Meghan who? The ‘dear friends’ of the Duchess who claim they ‘don’t really know’ her – despite her gushing about their bond
Meghan Markle is known for her close friendships in the Hollywood circle – with everyone from Kris Jenner to Chrissy Teigen praising the Duchess of Sussex’s American Orchard Riviera jams these past weeks.
But A-lister pals the 42-year-old mother-of-two has gushed about aren’t always so vocal in their affections back. In fact, some have at times visibly downplayed their bond with the former Suits star.
Most recently, Justin Trudeau’s ex wife Sophie – who Meghan had dubbed a ‘dear friend’ – appeared to pour cold water over the relationship.
Speaking to The Times, the former First Lady of Canada said: ‘I know her… but we haven’t spent much time together.’
This is in stark contrast to what the Duchess has said in the past about the relationship, suggesting the two were very close, and describing Sophie as being ’emblematic of strength’.
It’s not the first time there appeared to be a disconnect between the royal and her connections.
George and Amal Clooney reportedly quipped that they ‘don’t know’ the Sussexes while attending their royal wedding, whereas Fergie – mother of Prince Harry’s cousins Beatrice and Eugenie – claimed she ‘hasn’t really met’ her.
Here, FEMAIL looks at times Meghan’s famous friends appeared to create distance when talking about the Duchess…
SOPHIE TRUDEAU
This week, Sophie Trudeau, 49, told The Times that she ‘knows’ Meghan, but claimed the pair haven’t ‘spent much time together’.
But according to the Duchess, speaking during an episode of her Archetypes podcast in November 2022, Sophie ‘used to send her little meditations during her pregnancy’ and voice notes ‘of encouragement’, adding: ‘I’ve gone to her over the years for advice.’
And she also revealed that the two had spent a day together at the Montecito mansion she shares with Prince Harry, 39.
Meghan described the day as being one full of laughter and fun, with their children playing in the swimming pool on pizza-shaped floats while they drank wine ‘on the terrace’ and were ‘giddy like absolute schoolgirls’.
According to the biography Finding Freedom, Meghan and Sophie became friendly in 2016, after the former Suits actor met Justin in 2015, at the One Young World summit in Ottawa that year.
That year, both women were pictured posing cheek-to-cheek in a Soho House photobooth in Canada.
According to Finding Freedom authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand: ‘Sophie had given up a career in television, where she had been working as a correspondent on CTV’s eTalk, to take on a more formal role alongside her husband as he hit the campaign trail.
‘The pair became fast email friends, Meghan was interested to hear how Sophie had successfully made the move from an entertainment news correspondent to much-loved First Lady, all while skillfully dodging controversy.’
In November 2022, Meghan invited Sophie on to her Spotify podcast Archetypes, to speak on an episode titled Good Wife/Bad Wife, Good Mom/Bad Mom.
During the episode, the pair spoke about the challenges of parenting and being a partner to two famous men, and Meghan revealed she threw a pool party that summer for Sophie, in which the two ‘giggled like schoolgirls’ and drank wine on the terrace of her Montecito mansion.
Meghan introduced Sophie as a ‘humanitarian mother’ she met in Toronto, where she was living while filming Suits, at the city’s fashion week seven years ago.
She said: ‘Sophie has become a dear friend and someone who I think is so emblematic of strength that comes from embracing your humanity, even in the face of all these family and home and public pressures, keeping that sense of self while holding up the mantle of what comes with being a parent and a spouse, that’s a full plate.
Meghan went on to describe a day that she spent at her Montecito mansion with Sophie. She said: ‘This wasn’t our day of being the wives and moms, all perfectly quaffed with up-dos and pearls and demure smiles.
‘This was the other version of us both with wild curly hair and swimsuits and loose linen and huge belly laughs. Big cuddles with our little ones, quiet whispers of girl talk on the terrace, giddy like absolute schoolgirls. We were just having so much fun.’
Speaking during her recent interview with the Times, after discussing Meghan,
Sophie then turned the conversation over to Meghan’s sister-in-law Kate Middleton, revealing that her ‘heart just sunk’ when she heard about the Princess’s cancer diagnosis last month.
It is unclear why Sophie played down her friendship with Meghan, though it has been speculated that it could be linked to the breakdown of Meghan’s friendship with former best friend Jessica Mulroney – who has also previously acted as a stylist for the former Canadian First Lady.
SARAH FERGUSON
Last year, Sarah Ferguson appeared to distance herself from Meghan in an interview, saying she ‘hasn’t really met’ her – after the Sussexes claimed it was Fergie who ‘taught her to curtsey’ to the Queen.
The Duchess of York, 64, the mother of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, told The Telegraph she ‘doesn’t really know’ Meghan’.
However the claim comes in direct contradiction of the Sussexes, who have both claimed Fergie has been one of the friendlier members of the royal family – even recalling having drinks with Sarah at her home in The Royal Lodge.
In both the explosive Oprah Winfrey interview and Harry’s book Spare, the Sussexes said it was Sarah who taught Meghan how to curtsey ahead of her first meeting with the late Queen.
Elsewhere, Fergie said she did speak to Meghan at the Queen’s funeral in September, adding: ‘She looked absolutely beautiful. I think she is beautiful.’
In the Oprah interview, which was broadcast in early 2021, the Duchess of Sussex said Fergie was the person who taught her to curtsey.
She claimed when she went to meet the Queen for the first time at The Royal Lodge in Windsor, she ‘didn’t even know how to curtsey’ and was shocked when Harry explained it was expected of her.
Meghan said: ‘I went into it naively because I didn’t grow up knowing much about the royal family. I didn’t fully understand what the job was.’
