Meghan Markle looked far more like a celebrity than a royal last week as she attended a glitzy showbiz event in Beverly Hills in a strapless black gown with a front slit.
The Duchess of Sussex was there to support her friend, filmmaker Tyler Perry, after the 55-year-old famously lent his $18m California home to her and Harry after they quit the Royal Family in 2020.
He is in her small circle of friends in California, where she and Harry continue to raise their two children.
The Sussexes’ $14.7million mansion in the celebrity-heavy enclave of Montecito has a long list of high-profile neighbours, including the popstar Katy Perry and talk-show host Oprah Winfrey.
As she continues to build a life in the area, Meghan is reported to have joined the neighbourhood mahjong group and has been spotted stopping to speak to locals in the street.
However Meghan’s in-laws, including King Charles, Prince William and Princess Kate, have seen far less of the Duchess recently than her sun-kissed neighbours.
Although Harry has made a number of solo trips in the past few years, the last time Meghan visited the UK was for the late Queen’s funeral in September 2022.
The solemn occasion was when she took part in an awkward-looking public walkabout outside Windsor Castle with Prince William and Princess Kate in which it appeared no one wanted to be there.
Meghan’s relations with the Windsor clan have been strained since she started dating Prince Harry in the summer of 2016 before they creaked further after her wedding in 2018, and then finally reached a breaking point after Megxit in 2020.
Here MailOnline looks back over each of her relationships with the Royal Family to see exactly when and why they fell apart.
Meghan Markle looked far more celebrity than royal last week as she attended a glitzy showbiz event in Beverly Hills with her friend Tyler Perry
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s $14.7million home in Montecito, Santa Barbara, California
The last time Meghan visited the UK was for the late Queen’s funeral in September 2022. It was when she took part in an awkward-looking public walkabout outside Windsor Castle with Prince William and Princess Kate in which it appeared no one wanted to be there
Princess Kate: An awkward introduction, a lip gloss ‘grimace’, and a teary bust-up over a bridesmaid dress
Meghan was introduced to Kate by her then-boyfriend of six months Prince Harry in January 2017.
But despite things being reported as having gone ‘really well’ following their first meeting at the time, a different story emerged in the royal couple’s Netflix series.
Meghan recounted how the interaction was awkward after she said she did not know the ‘formality’ of the family continued behind closed doors and that she is a ‘hugger’ – which she did not realise was ‘jarring for some Brits’.
And the relationship took a turn for the worse when Meghan asked to borrow lip-gloss from Kate ahead of their appearance at the first Royal Foundation forum summit in 2018.
In Harry’s book Spare he described the request as an ‘American thing’, writing: ‘Kate, taken aback, went into her handbag and reluctantly pulled out a small tube. Meg squeezed some onto her finger and applied it to her lips. Kate grimaced.’
However the pair’s relationship really started to flounder after an emotional conflict over Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress at Harry and Meghan’s 2018 wedding.
Princess Kate and Meghan Markle at Trooping The Colour in June 2018
Kate and Meghan had a disagreement over Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress
The Princess of Wales and Duchess of Cambridge pictured attending the Wimbledon women’s singles final together in 2019
In October 2018, it was reported that a conflict over Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress had left Kate in tears.
One unnamed friend claimed Kate wanted to follow ‘protocol’ with the bridesmaids, including Charlotte, then three, wearing tights – but Meghan disagreed.
In his book Revenge, Tom Bower claimed unnamed sources told him they disagreed over the length of Princess Charlotte’s hemline and the fit of her dress.
But the Duchess of Sussex later disagreed in her bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview, claiming it was the other way around and adding: ‘She [Kate] was upset about something, but she owned it, and she apologised. And she brought me flowers.’
Asking Harry about Kate and Meghan’s disagreement in January 2023, Harry’s friend Tom Bradby said: ‘Your version of it in this book is it was the other way round, Meghan was the one left in tears, Kate came round the next day with flowers to apologise and you’re careful to say there’s a witness.’
In response, Prince Harry admitted that ‘tensions were high’ at the time and blasted the Palace for not issuing a statement regarding the story.
In another episode of tension, Harry claimed in his book that William and Kate felt disgruntled they hadn’t received a gift for Easter.
Harry further wrote that Kate became upset and demanded an apology from Meghan for offending her when she mentioned her hormones after giving birth and suggesting it had affected her memory.
