Like many soon-to-be mothers expecting their first child, Meghan Markle was eager to have a baby shower that fulfilled her wildest dreams…
Like many soon-to-be mothers expecting their first child, Meghan Markle was eager to have a baby shower that fulfilled her wildest dreams.
Her high expectations were met when she had an extravagant party inside the largest hotel penthouse suite in the US at the five-star Mark Hotel in New York.
The 10,000 square feet pad costs £57,000 a night and is spread across two floors, it has five bedrooms, two bars, four fireplaces, six bathrooms and two powder rooms, with stellar views on its rooftop terrace over Central Park.
The guest list for the pre-Archie bash on February 20, 2019, did not comprise a single member of her family, nor her new sister-in-law Kate Middleton.
Instead she partied with celebrities including tennis-ace Serena Williams, Suits co-star Abigail Spencer, fashion designer Misha Nonoo and lawyer Amal Clooney.
Altogether the around 20 guests were greeted to an event of grandeur, with a groaning table of lavishly displayed flowers, Michelin-star quality food and high-end gift bags for everyone.
It is alleged that the eye-watering cost of the party cost anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000 in total.
In contrast Princess Kate opted not to have a baby shower before Prince George in 2013, or for any of her other children, with one royal expert telling ABC News at the time that ‘a lavish baby shower would be seen as highly inappropriate’.
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But it seems Meghan, who in 2019 was still a working member of the Royal Family, was not worried about how it would look and pressed on regardless.
The acclaimed royal biographer Tom Bower claimed that Meghan’s glitzy New York bash was not a usual shower and was instead organised to promote the Duchess and her friend’s careers.
In his 2022 bestselling book Revenge, he wrote: ‘The result [of the planning] bore no resemblance to a traditional shower party to anticipate a child’s birth. Rather it was a launch-pad for a group of friends set on financially exploiting Meghan’s status.
He continued: ‘The guest list was Meghan’s latest shot at launching her own celebrity in America.
‘She had no intention of following the Queen’s notable frugality.
‘Journalists and photographers, briefed by the organisers, were crammed behind specially erected crash-barrier outside the hotel.’
Despite promoting herself as a philanthropist and friend to the environment, Meghan flew in on a private jet for the star-studded event.
Bower wrote: ‘After conversations with Oprah Winfrey and others, it was said, Meghan asked Serena Williams‘ publicists to arrange the party.’
After arriving, the wealthy celebrities were then able to tuck into the signature macaron towers of a fancy French bakery which boasted they ‘evoke the Parisian glamour and elegance that Marie Antoinette would approve of’.
A sneak peek at Meghan’s baby shower at the Mark Hotel in New York
The Duchess of Sussex was unlikely to welcome comparisons to the 18th Century French queen who, when told that her subjects were starving and had no bread, replied: ‘Let them eat cake.’
Made from organic almond flour, eggs and sugar, each delicate macaron is handmade using two outer shells with a piped ganache filling.
The table, covered in a thick cream linen tablecloth, was anchored by a spectacular centrepiece of a huge glass vase containing 3ft high cherry blossom branches.
In addition to the macaron towers, the cakes and confectionery were thought to have been made by Michelin-starred chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, whose eponymous restaurant at The Mark is considered one of the finest in New York.
According to People, after the event guests were gifted Cuyana leather totes that were filled to the brim with products, much like Oscars swag bags.
Bower claims that The Mark, which is promoted as ‘NYC’s most boldly lavish hotel’, was one of the city’s few luxury hotels that could guarantee full-frontal publicity for every arrival. He wrote ‘a side door was practically unusable’.
So when Meghan did try and use the still-very-public side door, she was predictably snapped by the horde of photographers waiting for her outside.
But a Daily Mail investigation into the event months later revealed she only snuck out of the ‘side door’ to avoid giving the impression she was enjoying the media attention.
Meghan Markle and guests leave baby shower in snowy NYC
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State Department documents exclusively obtained revealed the Duchess told her protective detail she wanted to change the ‘optics’ of her departure by using a side entrance.
The truth was that her demand to leave the hotel out of a service door necessitated vehicles be moved to line up at the door, telegraphing the change, according to the report.
But Meghan’s guests also seemed to enjoy the high-profile nature of the event to promote themselves in various ways with ‘Meghan’s blessing’ to do so, according to Bower.
He claims Serena Williams ‘re-advertised her brand citing Meghan’s name’ after the event.
And Amal Clooney ‘clearly wanted to be photographed walking towards the hotel door’ he also wrote.
He claims Celine Khavarani, a publicist, used the event to promote her clients’ fashions.
Jessica Mulroney hoped to capitalise on her friendship to get an ‘enhanced’ TV contract.
The day after the party, Misha Nonoo appeared on NBC’s Today programme to discuss her friend Meghan’s passion for her fashion designs.
And her make-up artist Daniel Martin ‘with lightning speed’ had posted pictures of the food, rattles, and bibs – and his salon’s address, according to Bower.
