Michelle Obama tells Meghan Markle: 'Don't be in a hurry' to launch ambitious projects

It is surprisingly prescient advice given the slew of recent allegations made about the Duchess of Sussex’s forthright demeanor and demands.

And if there is any truth in the anecdotes that have been tumbling forth from behind palace walls detailing “ghastly” rows with her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, temper tantrums over tiara choices and staff reduced to tears, she may well take note.

Michelle Obama, the former American First Lady and a long-term friend of her husband, the Duke of Sussex, has suggested that the Duchess take her foot off the gas, slow down and remember she is in it for the long haul.

Asked if she had any advice for the newlywed royal, Mrs Obama drew on her own experience of having every move subjected to public scrutiny.

“Like me, Meghan probably never dreamt that she’d have a life like this, and the pressure you feel – from yourself and from others – can sometimes feel like a lot,” she told Good Housekeeping magazine.

“So my biggest pieces of advice would be to take some time and don’t be in a hurry to do anything. I spent the first few months in the White House mainly worrying about my daughters, making sure they were off to a good start at school and making new friends before I launched into any more ambitious work.

“I think it’s okay – it’s good, even – to do that…. What I’d say is that there’s so much opportunity to do good with a platform like that – and I think Meghan can maximise her impact for others, as well her own happiness, if she’s doing something that resonates with her personally.”

Mrs Obama is in the UK today on a whistlestop tour to promote her new memoir, Becoming, and will meet children at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in Islington before speaking at the Royal Festival Hall, London.

She and her husband enjoy such a close relationship with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex that they were rumoured to be joining the royal couple for a dinner hosted by George and Amal Clooney at their riverside mansion in Berkshire on Tuesday night.

But Palace sources suggested that tales of the star-studded dinner party were wide of the mark. And Mrs Obama announced  on Sunday that she was cutting short her European tour in order to return to the US for the funeral of former President George HW Bush on Wednesday.

Mrs Obama admits in the interview how she struggled to keep up with life in the White House.

“Thankfully I get more (and more regular) sleep these days,” she said.

“But it probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone that sometimes it was a real challenge to keep up with the pace.”

She said she, her husband and daughters, Sasha, 17, and Malia, 20, had a wonderful life in the White House but added that she was grateful they all “came out of those eight years in one piece”.

Mrs Obama ruffled feathers at an event on Saturday in Brooklyn when she claimed that a prominent piece of feminist self-help championed by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer, was “s---” that “doesn’t work.”

She told the sold-out crowd that women cannot experience equality in both their professional and personal lives "at the same time," calling the idea a "lie" and arguing that "marriage still ain't equal, y'all."

She added: "And it’s not always enough to ‘lean in’, because that s--- doesn’t work all the time" before quickly adding: “I forgot where I was for a moment.”

Sandberg promoted the "lean in" concept in her 2013 book, "Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead," which urges women to be more proactive at seizing career opportunities.

Mrs Obama admitted that she thought in many ways, things were harder for young women today but said that they were not held back by “societal belief that girls and boys can’t do the same thing” as her generation was.

“They’re charging forwards in sports and maths and science and technology,” she told Good Housekeeping.

“They’re speaking up and speaking out, not just in classrooms but in the public arena at a young age. I find great hope in this generation of young women.”

The full interview appears in the January issue of Good Housekeeping, on sale December 3