Meghan Markle reached out to Taylor Swift before popstar met with William, George and Charlotte

But in a bombastic revelation, it has emerged that the viral pair of photos released by both Taylor and Kensington Palace followed a damning snub on the Duchess of Sussex.

Meghan, who weathers a paltry 26 per cent approval rating among Britons according to pollsters at YouGov, had tried to coax Swift onto her "Archetypes" podcast via a "personal letter", the Telegraph claimed.

But it's understood that the Tortured Poets Department star allegedly vetoed Meghan's request, rebuffing attempts to sprinkle some stardust on her ailing audio production through a representative.

Archetypes had featured on popular streaming platform Spotify for just one 12-episode season before it was controversially dropped.

Though Markle had successfully reeled in guests like Paris Hilton and Serena Williams, execs at the Swedish sound giant had canned the podcast, with the firm's "head of podcast innovation", Bill Simmons, lambasting her and Prince Harry as "f**king grifters".

Archetypes has since been picked up and renewed by American podcast firm Lemonada Media, with Meghan declaring her pride in sharing that she was set to join the company's "brilliant team" to "continue her love of podcasting".

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The Duchess of Sussex had said: "Being able to support a female founded company with a roster of thought provoking and highly entertaining podcasts is a fantastic way to kick off 2024.

"Our plan to re-release Archetypes so that more people can now have access to it, as well as launching a dynamic new podcast are well in the works. I'm so eager to be able to share it soon, and am overjoyed to be joining the Lemonada family."

Though just weeks later, it emerged that the Sussexes had suffered a blow to their broadcasting ambitions, with a California-based source telling the Mail's Richard Eden that Archetypes's relaunch had been "pushed back to 2025".

But despite Meghan's Swift setbacks, the singer-songwriter had no qualms in sharing images online with the King's eldest son - posting on social media, Taylor declared: "Happy Bday M8! London shows are off to a splendid start!"

Alongside the adults in the room, Prince George and Princess Charlotte won plaudits for their enthusiasm in posing with Taylor, Travis and their father.

Discussing the outing on GB News, Royal and Showbiz reporter Kinsey Schofield heaped praise on Prince William for his "blissful" and "sweet" gesture in taking two of his children to the concert on his birthday.

And though Princess Kate and Prince Louis were not in attendance at the concert, with the princess continuing her course of preventative chemotherapy following her cancer diagnosis, the unexpected collab between studio and real-life royalty won over onlookers and fans around the world.

In another indictment of the contrast between the Sussexes' and Waleses' celebrity engagements, Schofield later told Mark Dolan: "So I think we are seeing Taylor side with Team Wales here over the last few hours... A lot of people are pointing out the pictures of Meghan and Harry at the Beyoncé concert, where Harry looks pretty miserable, versus Prince William shaking his tail feathers at the Taylor Swift concert."