Today, Meghan Markle announced that she and Prince Harry are taking on the role of executive producers for a new documentary centered on Girl Scouts and their cookie sales.

The Duchess expressed her excitement about contributing to the film, titled “Cookie Queens,” and its journey to the Sundance Film Festival, describing the opportunity as “absolutely irresistible.”

Directed by Alysa Nahmias, the documentary provides an intriguing look at four determined young girls aspiring to become top-selling “Cookie Queens.” It delves into their experiences within the $800 million enterprise where youthful innocence meets ambition, as outlined in the festival’s program.

Meghan revealed that the project holds a special place in her heart because of her past as a Girl Scout and her mother, Doria Ragland, having served as her troop leader.

To add a personal touch, she shared a previously unseen photo from her childhood. The image captures a young Meghan beaming as she peeks around her mother, Doria, with one arm around a friend, posing with their LA troop.

The Duchess shared it on her Instagram with the caption ‘full circle’ and it emerged just as it was announced that King Charles has recorded a ‘personal message’ about his cancer diagnosis and recovery, which will be played in a ground-breaking broadcast today.

It came weeks after Meghan returned to acting herself, having quit the craft when she fell in love with Harry. 

The Duchess was photographed smiling and waving to crew as she arrived on set to film a new comedy movie where she plays herself alongside Lily Collins, Brie Larson and Jack Quaid – son of Meg Ryan and Dennis Quaid.

Last night Meghan said her and Harry’s media production company, Archewell Productions, has partnered with Beautiful Stories and AJNA Films on the Cookie Queens project for the US festival’s Family Matinee section early next year.

Of the project, Meghan told Deadline: ‘As a former Girl Scout myself, with my mom as my troop leader, I have a personal affinity for this film and am proud that all our conversations and collaboration have led to Archewell Productions partnering with this award-winning team to executive produce this incredibly captivating documentary.

‘When we first viewed the early footage of this documentary, it was immediately something we wanted to be involved in.

‘The creative point of view, the edgy yet humanising tone and tenor of the directing, and the glimpse behind-the-scenes into such a nostalgic and also modern tradition of Girl Scout cookie season are absolutely irresistible.’

Harry and Meghan executive produced their controversial Netflix documentary about Megxit as well as Harry’s passion project Polo.

Meghan also executive produced her lifestyle series With Love, Meghan. The couple were also involved with Masaka Kids: A Rhythm Within, the story of a Uganda-based YouTube dance group.

But Cookie Queens will be their first full-length feature, directed by Alysa Nahmias.

‘Captivating, candid, and full of heart, the film follows four girls ages five to twelve and their families as they navigate the annual whirlwind of selling, striving, and succeeding,’ a description of the film says.

‘For these Girl Scouts, selling cookies isn’t just about Thin Mints and sisterhood – it’s a crash course in entrepreneurship. Behind the smiles and cookie boxes lie real pressure: long hours, ambitious sales goals, and the weight of high expectations. 

‘Nahmias crafts a bold, vibrant, observational portrait that honors the girls’ perspectives and illuminates the emotional and intellectual stakes of their experiences’.

In 2023 the couple revealed plans to produce a film adaptation of Carley Fortune’s Meet Me At The Lake, which echoes their personal story and includes a character whose parent dies in a car crash. 

But it has not seen the light of day.

Last month, looking every inch the Hollywood star, a giddy Meghan was photographed on set in California as she shoots a new movie where she plays herself.

The Duchess, seen wearing a casual white and navy pinstripe shirt, which she paired with an elegant white linen maxi skirt, waved excitedly to a member of the crew.

She added brown sandals and chic sunglasses for the warm weather in Pasadena, making for a relaxed look while filming. She also appeared to be wearing her staple £5,850 Cartier love bracelets and Princess Diana’s Cartier watch. 

Meghan looked delighted as she climbed into a luxurious Range Rover and was swept to a large estate in the hills of Pasadena.  

There the Duchess, who starred as Rachel Zane in Suits between 2011 and 2018, was filming a scene by the swimming pool for the Amazon MGM Studios production. 

The mother-of-two is returning to acting eight years after her final scenes in the legal drama when she quit to marry Prince Harry and briefly become a working royal. 

