Why Princess Eugenie has stayed close to Meghan Markle despite royal drama

Meghan Markle’s relationship with the British royal family has been fraught with tension since her and Prince Harry’s highly publicized departure from royal duties. However, despite the ongoing rift, one royal has reportedly remained close to the Duchess of Sussex—Princess Eugenie.

Eugenie was the first royal Meghan met back in 2013, years before she even started dating Prince Harry. Their long-standing friendship has endured, even as Meghan and Harry stepped back from royal life and relocated to the United States.

In 2023, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex purchased a holiday home in Portugal, coincidentally in the same resort where Princess Eugenie spends her summers. While it remains unclear when Meghan and Eugenie last met, Meghan referenced their friendship in her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, recalling a moment before she first met the late Queen Elizabeth II.

“We were going for lunch at Royal Lodge, which is where some other members of the family live, specifically Andrew and Fergie, and Eugenie and Beatrice would spend a lot of time there. Eugenie and I had known each other before I knew Harry, so that was comfortable,” Meghan shared.

Prince Harry also reflected on Eugenie’s connection with Meghan in his memoir, Spare. He described a moment when Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, saw Meghan in the presence of Queen Elizabeth but maintained their formal royal demeanor.

“Euge and Jack were near Granny [Queen Elizabeth] and they almost seemed to pretend not to know Meg. They were very quiet, very proper. Each gave Meg a quick kiss on the cheek, but it was pure royal. Pure British,” he wrote.

Despite the turmoil within the royal family, Meghan and Eugenie’s bond appears to remain intact, standing out as one of the few relationships the Duchess has maintained within the royal fold.

Are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle still close to Princess Eugenie?

Despite Meghan and Harry’s strained ties with the royal family, Princess Eugenie remains one of their closest allies. She was the first royal Harry introduced Meghan to in 2016 when they started dating.

In 2022, Eugenie even made a rare cameo in the couple’s Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan. She was seen playing on the beach in California with Prince Archie, 5—a sign of her enduring bond with the Sussexes.

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