Amanda Platell, a former press secretary to William Hague, says she relegated her ex-husband to the role of ‘plus one’ and the Duchess of Sussex should be careful not to do the same.

A woman whose husband left her because he was “sick of living in her shadow” has warned Meghan Markle she risks the same fate if she makes Prince Harry her permanent ‘plus one’. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are exploring fresh opportunities in the USA having quit royal life in 2020.

In the last month, they have cast out on their own, with Harry travelling the globe without his wife. Meghan stepped out in LA without her husband on her arm as they both try and build their own individual brands.

The couple have looked happy and relaxed, both together and apart as they settle into post-royal life. But Australian journalist Amanda Platell reckons that happiness could be wrecked as if Meghan is guilty of “emasculating a once-proud man”.

Platell, a former press secretary to William Hague when he was leader of the Conservative Party, said her ex had an affair with another woman because he became resentful of her success. Writing in the Daily Mail, Platell claimed she was partly to blame for the affair having become “preoccupied by my own ascent” and had “unwittingly relegated my rock and my stay to the subsidiary role of my ‘plus one'”.

And she reckons the dynamic in the Sussexes relationship suggest a similar thing could happen. Harry, Platell argues, has played “second fiddle to the magnificent Meghan” and during two recent trips to Colombia and Nigeria, the King’s younger son “was very much the sideshow”.

She added: “Barely two years after he portrayed himself as the forgotten Spare in his venge-fest book of the same name, is Prince Harry in danger of becoming a spare part in his own marriage, too? Despite her unpopularity over here (in the UK), Meghan has managed to establish herself on the celebrity circuit in the States, turning up unexpectedly at the LA Children’s Hospital Gala this week, greeting children, dressed in showstopping red and posing for snaps shared worldwide – while Harry was alone in southern Africa, where he had travelled to visit the charity he co-founded in Lesotho.

“He also spent the night of his 40th birthday recently hiking with his mates rather than with his wife and two children, something I fear should ring alarm bells in any marriage. Yet Meghan even took ownership of that trip, saying it was her gift to him, seemingly having the effect of deliberately or inadvertently emasculating him again.

“As someone who once made similar mistakes, mine is a cautionary tale. When my marriage hit crisis point, my husband didn’t go on hiking trips, he was just increasingly missing in action, never wanting to be around when my parents or friends visited, increasingly off on his own – or, as I later discovered, with his mistress.”

Platell argues there is “still this ingrained belief in most men that they should be the breadwinners” and “many men think badly of themselves if they lose the role of hunter-gatherer”. But she tells Meghan she should not “rein in their own talent, ambitions or success” but simply remember the “dreams you had together”, adding that “great sex is always hugely important no matter how busy you are.”

While conceding Harry also has a part to play in the relationship dynamic, she tells Meghan: “Swallow your pride, make him feel as important as he actually is to you. And above all, learn from my example by never allowing your partner to feel like he’s a mere plus one in your life.”