He also claimed Abigail Spencer promoted her new show called Rectify and Janina Gavankar ‘blessed the publicity generated by the baby shower’ to be cast in a new acting role.
Gayle King, after appearing on CBS to plug her intimacy with Meghan following the party, successfully lobbied for a new lucrative contract, Bower claimed.
Fit for a princess (or a prince)! Inside America’s most expensive hotel room – the $75,000-A-NIGHT penthouse described as ‘A Castle in the Sky’ – where Serena Williams and Amal Clooney are hosting a lavish baby shower for Meghan today
And although the celebrity guests at the party did get extensive coverage in the press, it quickly turned into a backlash when the public realised how indulgent it had been, with newspaper headlines condemning the shower as ‘ostentatious’.
Bower claims Meghan’s defenders retorted that the critics were racist.
Meghan herself came out in defence of the party in her and Harry’s Netflix ‘docuseries’ in December 2022, claiming the press was trying to ‘ruin’ the beautiful moment.
She said: ‘My girlfriends surprised me with a really beautiful baby shower in New York.
‘They were like, “we’re gonna shower her with love, we’re gonna shower her baby with love, and she’s gonna survive this”.’
According to Bower, Meghan had been telling her friends the misery of life in Kensington Palace, which was ‘akin to survival behind a prison wall’.
The Duchess continued in the documentary: ‘These strong, successful, independent women choose to use their own money — and it’s not taxpayer money— to throw a party for their friend from a place of love.
‘Why are you taking such a beautiful moment and trying to ruin it?’
Meghan and Harry’s ‘cheerleader’ Omid Scobie claimed the luxurious party left senior courtiers at Buckingham Palace ‘spitting out their morning tea’ when pictures emerged.
In his 2020 Sussex-friendly biography Finding Freedom, which he authored alongside fellow journalist Carolyn Durant, he wrote: ‘While the trip had been a hit with Meghan, senior courtiers back in the UK were spitting out their morning tea.
The cost of Meghan’s New York baby shower
Private jet from the UK to New York, round trip – $250,000
The Mark Hotel Grand Penthouse Suite – $150,000
Five nights in a one-bedroom suite at The Mark Hotel – $9,982.05
Dinner for five at The Polo Bar – approx. $420
Lunch at Cafe Bolud – approx. $78
Afternoon tea for two at Laduree – approx. $45
Two Royal Protection officers – $14,213
Harp player Erin Hill – $625
17 Away carry-on suitcases – $3,825
Gifts: Babyletto Hudson 3-in-1 Convertible Crib – $379
10ft mandarin tree – approx. $140
Lady Fleur NYC roses – approx. $399.95
Trek bicycle – approx. $609.99
Carnival King cotton candy machine – $199.99
JZ Events – $50,000
Florist Lewis Miller – $20,000
‘They saw her lavish baby shower thrown by friends turn into a media circus with what looked like carefully stage-managed paparazzi walks of the Duchess in big black sunglasses from her hotel to her car and a laundry list of insider party details reported by US press.
‘It’s fair to say that the optics of the somewhat flashy shower did not go down well with certain individuals at the Palace.
It continues: ‘Meghan was often criticised for being too Hollywood, meaning too flashy. Especially for the reserved aesthetic of the monarchy.’
Scobie spoke further about the backlash on a Channel 4 documentary called A Very Royal Baby: From Cradle to Crown in May 2021, explaining: ‘I remember speaking to a palace aide at the time who rolled their eyes.
‘They were horrified that something so common was happening within the House of Windsor.’
He added: ‘It is as far from British tradition as you can get.
‘We had never seen someone throw this very lavish affair to celebrate the impending arrival of a baby.’
The shower also clearly rankled royal experts, with Diana’s longtime private secretary Patrick Jephson saying: ”This is a clear sign that Meghan thinks that being a royal Duchess is about celebrity — not royalty’.
Meanwhile royal biographer Ingrid Seward described the affair as ‘trashy’ with its starry guest list and swanky location.
In the years since, the over-the-top event seems to have lingered in the memory of many Brits.
Jeremy Clarkson wrote in his Sunday Times column in August that the baby shower was a ‘stupid’ and ‘unroyal’ thing to do.
But it seems Meghan has learned from the experience, and opted to forgo a baby shower for the birth of her second child Lilibet in June 2021.
‘Meghan doesn’t feel a big baby shower with gifts is appropriate right now,’ a source told US Weekly at the time.
The insider continued: ‘There is too much strife in the world. She and Harry have been so involved with humanitarian issues, they both feel their time and resources can be used for a better purpose.’
As well as scaring Meghan off from doing another one, Bower claims the New York baby shower trip ‘appeared to settle her fate’.
He claims it caused her to continue to be ‘contemptuous’ of the Palace and the staff, leading her to decisively set out to fashion her own career regardless of the monarch by working in secret.
Less than one year after the trip, in January 2020, she and Harry announced they were stepping down as working members of the Royal Family.
They have yet to return, and are instead seemingly content to spend their time around US celebrities while living in their $14.7million mansion in Montecito.
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