A source close to the production has insisted that Meghan has been ‘swamped with offers’ for acting work ‘but this one felt right’. 

The gig is with the full support of her husband because he knows acting ‘brings her joy’, the insider said. 

Close Personal Friends follows two couples – one famous and the other, not. 

Little is known yet about the plot, or Meghan’s role, but the couples at the heart of the script meet in Santa Barbara and ‘fast become friends’.

The Hollywood production she is filming couldn’t be more different to the last one she starred in, a low budget TV movie called Dater’s Handbook for the Hallmark Channel in 2016.

An LA insider has told the Daily Mail that executives in Hollywood have been urging her to return to acting given her success in Suits, and the failure of some of her projects since she left the business and married Harry.

‘She’s finally seen sense’, the insider said.

Another Hollywood source told the Daily Mail that this is part of yet another Sussex relaunch.

‘Meghan’s in fully fledged celebrity mode, that’s all she can cash in on now, being a star with a lifestyle to match,’ they said.

‘Her playing herself in a film cameo is just stunt casting – just like when like Kate Moss played herself in Ab Fab movie’.

Branding it another PR power move as part of yet another wider Sussex relaunch, the insider said of her return to acting: ‘It’s fun and gets people talking. There will be lots more [stunts] in the next few months.’

Mark Borkowski, one of Britain’s leading PR gurus, said the timing of her appearance on set was intriguing given William was in Brazil promoting and celebrating his Earthshot Prize.

‘It’s not just dusting off her craft. It is trying to seize control’, Mr Borkowski said.

‘Andrew has been stripped of all his titles, palace in a mess trying to sanitise it all, and meanwhile Harry and Meghan have faded. When silence sets in someone like Meghan knows when it is time to make a move. 

‘She is a magnet for attention, whether people like or loath her. It’s a reminder she can make headlines without lifting a finger’.

Meghan left Suits seven years ago and last appeared in a movie two years before that.

But she is stepping back in front of the film camera, teaming up with Collins, Larson, Quaid, and Brit heartthrob Golding for the upcoming film, which is in production.

A source told The Sun: ‘This is a massive moment for Meghan and signifies a return to doing what she truly loves.

‘She has been swamped with offers but this one felt right.

‘Prince Harry is, of course, really supportive and quite simply wants Meghan to do whatever brings her joy.’

Meghan is best known for her role in the hit US TV-drama Suits, but also had Hollywood roles in Horrible Bosses, Get Him To The Greek and Remember Me.

Harry and Meghan stepped down as working royals in 2020 and moved to the US. 

The Duchess of Sussex previously claimed she struggled to get acting roles in her early career. 

She told how she would get plenty of auditions but was regularly rejected by directors – which was a ‘lot to chip away at your self-esteem’.

Meghan was once a ‘briefcase girl’ – one of the models who hold the suitcases full of cash – on the US version of Deal Or No Deal.

Experts said the former royal may be having some trouble when it comes to finding ‘where she really fits’ as she attempts to juggle her As Ever lifestyle venture, public speaking engagements and her aspirations in the fashion world.

The Duchess also admitted in a recent podcast that she had ‘sometimes’ missed acting. 

In 2015 she wrote in a blog post about how her role in Suits had changed her life forever, gushing: ‘I remember that day like it was yesterday. My cheeks still hurt from how hard I smiled.’

But as her relationship with Harry took off and went public towards the end of 2016, her role in Suits became precarious.

Acclaimed biographer Tom Bower wrote in his 2022 book Revenge: Meghan, Harry And The War Between The Windsors that the writer Aaron Korsh planned to write her out at the end of the 2017 season.

Considering her emerging new life as a member of the Royal Family and the need to refresh the series, he planned on having Meghan’s character Rachel leave New York.

Bower, who claimed he had conversations with 80 individuals who were personally acquainted with Harry and Meghan, wrote that after her agent Nick Collins heard the news he was ‘not encouraging’.

He wrote: ‘No film producer was offering her any major roles and no serious Hollywood director spoke about featuring Meghan in his movie or TV series. Just as she feared, her acting career was stymied. Her income after 2017 would plummet.’