At a certain point, there is almost something comical about the way in which the Duchess of Sussex’s “firsts” are charted in the same way a newborn’s might be. It doesn’t seem too wild to imagine a headline or tweet that shouts, “See Meghan Markle’s First Time Wearing Red While Riding in the Front Seat of a Car!” or such. But some royal milestones for Meghan are legitimately significant, like this morning’s announcement from the Palace that Meghan will be making her first solo appearance as the Duchess of Sussex next week, when she attends the opening of the Oceania exhibit at the Royal Academy alone.
Yes, while she has already checked off Overnight Trips with the Queen, and Outings with Kate or Harry (a Meghan-William joint appearance could be fun at some point to mix things up maybe, right?!), this is the first one she will be doing completely solo. (She will “view exhibits from regions including New Zealand, Fiji, the Kingdom of Tonga and Australia,” in a sort of preview of Meghan and Harry’s two-week trip to the region next month.)
Meanwhile, it appears Meghan is about to be getting some company in London from back home, as her mother, Doria Ragland, is reportedly en route to London, having been spotted at the airport (the footage was acquired and published by Inside Edition). It’s been reported that Doria spent time with Harry and Meghan earlier this summer, with an “extended stay at their Oxfordshire home,” but various reports have indicated Ragland will be moving more permanently to London. Marie Claire notes, though, that it’s not clear if the footage was “captured last time around or more recently.”
If Ragland is in fact making the journey this week, it could be that she’s planning to arrive in time for the launch party, as it were, for Meghan’s first major solo project as a royal (more firsts!). After announcing on Monday that the Palace is releasing a charity cookbook orchestrated by Meghan, there will be a celebration, at which several of the recipes will be prepared, held at the Palace on Thursday evening.