March 21, 2025

What happened to Meghan’s celebrity friends?

Show Notes
Transcript

What happened to Meghan’s celebrity friends?

*With Love, Meghan*, reportedly struggled to attract the A-list star power many expected, leading to a somewhat underwhelming reception for the Duchess of Sussex’s foray into the world of cookery programming.

Despite her well-documented connections to high-profile figures such as Oprah Winfrey and Serena Williams, neither appeared on the show. Instead, the series, filmed at a farmhouse near the Sussexes’ Montecito residence, features a lineup consisting largely of close friends and lesser-known personalities, including her longtime make-up artist Daniel Martin and former *Suits* co-star Abigail Spencer.

A source speaking to *The Sun* suggested that securing guests had been a challenge. “They struggled to book guests. They had a real hard time, and it shows,” the source claimed.

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Callaroga Shark Media, Hello and welcome to Palace Intrigue. I'm

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your host, Mark Francis. What happened to Meghan's celebrity Friends

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with Love? Meghan reportedly struggled to attract the A list

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star power many expected, leading to a somewhat underwhelming reception

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for the Duchess of Sussex foray into the world of

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cookery programming. Despite her well documented connections to high profile

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figures such as Oprah Winfrey and Serena Williams, neither appeared

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on the show. Instead. The series, filmed at a farmhouse

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near the Sussex's Montecito Residents, features a lineup consisting largely

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of close friends and lesser known personalities, including her longtime

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makeup artist Daniel Martin and former Suits co star Abigail Spencer.

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A source speaking to the Sun suggested that securing guests

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had been a challenge. They struggled to book guests. They

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had a real hard time and it shows, the source claimed.

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In the standard tenure, gold Rites began never understood the

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gain when she signed bananas with inspirational mantras for sex

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workers and told a TV documentary crew she wasn't okay

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and thank you for asking. We knew she wanted to

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be loved for herself. Being royal means not being loved

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for yourself. Essentially, you are not allowed a self. Began

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didn't understand that you were never snotty with the staff.

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Some of them claimed PTSD after working for her. She

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vehemently denied mistreating her staff with her team, calling the

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allegations a calculated, semere campaign, and that if you have

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a toxic family, the markles you just smile and manage it.

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The Royal family are related to toxic people too, but

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Charles the Third has never complained about his dead cousin

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Leopold of the Belgians genocide Air of the Congo. Tina Brown,

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Megan's most insightful biographer, blames Harry for Began's troubles in

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The Palace Papers, the best modern book on the Royal family,

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Brown says Prince Harry wanted a collaborator in misery, not success.

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He was six in line to the throne, Meghan was

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six on the call sheet in suits, and they met

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there in thwarted misery. I think he chose her to

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get him out a fragrant one woman extraction team, an

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available mother, his life before her was anguish. It's all

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in his memoir Spare. His brother refused to speak to

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him at Eton, friends chased him through woods with shotguns.

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A gamekeeper stuffed his head into a dead deer. He

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was made to walk behind his mother's coffin his grief,

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stolen by strangers. William had it too, but he isn't

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a second son. Primogeniture is cruel win It takes all

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and being the heir as compensations. If they have a

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fatal floor, as all tragic heroes must, it is vanity.

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They cannot understand that if you leave the royal family,

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you leave the status too. And so there is something

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tragic about Meghan hanging on in her borrowed kitchen and

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pretending to be happy. She is now an ideal wife

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in someone else's house, selling a lifestyle. I am not

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sure she even wants, but royalty exists to be trapped

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one way or the other, and what else women to do.

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One of her offerings is the beautiful inside cake, and

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after everything she's been through, it feels like a screen.

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Royal expert Jenny Bond spoke to the Mirror about Megan,

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correcting Mindy Kayling about the Sussex surname and doing it

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on camera. Jenny said, I thought it was rather a

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pointed remark to make so publicly to a friend. She

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could have just halted the filming for a moment and

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privately corrected her guest. But she makes a fair argument

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that some women feel it's important for the family to

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have a shared surname. The official royal surname for the

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late Queen's descendants is Mount Batton, Windsor, but Prince George

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and his siblings were actually called Cambridge School and now Wales.

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Harry and William adopted the surname Wales in their military careers,

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so Megan is quite within her rights to adopt a

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married name of Sussex and also use this for the children.

