RICHARD EDEN: What Kate and Meghan’s plans for 2025 say about their VERY different priorities

There have been many important years in the lives of the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex, not least the years when they married into the Royal Family or had their children.

However, the next 12 months could be defining in very different ways for Catherine, who turns 43 next week, and Meghan, who celebrated her 43rd birthday in August.

In case anyone still doubts the meaning Meghan places on the year ahead, yesterday she made a long-awaited return to Instagram, with a video of Harry filming her barefoot on a beach writing “2025” in the sand with a stick.

But it is also an important year for Catherine. She completed her treatment for an unknown form of cancer last September, with a Kensington Palace spokesperson explaining at the time that her focus was now on ‘doing what she can to stay cancer-free’.

This year she will return to public life with a schedule of royal engagements, albeit likely a scaled-down version of the schedule she had before her health problems began.

“Hopefully Catherine will do a little more next year,” her husband said during an interview in South Africa last November. Some of those assignments would take place abroad, the Prince of Wales suggested: ‘There may be a few more trips on the agenda.’

I’m told the Princess’s forced break has given her an even stronger desire to make a difference to the causes she supports most.

“Catherine wants every day to count,” says a family friend. “She has always had a passion for helping others. Now she has an even greater sense of urgency.”

The 27-second clip was filmed on the coast, not far from the home Meghan shares in Montecito, California, with Harry and their children Archie, five, and Lilibet, three.

The 43-year-old Duchess also updated the profile photo on her @meghan account to a black and white photo of her smiling and wearing a white dress

This became apparent in May when a ‘landmark’ new report was published by the Business Taskforce Early Years, which the princess founded in 2023. Early childhood is one of the areas Catherine wants to focus on.

Although palace officials at the time were keen to emphasize that the Princess was unable to return to work, there was no doubt about the keen interest she had shown in every aspect of the report.

Meanwhile, 2025 will be the year we find out if the Duchess of Sussex can fulfill one of her greatest ambitions: becoming a movie star.

Meghan has been desperate to be famous ever since she first appeared in high school productions.

“She wants to be the star of the stage and the star of life,” her father, Thomas Markle, told biographer Tom Bower.

It is claimed that as a child, Meghan asked her father to pay a professional photographer to take a ‘headshot’ of her that was sent to film studios. He dutifully did so, but the subsequent mailing failed to generate any interest.

Not that this setback put her off the idea of ​​a film career. “I want to be an actress,” she kept saying, according to Bower’s book.

The Princess of Wales, who turns 43 next week in December. After completing her cancer treatment four months ago, she will return to public life and royal engagements in 2025

This year will also see whether the Duchess of Sussex can achieve one of her greatest ambitions: becoming a movie star as she launches her cooking and lifestyle show on Netflix.

Mr Markle even took her to the Emmy Awards when he was nominated for Best Lighting Director for his work on US soap opera General Hospital.

After they walked the red carpet, Meghan, then 14, said, “Dad, one day I want to be famous like you.”

Naturally, she achieved a certain fame as a member of the cast of the American legal drama Suits, shown on cable TV, and appeared in films such as Horrible Bosses.

But the release of a cooking and lifestyle show on Netflix this year gives her the chance to become a bona fide star in her own right.

Meghan has already shot the untitled series, which will be released to coincide with the opening of her lifestyle company, American Riviera Orchard.

That was launched over ten months ago with a glitzy video on Instagram – intriguingly, just one day after I contacted her office for comment on her plans.

Meghan and Prince Harry’s Netflix deal expires this year and if it is to be extended, the Duchess may have to prove she can be a success without riding on Harry’s tails.

Her television ambitions may highlight the difference between her priorities and those of the Princess of Wales.

For Meghan, it seems like 2025 is about making money and raising her own profile; for Catherine it’s about making a difference for good causes.

Yes, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will also be undertaking work for charity this year, but since quitting their royal duties in 2020 to live “a more independent life,” as the late Queen Elizabeth diplomatically put it, Meghan has also turned her eyes show aimed at global superstardom.

This ambition took an early turn when her solo podcast series Archetypes was dumped by audio giant Spotify after one season.

This year we will find out if Meghan can really achieve the status she desires.

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