LONDON • Is Meghan Markle putting on a show to impress others after her marriage to royalty?

Actress Priyanka Chopra (above) is dousing such talk, telling The Sunday Times that, based on her friendship with Markle, 37, she can vouch that the former Suits actress is still the same woman who is passionately championing her causes.

It is only that her higher profile now attracts more publicity and some may think that Markle is trying to burnish her credentials.

Markle, now the Duchess of Sussex, reportedly made Prince William's wife Kate Middleton cry and royal staff apparently left because of her high-handed ways.

But Chopra, 36 - who recently quashed talk that she and Markle were feuding - observed that the latter remains just as grounded as she was before she got hitched in May last year.

"A lot of people got to know her after everything, but I knew her before (she dated Prince Harry) and she's the same chick," Chopra said.

"Now she's got a real platform but she talks about the same things she always did," she added.

"We spent hours speaking about the difference that influence and dialogue can make to the world before this whole thing happened, so what you see now is authentically her.

"She's always been the girl wanting to move the needle."

Chopra is confident that Markle, who recently gave birth to son Archie, will not shrink in the harsh media glare, saying: "But if there's anyone who can handle it, it's her.

"Meghan is such a progressive, modern girl. She's what the world is today - a self-made woman who looks like each one of us."

But Markle's political beliefs - she supported Mrs Hillary Clinton in the 2016 White House race - have not gone down well with President Donald Trump, who labelled her "nasty".

But there will be no awkward moments for the two when he calls on the royal family during his current state visit to Britain.

She is still on maternity leave.