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I don't think she's particularly trying to cling to her

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royal connections, more that she is celebrating the bond with

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her husband and children. In the Daily Mail, Richard Eden

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tackled the same subject, pointing out they have of course

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visited Sussex only once, hosting a number of engagements in

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the county on a day in their wedding year. It

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is striking two that they chose to use the royal

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family's traditional surname Mount Batten Windsor on the birth certificates

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of their children. Eden quotes the Pallace Insider as saying

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it's clearly a warning shot. One theory is that the

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Sussexes wanted Charles and William to know they will use

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their titles whenever they please. Eden also reminds us that

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Meghan has brought up the issues of titles before, specifically

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when it comes to the children. Meghan's remarks in her

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twenty twenty one interview with Oprah Winfrey suggested that Archie

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had been denied his birth writers prince and implied that

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his decision deviated from royal protocol. She also expressed her

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shock upon learning that Archie would not receive police protection,

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hinting that the choice may have been influenced by his

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mixed heritage. However, the reality of the situation was more nuanced.

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Under the nineteen seventeen Letters Paident issued by King George

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the Fifth, the title of prince or princesses automatically granted

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only to the children and grandchildren of a reigning monarch.

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At the time of Archie's birth in twenty nineteen, Queen

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Elizabeth I was still on the throne, making Archie a

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great grandchild of the sovereign and therefore ineligible for the

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title under existing rules. It is worth noting that Queen

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could have issued new letters patent, as she did for

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the Cambridge Children in twenty twenty twelve, ensuring that all

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of Prince William's children would be styled as princes and princesses.

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No such amendment was made for Archie or his younger

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sister Lilibert. However, following the accession of King Charles the

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Third in twenty twenty two, Archie and Lilibert, as grandchildren

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of the sovereign, automatically became eligible for their respective titles

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of Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. The Duke and Duchess

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of Sussex confirmed in early twenty twenty three that their

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children would indeed use these titles. The matter of royal

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security is a separate issue. Titles do not automatically confer

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police protection, which is granted based on security assessments rather

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than rank within the royal family. Decisions on security funding

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are made by the Royal and VP Executive Committee and

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independent body rather than the Palace. David Sherburne, the esteemed

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barrist and known for representing a host of high profile clients,

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has spoken of his admiration for Harry's unwavering commitment to

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his legal battle against the press. Sherburne, who has acted

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on behalf of figures such as Amy Winehouse, Sheryl Cole

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and Harry Styles, expressed a certain frustration that, after weeks

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of meticulous preparation, he was ultimately unable to present his

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arguments in court due to a last minute settlement. Speaking

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on The Newsagent's podcast, Sherborne recalled the moment he realized

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the opportunity had slipped away. I think it was the

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Tuesday morning. I had my notes in front of me,

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ready to spend the next three days opening the case,

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explaining all the documents. I think it was really about

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five minutes beforehand that I was finally tapped on the

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shoulder and told the parties were very, very close to

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an agreement. Indeed, I mean it's very clear. Whatever you

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may think of Harry, he is absolutely clear and focused

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on what he wants to achieve and passionate about doing so.

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I admire that he wasn't interested in the financial compensation

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that would come with he was interested in personally having

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his day in court. Rather, Prince Harry believed that his

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public duty is to represent people who don't have the

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voice that he has. Palacentric could be right back. Elizabeth

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the First ruled with strategy, power, and an iron grip

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on her image, but one scandal nearly cracked the facade.

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Dubbed the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth never married, a choice driven

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by both personal and political strategy. Given that her father,

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Henry the eighth, practically turned matrimony into a blood sport,

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she had every reason to be wary. Instead, she played

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the marriage game was a diplomatic tool, dangling the possibility

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of union to keep foreign and domestic alliances in check.

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But that didn't mean she never fell in love. Enter

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Robert Dudley, childhood friend, trusted courtier, and the man many

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believe was Elizabeth's one true love. She made him Master

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of the Horse, a fancy title that meant he controlled

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the royal road trips and kept him close, but their

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relationship was marred by a scandal. Dudley's wife, Amy Robsart,

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was found dead with a broken neck in fifteen sixty,

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though her death was ruled an accident. Whispers of foul

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play never faded, and the shadow of suspicion made marriage

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to Elizabeth impossible. Not that she let go of him.

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She even tried to marry him off to Mary, Queen

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of Scot's, under the bizarre condition that they all lived

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together at court. Elizabeth showered Dudley with gifts, including Kenilworth Castle,

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where she famously stayed for nineteen days in fifteen seventy five,

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possibly an ultimatum from Dudley marry me well, let me go.

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Neither happened, but their bond remained. When Dudley died in

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fifteen eighty eight, Elizabeth was devastated. Fifteen years later when

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she passed. His final letter was found at her bedside,

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a reminder of what might have been in a life

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ruled by duty over desire, and they have it. She

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tried to email us. Our address is the Palace Intrigue

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at gmail dot com. Please follow us on Spotify, Apple

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or the app of your choice. Leave us a review

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of five stars if you're enjoining the show, I'm Mark

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Francis My thanks to John McDermott, This Palace Intrigue and

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good Times

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