One key detail suggests Meghan Markle’s relationship with one of her biggest allies is “in the toilet”, a royal watcher claims. In August, reports emerged that Meghan was being considered for a role in the third series of Netflix action-comedy series The Gentlemen. The reports coincided with her surprise return to the UK with husband Prince Harry, and their two children, Archie and Lilibet. It was subsequently reported that talks of her appearing in it had ended. Around that time, the show’s creator, writer, and director, Guy Ritchie reportedly poured cold water on the prospect, saying “not a chance”. The second season, which was already completed at that stage, began airing in early September.

Last week, The Telegraph quoted a friend of the royal as saying: “Some people in her camp feel she was used to help promote season two, because they knew it wasn’t as good as the first season and had already commissioned a third. It’s the oldest marketing trick in the book: get a big name to read a script, then leak that you’re ‘in conversation’ with them when, in reality, nothing is particularly far along.”

They claimed the “whole thing left a bit of a sour taste in the Sussex camp’s mouth”. The Times subsequently quoted a source close to production pushing back on the claims, saying it is “not a show in need of stunt casting”, a term used to describe linking major stars to projects to get media buzz around them.

Express columnist and Royals Unscripted co-star Carole Malone suggested it speaks to a rupture in relations between Meghan and Netflix. “When that story first broke that she might be in The Gentlemen, team Sussex didn’t actually deny that, did they? There was no great big denial on it. And it actually looked good for Meghan, I think.”

But Carole said the fact that the streaming giant has seemingly pushed back on the idea of her being on the show “really was a smack to Meghan, I think, because if you are about to launch some kind of project with Netflix, if they had projects in the pipeline, Netflix are going to come and defend her, come out and defend her honour”.

However, Carole says they didn’t, claiming they “slated her and backed Guy Ritchie”. “That tells me the relationship is in the toilet,” she claimed.

Meghan and Harry have produced a number of projects for Netflix as part of a multi-year deal, including their eponymous bombshell docuseries charting their time as senior royals and decision to step back from frontline duties in 2020. Netflix has been a major income stream for the Sussexes after they distanced themselves from The Firm and sought to become financially independent.

It also gave them a platform to air criticisms of the Royal Family amid a bitter PR battle over the past few years. Guest host James Walker, who is filling in for Royal Editor Emily Ferguson as she follows King Charles on his Caribbean tour, suggested Ritchie’s name alone would be enough to sell the show.