Meghan Markle’s return to Britain is suddenly being painted in remarkably glowing colors, with one of her closest friends describing the reception as “loving” and “beautiful to witness,” but the timing of the revelation is already raising eyebrows because it comes at a moment when almost every other major headline surrounding the Sussexes’ British comeback has involved security, royal tensions, school disruption or questions about exactly where they stand with the institution they once walked away from.

Kelly McKee Zajfen, Meghan’s longtime friend and someone who appeared on her Netflix series With Love, Meghan, recently visited the Sussexes and shared a series of intimate photographs showing Meghan enjoying family time, including a pub outing, while Prince Harry played with Zajfen’s baby son, Jack, and rather than simply sharing the pictures, she offered an extraordinarily positive description of the welcome she claimed Meghan had received from people they encountered.

“To everyone we’ve met or bumped into, thank you for being so loving to my friend,” Zajfen wrote. “It’s been beautiful to witness. She missed you too!”

She went even further, writing, “There’s something so special about getting a taste of this magical place with my bestie, and having my sweet Jack along for the adventure,” before adding, “I’ve loved seeing this sweet chapter through her eyes and daily adventures! Especially getting to experience so many little firsts with Jack by my side.”

Then came the warmest part of the message: “Family time is just what the heart ordered. With a side of mashed peas and fish n chips! All of it has filled my heart.” She concluded, “(GB) you’ve been so good to us. We’re leaving with full hearts and definitely leaving a piece of ours here.”

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On its own, it is a sweet message from a friend who appears genuinely delighted to see Meghan enjoying life back in Britain, but the problem for the Sussexes is that the broader story of their return has been considerably more complicated, with Harry and Meghan reportedly having been caught off guard by a letter authorized by King Charles III that reaffirmed their position as non-working royals and described their status as being akin to private citizens with commercial and charitable interests.

At the same time, the couple is awaiting decisions surrounding their security arrangements, while their children reportedly had to leave their first British school after only two days because traffic and security arrangements created difficulties during the school run, with the youngsters subsequently said to have transferred elsewhere.

That is why the “loving welcome” message may strike some observers as an awkward piece of public relations, because it asks the public to focus on smiling photographs, country pubs, fish and chips, family time and people supposedly telling Meghan how much they missed her while the harder questions surrounding the Sussexes’ return remain unresolved.

There is also an important distinction between the friend’s personal experience and the opinion of Britain as a whole, because Zajfen is describing the people she and Meghan personally encountered, not providing evidence of a nationwide change in public sentiment, and the photographs themselves show a private circle enjoying what appears to have been a pleasant visit.

Still, that distinction may not stop critics from questioning the message, particularly because the Sussexes have spent years trying to control the narrative around their relationship with Britain, the Royal Family and their decision to leave the country in the first place.

And that may be the real problem with this latest revelation: the more the Sussex camp tries to paint the return as a beautiful homecoming, the more people are likely to look at everything happening around that carefully constructed picture and ask whether the reality is quite so simple.

Because King Charles has made his position clear, the security question remains unsettled, the children’s school arrangements have already reportedly changed and Prince William has not publicly embraced the return, meaning the glowing account from Meghan’s friend is arriving in the middle of a much messier reality.

Perhaps Meghan really is enjoying Britain again, and perhaps the people she has encountered really have been warm and welcoming; but if this is meant to convince the wider public that the Sussex return has been an uncomplicated triumph, it may be asking one Instagram post from a close friend to carry an enormous amount of weight.

And that leaves the question hanging over the entire PR exercise: who exactly is this message supposed to convince?