Meghan Markle and Prince Harry playing a dangerous game with separation shift - analysis by Svar Nanan-Sen

Particularly in 2023, Meghan and Harry have rarely undertaken major public appearances together, the last one being in May, after which the couple said they were involved in a car chase with paparazzi.

They are scheduled to appear alongside each other at the 2023 Invictus Games which will be hosted in Germany later this month.

However, the couple are not going to arrive in Europe together as Prince Harry is returning to the UK on September 7 to attend a charity award ceremony.

The Duchess of Sussex is not expected to join her husband at the WellChild event and will instead link up with him in Dusseldorf a few days later.

Meghan has turned down various opportunities to join her husband back in his home country this year and this looks to be part of a wider decision the Duchess of Sussex has made to cut ties with the UK.

She was absent from King Charles's Coronation in May despite being invited to the historic Royal Family event and chose to remain in the US rather than support Prince Harry in London as he testified against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) in a civil case.

Prince Harry's Heart of Invictus documentary was released on Wednesday and the Duke of Sussex was listed as an executive producer but Meghan was not.

The Duchess of Sussex's appearances throughout the five-episode series were also very limited.

It is too early to tell how successful Heart of Invictus will be on Netflix but the couple's approach in terms of collaboration was very different to their self-titled documentary 'Harry & Meghan'.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex broke multiple Netflix records in December 2022 when the documentary was released.

While the couple's limited series received mixed reviews, in terms of viewing figures it delivered the numbers Netflix were seeking when they signed the couple up on a lucrative multi-million-pound deal.

An obvious conclusion to draw from the success that the Harry & Meghan documentary achieved is that there is still huge interest in what the royals do together.

This can be contrasted with the failure of Meghan Markle's Archetypes podcast on Spotify.

The Duchess of Sussex spearheaded their Spotify content, with Prince Harry having a limited role throughout the 12-part series.

The podcast failed to meet the streaming giant's expectations and earlier this year, Spotify cancelled their deal with the couple.

The Sussexes are reportedly working on several other projects for Netflix, including a documentary on Prince Harry visiting Africa.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex may be nearing a choice between successful collaboration or continuing down the path of brand separation.