Since marrying Prince Harry, Meghan Markle has had to walk a difficult tightrope. While she is obliged to adhere to (frequently incomprehensible) rules about how duchesses should behave, she clearly has no interest in submerging her individual identity into that of the royal family.

And that’s understandable. For an intelligent, stylish, politically-minded woman who built a successful career from scratch over the course of 15 years, it can’t be easy to be criticised for wearing dark nail polish, closing a car door, or crossing your legs the wrong way. It must be even more frustrating to be restricted from expressing your views on social issues, and to have to contend with demeaning, vindictive, racially-coded tabloid headlines that pit you against your sister-in-law.

Despite all this, the Duchess of Sussex has so far navigated the obstacle course of royal life with style. She has made clear exactly who she is and what she stands for, without rocking the royal boat so much that the Queen keels over. And that clearly-defined sense of identity is evident in Meghan’s choices of patronages, which were announced by Kensington Palace on 10 January.

What Meghan Markle's latest charity announcement tells us about her