Meghan Markle appeared on MasterChef Australia at the weekend, and royal fans are criticizing her once again after she was introduced as the Duchess of Sussex – a title she has continued to use since she and Prince Harry stepped down as senior royals in 2020.
The former Suits star, 44, filmed the episode when she and Prince Harry were on their controversial trip to Australia back in April, with the episode finally airing on Sunday, July 26th. While it received a lot of backlash before it even aired, it actually broke viewing records, reportedly becoming the highest-rated episode since 2014. According to reports, 1.16M people watched live, compared with the show’s typical 630,000 to 700,000 viewers, which might surprise people based on the criticism it received beforehand.
But despite the ratings success, Meghan is still receiving backlash, with many social media users accusing her of sending mixed messages by being introduced by her Duchess of Sussex title despite criticizing the royal family over the past six years, while also telling contestants to simply call her “Meghan.”
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Meghan Markle Tells Contestants To ‘Call Me Meghan’
The contestants were challenged to transform a staple ingredient into a dish “fit for a duchess,” which was another reference to her title. Poh Ling Yeow asked, “Should I call you Duchess?” to which Meghan replied: “Oh, call me Meghan. Absolutely, yeah.”
While Meghan appeared happy to keep things informal during the episode, critics were quick to point out that she has continued to publicly use her Duchess of Sussex title in other settings since she and Prince Harry stepped back as working royals in 2020, particularly after she and Prince Harry publicly criticized the royal family in interviews, documentaries and Harry’s memoir. Although the couple retained their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles, Meghan’s repeated use of hers has sparked backlash on several occasions, with critics accusing her of sending mixed messages.
Earlier this year, Meghan’s continued use of her royal title made headlines again when royal commentator Mark Dolan claimed she was hoping to reconnect with the royal family and step back into her senior royal role (and therefore regain official use of her Duchess of Sussex title) because her current professional projects aren’t going so well. He said she had “realized that her solo projects aren’t working,” and that her “amazing independent brand is not successful.”
“My royal insiders are telling me that she’s all out now to get back to the UK to reconnect with King Charles and to effectively be [Duchess] Meghan again,” Dolan said on the Daily Expresso podcast, as reported by The Express.
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Meghan Markle Has Faced Similar Criticism About Using Her Duchess Of Sussex Title Before
Many people have been angry that Prince Harry and Meghan still use their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles since stepping down as senior royals. When Meghan rejoined Instagram in 2025, her profile name read “Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,” and social media was *not* happy!
Critics quickly accused her of hypocrisy, with one person commenting, “Why does she still call herself Duchess? Didn’t she hate royalty life?” on an E! News Instagram video, while a second replied: “Because she is nothing without the royal title.” A third added: “So interesting that she doesn’t want to be royal, but won’t drop that royal title.”
She received similar criticism when telling Mindy Kaling that she was a “Sussex” when she appeared as a guest on her With Love, Meghan show. She also faced backlash after Harper’s Bazaar writer Kaitlyn Greenidge revealed that Meghan was formally announced as the Duchess of Sussex twice during their interview. And the mom-of-two came under fire again when she appeared as a guest on an episode of The Circuit with Emily Chang on August 26th, 2025, especially since she spent part of the interview complaining about her time as a senior royal, including her grievances with the royal dress code.
“Stop using the title if you hate the British monarchy,” demanded one fan in the comment section of a YouTube video of the interview. “She worked for the royal family for five minutes and is still desperately clinging to those titles,” said a second.
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Social Media Reactions
After her MasterChef episode aired, social media had a lot to say about her appearance, with the fact that she was introduced as the Duchess of Sussex being one of the many complaints.
“She’s obsessed with her husband’s titles because she has nothing else to offer,” slammed one X user. “She’s nothing without the title,” criticized a second, as a third said: “She’s not royal. She left the family.”
“Remember on her show, she berated the D-list guest she had on for calling her Markle? ‘You know I’m Sussex now,'” recalled a fourth, in reference to the Mindy Project actress. “But she scolded Mindy to call her Sussex. She is just a control freak!” exclaimed a fifth. A sixth said: “She is just a fake and a phony. Never has been royal.”
“Meghan’s copying the Princess of Wales, who always introduces herself as Catherine! Meghan is trying to seem like a relatable person,” noted a seventh, as an eighth echoed: “Funny that Catherine has always said she is ‘just Catherine.'”
