I love ambitious women — hate the game, not the players — and I very much enjoyed Meghan’s company when I met her in person. I spent an hour with her at Toronto’s Soho House, drinking champagne and interviewing her about her Reitman’s collaboration. It was in the late fall of 2016, right before the news of her royal romance dropped. So, literally, she was in her final day or two of being able to walk around Toronto without a battalion of paparazzi.

She was vivid and warm, laid-back in Canadiana plaid flannel, polite to a fault, attentive and professional. The only criticism I have is that she was perhaps too professional. She shared stories about her childhood, her experiences with racism and slogging it out as a broke young actress in L.A., her fulfilment in her burgeoning charity and ambassador roles, and on to her connection with young people on social media. The stories were touching and apt. She had crafted a solid background story about herself, and she told it well. Her social media game was uplifting and inoffensive and full of platitudes. And I have seen her hit all those same talking points on repeat in press coverage since that time. With hindsight, what it shows is that she has an acute awareness of personal brand. And she is emerging from her maternity leave seemingly raring to carve out a new chapter.

The celebrity thing isn’t going anywhere. Traditionally, Royals don’t like to be known as celebrities, but celebrities think Meghan and Harry are part of their glittering international circle. And we like our celebrities to know each other; it reinforces some kind of magic sheen around them. Look at the excitement around Meghan and Harry meeting Beyoncé and Jay Z at The Lion King premiere last month. The couple had already celebrated her as a “melanated Mona Lisa,” and it was resonant on a cultural level, the joy of watching Markle leaning in to her Black identity as she did with the program at her wedding ceremony. Plus, can you imagine how cool to have Beyoncé call you her princess?

But Meghan “allowing” her inner circle to defend her against detractors that had been calling her difficult, as she did for the Gayle King Meghan and Harry: Plus One CBS special, unfortunately reminded the public of Princess Diana’s choice to secretly share her story with Andrew Morton. And in speaking with Pharrell Williams, also at the starry Lion King evening, she allowed herself to let off some well-earned steam. When he commented gushingly about how important her marriage was “and what it means in today’s climate,” she countered with: “Thank you. They don’t make it easy.” She’s totally right, but her candour launched a thousand angry tweets.

The Royal Family’s unofficial motto is “Never complain, never explain.” They “virtue signal” about public service and model self-effacement and respect for tradition. Indeed, direct heir Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, are near perfect in that regard, in their deportment and their duties. Kate also takes on high-profile projects — she guest-edited the Huffington Post in aid of her mental health awareness campaign, she did a perfectly motherly “Back to Nature” garden for the Royal Horticultural Show and, yes, she appeared on the 100th anniversary issue cover of British Vogue. But Kate, who will bear the weight of more responsibility in the future, stays carefully within her lane, a representative of the monarchy.

It is completely reasonable, indeed laudable, that the Duchess of Sussex intends to remain the multi-dimensional, modern woman she already was when she met Harry. She has a humungous platform, and she is using it for good and redefining how activism might someday co-exist with the apolitical royal machine.

But by making too much noise at once, there is a risk some of those good and worthy messages get lost. What she is doing with her clothing line for SmartWorks, for instance, which helps unemployed British women with interview clothes and training, is bang on the money: it brings in industry (Jigsaw and Marks and Spencer, among them), and her chic NYC designer pal Misha Nonoo to create community and teamwork — and a 1:1 sharing model so that consumers are part of the give-back — between fashion and women in need.

Instead of piling on all her good ideas at once, it might be wiser for Markle to build on change over time. Especially working from within an institution as stiff upper-lippy as the monarchy. Anyway, we hope she has the happiest of birthdays and a break from the hoopla of this very Meghan week.

Attention royal watchers! You won’t want to miss Zoomer’s The Royal We: Special Lifestyle edition. On newsstands now – or go here for more information.

Happy Birthday Meghan Markle: Royal Reinventor and Guest Editor of British Vogue