Meghan Markle will likely 'get held back' by royal family, says journalist

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Pregnant Meghan Markle arrives in New York City for royal baby shower

It looks like Meghan Markle will be celebrating the upcoming birth of her baby on this side of the pond. The Duchess of Sussex arrived in New York City Monday ahead of her royal baby shower Tuesday. The former actress' best friend and stylist Jessica Mulroney is in charge of the festivities, which, according to Page Six, will be taking place at an Upper East Side hotel.

Meghan Markle risks having her wings clipped as a member of the royal family, "The Project’s" Lisa Wilkinson has claimed.

Wilkinson, who covered Meghan’s wedding to Prince Harry last year, predicted the pregnant Duchess could see her potential and focus on female empowerment passion projects curtailed.

“The only pity I reckon with Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, is I feel she is so intelligent and so good at public speaking, she’s really strong in areas like girls’ education and homelessness, poverty. I think, did she marry into the wrong family?” Wilkinson said on Monday’s episode of "The Project."

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“I just think there is so much good she could do and she’s probably going to get held back.”

“Did you mention this when you covered the royal wedding last year?” Waleed Aly quipped.

“There were frocks to talk about on that day!” Wilkinson joked back.

Steve Price added that Meghan had “a pretty big soapbox now” thanks to her royal status, something Wilkinson did agree with.

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“She does, I just hope they don’t clip her wings, (she’s a) very smart woman,” Wilkinson said.

Discussing media reports Meghan had been giving Harry acting lessons to help him become more confident public speaking, Wilkinson said the Duke of Sussex seemed much more at ease than Prince William and Kate Middleton.

“I’ve always thought he was pretty good (at public speaking),” she said.

“I think he’s better than William and Kate, those two are just a little bit clipped, a little bit over-rehearsed, whereas Harry, his whole approach to life has always been more relaxed.”

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Meghan Markle has been a feminist since she was a child, successfully campaigning to get a US TV ad for washing up liquid that claimed “women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans” changed at age 11.

Prior to her marriage to Harry, the "Suits" star was an ambassador for United Nations Women and gave a speech for the UN Women conference in 2015.

At last year’s Royal Foundation Forum alongside Harry, William and Kate a then-engaged Meghan spoke about the need for women to feel more empowered to speak up.

“What’s interesting is, I hear a lot of people — when speaking about girls and women empowerment — you’ll often hear people say, ‘well, you’re helping women finding their voices and I fundamentally disagree with that’,” Meghan said.

“Women don’t need to find a voice, they have a voice, and they need to feel empowered to use it, and people need to be encouraged to listen.”

"The Project" airs Sunday to Friday at 6.30pm on Network 10.

This article originally appeared on news.com.au.