She said that was the moment ‘the penny dropped’ that her perception about the Firm was ‘very different’ to the reality, and she had to learn how to perform the royal custom ‘very quickly’.
She said: ‘I didn’t know I was going to meet her until moments before. We were in the car and we were going to the Royal Lodge for lunch, and he [Harry] was like, “Oh, my grandmother is here, she’s gonna be there after church.”.
‘Right in front of the house we practiced and ran in. Fergie ran out and said, “Do you know how to curtsy?”,’ she recalled.
‘Apparently I did a very deep curtsy, I don’t remember it, and then we sat there and we chatted.
Meanwhile Harry also recounted a similar story in his book Spare, writing that he had actually hoped Fergie would be the first member of the family Meghan would meet as his girlfriend.
He wrote it was October 2016, explaining: ‘First stop, Royal Lodge. To meet Fergie, because Meg already knew Fergie’s daughter Euge, and Jack, so this seemed a logical baby step.’
He added: ‘Fergie came outside, somewhat aflutter, and said: “Do you know how to curtsy?” Meg shook her head. Fergie demonstrated once. Meg imitated her.
‘As we walked towards the door Fergie and I both leaned into Meg, whispering quick reminders. When you first meet the Queen it’s Your Majesty. Thereafter it’s just Ma’am. Rhymes with ham. Just, whatever you do, don’t talk over her, we both said, talking over each other.’
After Meghan met the Queen, Harry writes that they stayed at Royal Lodge for drinks.
It is unknown on what other occasions the two women might have crossed paths – with Meghan only serving as a working member of the royal family for a few years before moving to the US.
Fergie was invited to Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2018, while it’s likely the Duchess’ also crossed paths at Eugenie’s wedding that October.
The two also both attended the Queen’s funeral in September, and Fergie recalled speaking to Meghan at the event.
Despite the two appearing to disagree on how much they have come into contact, Sarah has been complimentary of Meghan on multiple occasions.
In the same Telegraph interview, she praised the Duchess for ‘making Harry happy’, saying: ‘She has made Harry very happy, and that is so nice. Honestly, he’s so happy with her. She really loves him. And I think that’s beautiful.’
Sarah’s daughter Eugenie is a close friend of the Sussexes, and has visited them a number of times in the US.
However Harry has also been highly critical of Sarah’s ex-husband Prince Andrew, 64, with whom Fergie still enjoys a close relationship.
He became the first royal to publicly criticise his uncle, labelling the Jeffrey Epstein affair ‘a shameful scandal’.
No one in ‘The Firm’ had spoken about claims the Duke of York twice sexually assaulted Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was trafficked by Epstein.
Andrew settled her lawsuit in 2022, accepting no liability, and has always denied any wrongdoing. But Harry brought up the affair in his book Spare.
GEORGE AND AMAL CLOONEY
Reports have claimed that George and Amal Clooney confessed they didn’t know the Duke and Duchess of Sussex moments before their royal wedding.
Hollywood actor George, 62, and human rights barrister Amal, 46, were among the 600 guests who witnessed Harry and Meghan exchange vows at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in May 2018.
In a sign of their apparent closeness to the couple, the Clooneys were given a ‘prime pew’ next to Lady Carolyn Warren, who is married to John Warren, the late Queen’s bloodstock adviser, and opposite Princess Margaret’s son Viscount Linley.
However the Clooneys reportedly told other guests they didn’t know the happy couple well at all, according to Rachel Johnson.
‘There’s a story doing the rounds that while Carolyn Bartholomew, Diana’s former flatmate, was waiting for the wedding service to start, she turned to the couple alongside her and asked how they knew Harry or Meghan,’ she wrote in online publication AirMail in 2020. ‘”We don’t,” the Clooneys answered brightly.’
Carolyn, who attended the wedding with husband William, is Harry’s godmother and was one of three young women who shared Diana’s Earl’s Court flat and was privy to the secret when she first met Charles.
She was given one of the best seats in the house, opposite Prince William and Prince Charles.
Johnson added there were plenty of other celebrity guests, including Oprah Winfrey, James Corden, and David and Victoria Beckham who ‘could not possibly be old and dear friends of the bridal couple’.
Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams and her husband Alexis Ohanian were seated near the Clooneys while the Beckhams, James Corden and his wife were further away.
George and Amal caused a stir when they arrived at the royal wedding and were among the exclusive 200-strong guest list invited to party the night away at Frogmore House. George is said to have danced with both Meghan and Kate Middleton, 42.
There are conflicting reports about how well the Clooneys knew the couple.
Finding Freedom, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s biography, claims the Clooneys hosted the Duke and Duchess of Sussex on at least two occasions at their British home in Sonning, in Oxfordshire.
The book added that Harry and Meghan brought their dogs with them, and that George and Amal loved to take friends out by the lake.
‘There, they had a secluded decked area and inside was a lounge decorated with traditional club wood paneling, heavy drapes, dark velvets, plush chairs, and a bar.’
The biography also claimed the Clooneys invited the royals to join them at Lake Como just weeks after the royal wedding, flying out on George’s private jet.
During the three-day visit, a source said, ‘Meghan and Amal spent a lot of time relaxing by the pool and playing with the twins while George and Harry checked out George’s motorbike collection. Harry took one of them out with one of his protection officers. George recently had an accident, so he wasn’t back on his bike yet.”
‘The duke and duchess weren’t the only guests that weekend. Eugenie and her fiance, Jack Brooksbank, were already at the villa when Harry and Meghan arrived, their visits overlapping briefly.’
Amal also hired a private jet to fly Meghan home from her New York baby shower in February 2019.
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