To the delight of her fans and the disapproval of her critics, Meghan Markle is very much back on the scene. Following her return to social media in January, Markle’s Netflix series about the art of hosting, With Love, Meghan, came out in March and has already been renewed for a second season, and this week she launched her new podcast ‘Confessions of a Female Founder’.

The first episode features a conversation with the founder of Bumble, Whitney Wolfe Herd, where the Duchess of Sussex revealed details about her health that she has not shared before. She explained that she was diagnosed with post-partum pre-eclampsia after the birth of one of her children. Markle and her husband Prince Harry have two children together, Archie, who turns six on 6 May, and Lilibet, three.

Bonding with Wolfe Herd, who has two children of her own and has suffered with the same condition, Markle described post-partum pre-eclampsia as ‘so rare and so scary’. It is characterised by high blood pressure and protein in the urine that can develop after childbirth, even if a woman didn’t have pre-eclampsia during pregnancy. Symptoms can include severe headaches, vision problems, pain just below the ribs, vomiting and sudden swelling of the face, hands or feet. Although many cases are mild, it can lead to serious complications if it’s not monitored and treated.

As someone in the public eye who has grown accustomed to intense scrutiny, Markle spoke about how difficult it was dealing with her diagnosis without anyone knowing. ‘You’re still trying to juggle all these things, and the world doesn’t know what is happening, quietly, and in the quiet you are still trying to show up for people’ she explained. ‘You’re still trying to show up, mostly for your children. But those things are huge medical scares.’

Wolfe Herd agreed that it is a medical scare that is ‘life or death, truly’. She might not have known Markle at the time, even though they are now good friends, but the Bumble founder empathised with the unique pressure Markle was under as a new parent and a senior member of the royal family. ‘I remember after you delivered Archie and the whole world was waiting for his debut,’ she said. ‘I was just becoming a new mum and I was like, “Oh my god, how is this woman doing this? How is this woman putting on heels and going and debuting a child in this beautiful outfit in front of the entire world?”’ Wolfe Herd then joked that she could ‘barely face a doorbell delivery for takeout food’ let alone the world’s press.

It formed part of a frank and personal conversation – something we can expect more of each week as new episodes of Markle’s podcast are released. Her last audio venture ‘Archetypes’, which formed part of the Sussex’s $20m Spotify deal, was cancelled after its first season when the couple’s deal came to an end. The series was about the labels and stereotypes that hold women back and saw Markle interview women she knows and admires. ‘Confessions of a Female Founder’, then, is a return to form, despite being produced by Lemonada Media in partnership with the couple’s own Archewell Foundation. Markle clearly favours this style of structured yet informal dialogue.

There is no doubt this new series will offer her another opportunity to share her point of view – in her own words – even if she has little control over how those words are perceived.

‘As Meghan, Duchess of Sussex builds out a business of her own, she’s getting advice and insights from a handful of amazing women who have scaled small ideas into successful companies,’ the podcast’s blurb reads. ‘These fly-on-the-wall conversations will no doubt inspire anyone who’s interested in turning their own entrepreneurial dreams into a reality and anyone else who just wants to hear what really happens behind the scenes.’

However, as the first episode indicates, the podcast ventures beyond the realms of business advice and tackles the personal too.  ‘I hope ‘Confessions of a Female Founder’ reminds listeners they’re not alone,’ Markle told The New York Times. ‘These are honest conversations with women who’ve built from the ground up, faced challenges and kept going.’

Elsewhere in episode one, the two women discussed how their perspectives have shifted since having children. ‘I think being a mother, as you know, nothing comes before that,’ Wolfe Herd explained. ‘Their wellbeing is our wellbeing, and so I think it forces you to prioritise in ways that, for me, I never did before.’

Markle chimed in on the parenthood juggle, revealing that her daughter Lilibet knows where to find her even when her office door is closed. ‘She will be sitting there on my lap during one of these meetings with a grid of all the executives,’ the Duchess told her guest. ‘But also I wouldn’t have it any other way. I don’t want to miss those moments. I don’t want to miss pickup if I don’t have to. I don’t want to miss drop-off. I think what I do love the most about having young kids in this chapter while I’m building is the perspective that it brings.’

Episode one has certainly set the tone for what’s to come – we are likely to be offered careful but considered insights into Markle’s world. It is currently unclear which other founders she has lined up for the rest of the series but given her burgeoning friendship with her neighbour and Goop founder, Gwyneth Paltrow, she may well have an A-list guest lined up for season two already. As with everything Markle does, whoever the guest and whatever the subject, the series will give people something to talk about.