He claimed Meghan said Kate had forgotten something, and she had told her it didn’t matter because it was probably because of her ‘baby brain’ hormones.
Harry said Kate then said the two were not close enough for Meghan to talk about her hormones. Meghan then said she spoke to all her friends that way.
Following Megxit and the Sussexes subsequent move to California, the pair have only seen each other at large formal occasions, so a reconciliation seems unlikely.
In traditional royal fashion, Kate, along with the rest of the family, have refused to comment on her personal relationships, so only Meghan’s side of the story has been heard.
William: Warned Harry to ‘slow down’ in lead up to marriage, before labelling Meghan ‘rude’ and ‘abrasive’
When Meghan and Harry began dating, several of his old friends shared fears with William that he was moving too fast towards marriage.
William mentioned to his younger brother he had known Kate for eight years before he proposed.
But the appeal fell on deaf ears, royal author Tom Bower wrote: ‘Furious about the closing of ranks, Harry told Meghan. Both agreed that they were victims of racism. William, fumed Harry, was a snob.’
Nevertheless the wedding went ahead, but only after a series of rows.
One involved Kate Middleton being reportedly reduced to tears during a bridesmaid dress fitting for Princess Charlotte.
The photos of Meghan and Harry’s wedding showed William looking tense at the altar.
But in an effort to relax the atmosphere, William invited the Sussexes to their flat at Kensington Palace after they returned from their African honeymoon.
Meghan Markle and Prince William attend an Anzac Day service at Westminster Abbey on April 25, 2018 in London
William had already told Harry to slow down in his rush to marry Meghan. Pictured at the ceremony to commemorate Australia and New Zealand’s serving military, war dead and veterans in April 2018
The photos of Meghan and Harry’s wedding showed William looking tense at the altar
The Royal Family attending the annual Commonwealth Service in London on March 9, 2020. It was Meghan and Harry’s final royal engagement
However the chat over tea and biscuits in June 2018 descended into another conflict because the Duchess of Sussex told Kate that she must have ‘baby brain because of her hormones’, according to Harry’s memoirs.
William then called Meghan ‘rude’ to her face and ‘pointed a finger at her’ and explained: ‘These things are not done here’.
In an excerpt, which laid bare the rift between the Sussexes and the Waleses, Meghan then told William: ‘If you don’t mind, keep your finger out of my face’.
The Duchess of Sussex is then said to have declared that she had not wanted to offend Kate. They all hugged and left, Harry said, because they thought it best to head home rather than row further.
But the row seemed to leave its mark, as on Christmas Day 2018 royal watchers raised their eyebrows after William was seen giving Meghan the cold shoulder.
Footage of the couples leaving St Mary Magdalene Church at Sandringham, posted to Instagram, appeared to show Meghan turning to William to engage him in conversation.
However, the future King didn’t catch her eye and instead was intent on fixing his scarf, which he continually fidgeted with before getting into the waiting car.
Things reached a new low when William and Harry had an alleged physical altercation over Meghan’s treatment of staff in 2019.
While alone together, Harry wrote that William ‘knocked’ him to the ground, breaking a dish beneath his back in the process, and resulting in visible injuries.
Meghan seemed to turn to her brother-in-law to say something as they left church at Sandringham on Christmas morning in 2018, but William was more intent on fixing his scarf
Things looked awkward when Harry and Meghan joined William and Kate for a walkabout outside Windsor Castle following the death of the Queen
Harry wrote: ‘He walked into Nott Cott [Nottingham Cottage, Kensington Palace], where he hadn’t been since Meg first moved in. He looked piping hot.
‘”Meg’s difficult”, he said…”She’s rude. She’s abrasive. She’s alienated half the staff”.’
Harry started to defend his wife, and he wrote that the brothers were ‘soon talking over each other, both of us shouting’.
After an exchange of name-calling, the prince then gave readers an account of the physical nature of the altercation, which saw him ‘knocked’ to the floor with his necklace broken and shards of a shattered dog bowl cutting into him.
‘You don’t need to tell Meg about this’, William is alleged to have told his brother before he left.
Later that year, at the landmark Sandringham summit to decide the future of the Sussexes in January 2020, Megan was not present, nor did she dial in from Vancouver.
