Meghan and her team were reportedly left “very frustrated” by MasterChef’s production team after secretly filming a guest role on the series during her and Prince Harry’s whirlwind visit to Australia last week.

The Duchess of Sussex quietly slipped off last Wednesday to appear as a guest judge on Ten’s popular cooking series, as news.com.au reported at the time.

Just hours later, the promo confirming the news was pushed out across Ten’s social media channels.

“We’ve had MasterChef royalty in the kitchen before but no one like this,” judge Poh Ling Yeow was heard gushing excitedly.

“All the way from sunny California, please welcome to MasterChef Australia … The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle!”

A beaming Meghan is then seen walking through the doors into the MasterChef kitchen, located at Melbourne Showground.

According to the insider, Meghan and her team only heard the wording in the promo when it was released to the public – and they were not happy about it.

“They’re very frustrated,” the source told news.com.au, adding that they’d “specifically” made clear they didn’t want the word “royal” used.

“They were outside the doors when it was filmed, so didn’t know what had been said.”

News.com.au has reached out to Ten for comment.

While technically accurate, the term was presumably flagged so as to avoid fuelling any debate over Meghan and Harry’s royal status during their tour, especially in a commercial context.

The issue has been regularly discussed during flashpoints over the past six years since they quit royal duties.

Meanwhile, the use of “Markle” was also an interesting choice, given that Meghan infamously corrected actress Mindy Kaling when she called her by her maiden name in her Netflix series, With Love, Meghan.

“It’s so funny you keep calling me Meghan Markle,” she said pointedly.

“You know it’s Meghan Sussex now.”

Shortly after news.com.au broke the news of the MasterChef cameo last week, Meghan’s publicist confirmed she had appeared as a guest judge.

“As part of her first Australian visit since 2018, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, featured as a guest judge on the country’s most beloved cooking show,” the statement read.

“Meghan mentored and guided our nation’s top home cooks alongside MasterChef Australia judges Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin and Jean-Christophe Novelli.”

Season 18, which premiered last night, will also see stars including Robert Irwin and Jimmy Barnes make their MasterChef debut.

The mother-of-two isn’t the first royal to pop up on MasterChef.

In 2018, during their Australian tour, then-Prince Charles and Camilla visited the set in Darwin, where they were filmed meeting the season 10 contestants, who were tasked with catering a reception at the Royal Flying Doctor Service base.

At the time, then-MasterChef judge Gary Mehigan revealed it was Camilla who had gotten the royals’ cameo over the line, as she was a “massive MasterChef fan”.