British Vogue and Meghan Broke Records Now the Media Is Rewriting the Story

In 2019, Meghan Sussex, née Markle, made history as the first royal to guest-edit British Vogue. Her Forces for Change issue didn’t just break tradition, it shattered records. The edition sold out in 10 days, became the fastest-selling in the magazine’s history, and sparked a global conversation about representation. Yet nearly six years later, the British press has returned to the scene: not to celebrate the milestone, but to rewrite it.

Five Years On, Meghan Markle’s British Vogue Edition Still Holds the Record as the Fastest-Selling Issue in the Magazine’s Historyhttps://t.co/cJWQ0VTr37

— Feminegra (@feminegra) August 28, 2024

Media outlets now claim Meghan and Vogue editor Edward Enninful fell out over a proposed 2022 feature. The Daily Mail suggest she demanded another cover, got denied, and ended the friendship. These stories don’t add up. They rely on contradictions, anonymous sources, and timelines that don’t match. What’s more revealing than the fiction is the motive. The same press that branded her a failure cannot stomach the fact that her Vogue issue remains unmatched in success. And as Meghan’s cultural power grows, the desperation to undo her legacy grows with it.

Why the Media Can’t Let Go of Meghan’s Bestselling British Vogue Issue

British Vogue’s September 2019 edition remains a cultural landmark. Meghan Sussex guest-edited it with a clear mission: to spotlight women driving change across activism, politics, art, and climate justice. The cover featured 15 women, including Jacinda Ardern, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, and Greta Thunberg. A mirrored square in the grid symbolized the reader as a force for change too. It was bold. It was diverse. And it was deeply personal.

What followed was a backlash soaked in racism and resentment. Critics accused Meghan of promoting division for centering women of color. They ignored the diversity of fields, regions, and experiences represented. Commentators like Camilla Tominey twisted the project into an attack on whiteness, framing it as “exclusionary” even though five of the fifteen women on the cover were white. Her racialized spin was as unmoored from reality as Donald Trump warning South Africa’s Black president about a fictional white genocide, loud, inflammatory, and completely detached from the facts.

The criticism was loud, but the numbers were louder. The issue sold faster than any in British Vogue’s history. It outperformed decades of covers, including those featuring British royals the press prefers.

The resentment hasn’t faded. Instead, it has resurfaced in the form of revisionism. British media outlets now insist Meghan and Enninful clashed in 2022 when she allegedly requested another Vogue cover to align with her One Young World appearance. According to the story, Enninful had already planned a Linda Evangelista cover. Meghan supposedly declined a digital feature and then stopped speaking to him. Yet in the same breath, the story says she had “no expectations.” The contradictions are glaring.

The story claims Meghan unfollowed Edward Enninful on Instagram in 2022 as a sign of their supposed fallout, yet the timeline makes no sense. Meghan deleted her personal Instagram account, which had over three million followers, when she married Prince Harry in 2018. She did not return to the platform until January 1, 2025. In the interim, the Sussexes only used their joint account, @sussexroyal, which only followed three positive news pages.

To date, Meghan’s new account has already surpassed three million followers organically. So where is the Daily Mail getting this information? The social media “unfollow” narrative falls apart under even basic scrutiny. It frames Meghan as petty for walking away from a Vogue feature that Enninful’s team allegedly couldn’t deliver, yet ignores that she wasn’t even on the platform to unfollow anyone. This revisionist tale is about erasing a record-breaking collaboration and rewriting a legacy they still resent.

They Push Polls While Ignoring the Numbers That Matter

For years, the British media has worked overtime to paint Meghan as unpopular. Every poll, every ranking, every headline about “the most beloved royal” reads like a campaign, which is ironic, considering the public doesn’t get a say in who holds royal power… unless, of course, they go the French route.

But while they push perception, reality keeps interrupting. Meghan’s 2019 Vogue issue outsold every other edition in a decade. Both her podcasts have topped the global charts in their first week. Her product collaborations, from Smart Works fashion to As Ever items, consistently sell out.

Since launching her Instagram page earlier this year, Meghan has gained over three million followers in under five months. That number continues to rise without any sponsored posts or tabloid promotion. It grows because the demand is real. People want to see what she does next. People trust her taste, her voice, and her vision.

Meanwhile, the same outlets that brand Meghan as “divisive” can’t produce a single favorite royal who matches her reach. They applaud Camilla for stepping out in Dior while pretending the Meghan Effect doesn’t exist, even as everything Meghan wears sells out in hours. They praise Kate for guest-editing Huffington Post while ignoring that Meghan’s British Vogue issue redefined what royal collaboration could be.

The double standard doesn’t stop at the press, it’s institutional. The royal family’s official website proudly highlights guest editorships by Camilla and Kate, even Prince Harry’s 2017 BBC radio takeover. Yet Meghan’s record-breaking Vogue edition is nowhere to be found. Just as they quietly deleted Harry’s 2016 statement condemning racist and sexist attacks on his then-girlfriend, the Firm has made a habit of erasing Meghan’s achievements. The media distorts them, the palace omits them, and together they rewrite the record to deny her the recognition they know she earned.

That’s why the media keeps circling back to Forces for Change, not to celebrate it, but to rewrite it. With the September 2025 issue of British Vogue approaching, don’t be surprised if another royal appears on the cover or claims a guest editor role to overwrite Meghan Sussex’s record-breaking success. The palace can’t erase the past, but they’ll try to redirect attention from it.