Sarah Ferguson: Anger over stealing her daughter’s attention on her wedding by announcing pregnancy
When Princess Eugenie married her marketing executive boyfriend Jack Brooksbank on October 12, 2018, they rightfully expected to be at the centre of attention on their big day.
But Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ruffled feathers when they used the event to announce their own spotlight-grabbing news – they were pregnant.
Harry wrote in Spare: ‘The various gatherings connected to the wedding would give us a chance to pull aside family members one by one and tell them our good news.’
Tom Bower wrote in his book, Revenge: Meghan, Harry And The War Between The Windsors: ‘Many wondered why Meghan chose to reveal her news on the bride’s big day.’
Eugenie and her mother, Sarah Ferguson, were particularly displeased by the timing and were said to be ‘furious’.
Jack Brooksbank and Princess Eugenie leaving the chapel after the wedding ceremony in October 2018
Prince Harry, with his wife Meghan, talking to the late Queen Elizabeth outside St George’s Chapel after Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s wedding in 2018
The bride’s mother, Sarah Ferguson, was reportedly ‘furious’ when Harry and Meghan used the occasion to announce they were pregnant
Princess Eugenie arriving at her wedding at St George’s Chapel in Windsor on October 12, 2018
The whole family had gathered for the wedding: The Queen, Prince Philip, Harry, Meghan, Prince William, Princess Kate, Sophie Countess of Wessex, James Viscount Severn and Prince Edward
Royal authors Dylan Howard and Andy Tillett wrote: ‘Meghan put her foot in it when she decided that it would be the ideal moment to announce that she and Harry were expecting their first child.
‘This was a huge social gaffe, even if you were not a Royal stealing the limelight from Eugenie, who was furious, as was her mother, Sarah.’
Eugenie and Jack’s wedding was attended by hundreds of guests including Naomi Campbell, Liv Tyler, Demi Moore, Robbie Williams, Ellie Goulding, James Blunt and Kate Moss.
Harry and Meghan’s official baby announcement to the public was released by Kensington Palace three days after the wedding on October 15.
But the ill-advised move has reportedly left a bitter taste in Fergie’s mouth.
Charles: Walked her down the aisle but became bruised after Oprah interview
Charles and Meghan’s relationship started off strong, with reports that he was acting as her ‘mentor’ by educating her on royal and constitutional history as they shared an interest in history, art and culture.
Not only that, but when Meghan’s father was unable to attend the ceremony, Charles agreed to Harry’s request to walk her down the aisle at their May 2018 wedding.
He also supported their move to Frogmore, paying out tens of thousands of pounds on fixtures and fittings for their new home, and allowed them to split away from William and Kate at Kensington Palace and establish their own court.
But Prince Charles was left ‘deeply hurt’ by Meghan and Harry’s tell-all interview with Oprah in 2021, where she claimed ‘concerns’ had been raised over their child Archie’s skin colour.
Charles arguably came out the worst from the various slings and arrows aimed at the Royal Family during the bombshell interview.
Charles walked Meghan down the aisle at her wedding in May 2018
The pair seemed to share a few secret words before they linked arms and walked towards the altar at Meghan and Harry’s wedding in May 2018
Meghan and Charles chatting at Royal Ascot in June 2019. According to sources, the prince had been teaching the former actress about constitutional and royal history
Prince Charles was said to have been hurt by the comments made at the Oprah interview
Harry said he felt ‘let down’ by his father who, he said, asked him to put his breakaway plan in writing and, he claimed, refused to take his calls at one point.
He spoke of being ‘cut off financially’, and there was clear resentment over having their security detail withdrawn and being stripped of their Royal patronages and Harry’s honorary military titles.
Things between Charles and Meghan seemed to still be strained when the Queen was on her deathbed at Balmoral in September 2022.
As her health deteriorated, close family members made their way to Scotland – they, however, did not include Meghan, with Charles reportedly telling Harry he did not want his son’s wife to come to Scotland.
By chance, Harry and Meghan were in the UK, making a number of engagements including an appearance at the One Young World Summit in Manchester.
Harry later wrote in Spare: ‘He [Charles] said I was welcome at Balmoral, but he didn’t want…her. He started to lay out his reason, which was nonsensical, and disrespectful, and I wasn’t having it. Don’t ever speak about my wife that way.
