Meghan Markle Pushed Royals to Take Up Things They 'Wouldn’t Have Been Involved in' Before
When Meghan Markle married Prince Harry in 2018, she was stepping into an institution long defined by tradition. With her came a different kind of energy: a blend of Hollywood glamor and humanitarian purpose. Markle brought a sharper focus on empathy-driven philanthropy, one that would soon push the royal family to rethink how it connected with the people it claimed to serve.
A new Channel 5 documentary, The Meghan Effect: How She Shook Up the Royal Family, suggests the Duchess of Sussex knew what she was doing, especially when it came to philanthropy. Her arrival, the film argues, "forced everybody to up their game." In the early months after her wedding to Harry, Markle reportedly made a bold impression. Her first joint outing with late Queen Elizabeth, a trip aboard the Royal Train to the North West of England, was remembered very well. During their visit to Chester, they observed a minute’s silence to mark the first anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire, the 2017 tragedy that claimed 72 lives and exposed London’s stark social inequalities.
For many within the Palace, Markle’s instinctive empathy for such causes stood out. The documentary notes that she was 'best placed' to connect with communities affected by crisis. Soon after, in her first solo engagement, Markle visited women from the Grenfell community who had started a local kitchen to help survivors. That meeting sparked one of her most admired projects, Together: Our Community Cookbook, a collaboration that celebrated them through food and storytelling.
Royal commentator Afua Hagan reflected on Markle’s approach and opined: “The causes that Meghan wanted to work with, and one of the most prominent ones, was Grenfell. Suddenly, it seemed like the royals were working on really different projects, things they possibly wouldn’t have been involved in beforehand.”
In a clip featured in the documentary, Markle can be seen speaking warmly to the women who contributed to the cookbook. She says, “I felt so immediately embraced by the women in the kitchen and your warmth and your kindness, and to see, in this one small room, so much diversity. There are 12 countries represented in this one group of women. It’s pretty outstanding.”
Similarly, as per royal historian Dr. Ed Owens, Markle was “more socially attuned to the grievances, the difficulties, the problems” faced by ordinary people, and crucially, she wanted to engage with them directly. And that attitude also marked a significant shift in how the royal family interacted with the public. What set Markle apart, commentators say, was her ability to blend activism with authenticity. The documentary argues that this consistency helped 'pioneer a new formula' for royal charity work.
Her influence, whether acknowledged or not, was unmistakable, the documentary intends to say. By linking modern social consciousness with the traditions of royal service, Markle had reportedly carved out a space that felt distinctly her own and, in doing so, nudged the rest of the family toward a more contemporary, hands-on brand of humanitarianism.