Meghan Markle slapped with 'nightmare' warning as duchess tipped for political career

But now, the 42-year-old former actress has been hit with a fresh warning over keeping her title if she were to ever seek office.

Royal commentator Natasha Livingstone said: "If she was to keep her title, Duchess of Sussex, that would just be a real headache for the Royal Family who are notoriously non-political.

"And then to have a royal title associated with any political office would just be a nightmare for them, frankly," Livingstone added, speaking to the Mail.

Speculation was sparked just three days ago when American royal reporter Kinsey Schofield claimed Meghan "wants to be involved" in this year's US Presidential election - and is set to "endorse Kamala Harris".

The Duchess of Sussex is known to have a "friendly relationship" with the Vice President - and in the wake of Joe Biden's shock withdrawal from the race to the White House, Schofield told GB News the arrival of Harris could be a "great way" for Meghan to "get her foot in the door".

Meghan has form in this arena - in 2020, Schofield noted, the duchess worked with a number of high-profile female political figures including Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris herself to push American women to go to the polls.

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And in a further hint that a return to political campaigning could prove fruitful, polling by Newsweek has found that 40 per cent of people "would be influenced" by an endorsement by the Sussexes, Schofield added.

She continued: "We also saw Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during the Time 100 event on ABC say Americans 'deserved change' during 2020, which was a very subtle endorsement of Joe Biden at the time."

And when asked if publicly endorsing Kamala Harris could kickstart Meghan Markle's political career, the royal reporter agreed, adding: "This could be her first step in the door.

"I think that Kamala would welcome it because all press is good press at this point. You have to get people excited about you, and sometimes that's throwing everybody a curveball like Meghan Markle."

But the claim that "all press is good press" may not ring so true - Livingstone's "nightmare" warning, alongside former Margaret Thatcher aide Nile Gardiner's assertion that the Sussexes were "two of the most unpopular figures in the US today" could spell bad news for Meghan and Kamala come November 5.

However, another part of Newsweek's aforementioned polling found Meghan enjoys a net approval rating of plus 32 - with a meagre 13 per cent of American adults viewing her negatively.

Though recent political polling for Kamala Harris has indicated there may be work to do yet for the VP with 102 days remaining until the election.

A New York Times and Siena College poll put Harris one percentage point behind Republican nominee Donald Trump, with 47 and 48 per cent of likely voters picking Harris and Trump, respectively.