‘He stammered, apologetic, saying he simply didn’t want a lot of people around. No other wives were coming, Kate wasn’t coming, he said, therefore Meg shouldn’t. Then that’s all you needed to say.’
It has since been claimed by royal expert Robert Jobson, speaking to the Daily Telegraph Australia, that Charles asked William not to bring Kate to Balmoral, so that Meghan couldn’t come.
Meghan also stayed away for Charles’ coronation in May 2023, with one royal observer commenting the rest of the family was ‘relieved’.
Meghan spilled family drama as the world watched on March 7, 2021, in an 85-minute tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey
As the Queen’s health deteriorated, close family members made their way to Scotland – they, however, did not include Meghan, with Charles reportedly telling Harry he did not want his son’s wife to come to Scotland. This image of Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral was taken two days before her death.
The Queen: A warm welcome, followed by a major fallout over Meghan’s wedding tiara
The Queen was one of the first members of the family Meghan was introduced to by Harry shortly after they began dating in the summer of 2016.
She warmly welcomed her into the fold, including when she invited her to Christmas at Sandringham before her marriage to Harry, a personal gesture that was unprecedented.
But the pair’s relationship took a turn as Meghan’s May 2018 wedding to Harry approached due to the bride’s behaviour.
First, the Queen was said to be surprised that the new arrival rejected her suggestion that Prince Edward’s wife, Sophie, offer her guidance on joining ‘The Firm’.
Her Majesty was also taken aback at the divorcee’s choice of a white bridal gown for what was her second wedding.
But it was Meghan’s attitude towards her headwear that gave the Queen more serious cause for concern, according to royal expert Richard Eden.
She had offered Meghan access to her collection of tiaras and, during what Harry later described as an ‘extraordinary morning’, allowed her to try them on in front of her, her devoted dresser Angela Kelly and a royal jewellery expert in her private dressing room.
On the day of Meghan’s wedding, royal watchers noticed the Queen’s face looked stern as she looked across at Meghan in her wedding dress
Meghan waving with the tiara on her head at her wedding in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018
The late Queen’s closest adviser and dresser Angela Kelly seemed to have been annoyed with how she was treated by Meghan during the tiara try on. Pictured on December 11, 2018
Something later went badly wrong, however, when Meghan tried to arrange a fitting with Kelly, who, it seems, did not like the manner in which she was being treated by the bride and groom.
Perhaps accustomed to ordering around underlings on a television shoot, Meghan may not have been used to dealing with someone such as Kelly, who – although a servant – was also a confidante and friend of the Queen.
Harry denied in his memoirs, Spare, that he angrily told Kelly, ‘What Meghan wants, Meghan gets.’ He did, however, admit they had been exasperated by the dresser, who ‘fixed me with a look that made me shiver’.
He added: ‘I could read in her face a clear warning. This isn’t over.’
On the day of the wedding, royal watchers noticed the Queen’s face looked stern as she looked across at Meghan in her wedding dress.
Following Megxit and the Sussexes’ decision to do the bombshell Oprah interview the Queen was reportedly ‘sad, not angry’.
Things seemed to get worse when Meghan and Harry called their daughter Lilibet, the very personal term of endearment for the late Queen used only by her closest family and friends.
In fact, according to Daily Mail Royal Editor Rebecca English, the Queen was so upset by the Sussexes’ decision that she told aides: ‘I don’t own the palaces, I don’t own the paintings, the only thing I own is my name. And now they’ve taken that.’
Queen Elizabeth II and Meghan watch a flypast to mark the centenary of the Royal Air Force from the balcony of Buckingham Palace on July 10, 2018
Meghan and Harry called their daughter Lilibet (pictured), the very personal term of endearment for the late Queen used only by her closest family and friends, reportedly without asking her permission
After the BBC reported the Queen had not been asked for permission, the Sussexes issued a statement rejecting the story.
Nevertheless the Queen decided to invite Meghan and Harry to her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June 2022.
But during the festivities the Queen was not pictured with the couple once.
Lilibet turned one during the trip and it was said Meghan wanted to get a picture with the Queen and the child named after her during the trip.
And although the Queen did visit the couple to meet Lilibet, she refused to allow a photograph to be taken.
It was the last time the Queen would ever meet Meghan as she died a few months later.
