabloid press. Because of this, some royal-watchers found it odd when 2025 saw Meghan speaking out against ... herself. Indeed, the duchess took the time to criticize her own professional projects, leaving many of her fans utterly perplexed.

Speaking at the Time100 Summit, Meghan hinted that she had perhaps taken on too much in 2025. As reported by the Mirror US at the time, the duchess told the public, "There were three projects that we were launching really at the same time. The past year-and-a-half have been incredibly busy and ambitious." She then went on to say that not everything went as smoothly as she had hoped. "Then you see it all come to life and try to give yourself the space and the grace to make mistakes, to know you're not doing it right every day," Meghan shared. While these words may have been honest, they did not exactly improve her reputation. In the past, Prince Harry and Meghan have been criticized for performing poorly in work environments.

Since the Duchess of Sussex has been open about being sensitive to her public mistakes, one would think that she would try to prevent these documented blunders in the future. Yet months after her 2025 appearance at the Time100 Summit, where she confessed to making missteps with her professional projects, Meghan's lifestyle brand, As Ever, shared a promotion in which she was featured making jam. In some ways, this advertisement made sense. One of the primary products sold by the duchess' brand is jam. The product is apparently so important to As Ever that Meghan once said that she had to order a whopping million jars to keep up with the orders.

Guys she's using the canning tongs upside down. The rubber part goes around the jars so they don't slip. pic.twitter.com/8sTrsj6Bxc

— Emily Zanotti 🦝 (@emzanotti) October 4, 2025

That being said, many of Meghan's fans were confused by a shot in the ad that apparently showed the duchess making jam incorrectly. Indeed, screenshots of the incident — which have since been shared on X — show Meghan holding her canning tongs with the rubber grip side in her hand and the handle side of the tongs grasping a jam jar. Viewers found this odd, as canning tongs are generally used rubber-side down, so as not to let one's jar slip into the pot. This amateur jam-making error seemed especially bizarre considering that Meghan has claimed to be the brainchild behind her brand's jam recipes. 

Back in 2006, Prince Harry co-founded a charity called Sentebale with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho. The aim of their organization was to raise money for people diagnosed with HIV and AIDs, and the project was largely viewed as a success. However, in 2025, all that changed when Harry suddenly quit his role in the organization. Speaking to the Financial Times about this change, the Sentebale chair, Dr. Sophie Chandauka, explained that there were serious behind-the-scenes disagreements between the Sussexes and the board members. One of the disagreements involved Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex.

Per Chandauka's interview with the Financial Times, Harry and Meghan's team asked the Sentebale team to respond to negative takes on the duchess' public image. "I said no, we're not setting a precedent by which we become an extension of the Sussex PR machine," the chair alleged. This, among other issues, allegedly led to the ultimate parting of ways. Given that Meghan's name was dragged into the situation, it was somewhat surprising that she did not release a statement defending herself. Her silence was deemed odd by royal-watchers who wanted to know both sides of the story.

At Paris Fashion Week in October 2025, the Duchess of Sussex stirred up controversy by attending the Balenciaga runway show. The fashion house was embroiled in scandal in late 2022 after releasing an advertisement that many viewers found sickening. The ad involved teddy bears wearing leather outfits reminiscent of bondage attire. Making matters worse, children were asked to hold the bears in the promotional materials — leading Balenciaga to lose many of its fans. In a now-deleted Instagram post, the brand issued an apology for dressing kids' toys in "BDSM-inspired outfits," adding, "We take full accountability for our lack of oversight and control of the documents in the background and we could have done things differently" (via Page Six).

Because of Balenciaga's unacceptable history, many found it extremely puzzling that Meghan would want to attend the brand's show. Several Internet users went online specifically to question her decision. However, Meghan seemed to have enjoyed her time at the show, even posting an animated reel about the experience on Instagram with the caption, "About last night." Apparently, the main reason for her attendance was to be present for her friend, Pierpaolo Piccioli, who became Balenciaga's creative director in 2025 — almost three years after the original scandal.

A lot went wrong for Meghan at Paris Fashion Week in October 2025. Beyond the scrutiny that she gained for her controversial presence at the Balenciaga show, Meghan also garnered attention for almost kissing a designer. When she encountered Pierpaolo Piccioli at the Balenciaga event, the duchess went in for what she hoped would be a Euro-style cheek kiss, but the pair struggled to coordinate the direction their heads were going. In the end, she was millimeters away from planting one on the creative director's lips, causing quite a stir. To avoid this kind of awkwardness, she might have settled on a simple handshake — or just practiced her European greetings a few more times.

Unfortunately, this was not her only awkward moment of the night. At one point in the show, one of the runway models tripped. Video footage later shared on X shows that Meghan reacted to the near-spill by laughing and covering her mouth. This knee-jerk response did nothing to endear the duchess to her critics — instead leading some of her biggest haters to label her a "narcissist." In the end, Meghan did not appear to have an easy time in Paris. Perhaps, she'll have another chance in 2026.