Meghan Markle started making secret plans for US foundation eight days after announcing her pregnancy
Meghan Markle might have had plans of moving out of Britain long before Megxit. Just eight days after announcing her pregnancy, the Duchess of Sussex started making secret plans for an American foundation, according to reports.
Meghan's long-time US business manager Andrew Meyer registered two websites — archefoundation.com and archefoundation.org — on October 23, 2018. Five days after that, an Instagram account called @archefoundation was created.
Meyer had worked with Meghan for years and had been busy securing domain names for her. In September last year, he renewed the trademark for The Tig, Markle's lifestyle blog that was shut down in 2017 after she began dating Prince Harry.
Four months before that, he registered two website names — americanfriendsofsussexroyal.com and theamericanfriendsofsussexroyal.com. Whether these websites and social media handles are intended for charity or commercial ventures is still unknown.
While the account has largely been inactive since its creation, it has only one follower — Janina Gavankar, an actress and a close friend of the Duchess who had attended her wedding in Windsor. The actress had also taken the family photograph that appeared on the Sussex Christmas card last year.
Where the word "arche" comes from is unclear. Meghan and Prince Harry's firstborn Archie Mountbatten-Windsor was born on May 6, 2019, so it is unlikely that they would have known the sex of their unborn child when the organization and Instagram account were created in October 2018.
Reports traced the origin of the name "arche" to the Ancient Greek philosophical term meaning "beginning" or "origin".
Meghan reportedly had a fondness for Greek words with several royal watchers speculating that she chose the name Archie for her firstborn son because it is derived from Archon, the Greek name for leader.
A spokesman for the Duke and the Duchess of Sussex declined to give any comment on the organizations or the Instagram account.