Inside Meghan and Harry’s brand new glamorous friendship group after bitter bust up with David and Victoria Beckham
THE Duchess of Sussex’s birthday celebrations this month showed a huge shift in the couple’s inner circle.
Rather than surrounding themselves with the glam names who attended their wedding, in Los Angeles Harry and Meghan seem to be growing closer to a group dubbed the Montecito Mafia.
Three years after buying an £11million mansion in exclusive Santa Barbara County, California, many of the people they hang out with are neighbours.
It comes following rumours that David and Victoria Beckham are the latest friends to be shunned by Harry’s former actress wife.
And their fresh connections appear to have a lot more in common with lifestyle blogger Meghan, 42, than ex-military man Harry, 38.
A local source said: “Her friends are very much into the Gwyneth Paltrow-style wellness fads.”
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Many are linked to neighbour Ellen DeGeneres, whose talk show ended last year amid bullying allegations.
Our insider claimed Harry, recently away on a five day trip to Japan and Singapore, is “happier bunkered down at home” with their children Archie, four, and Lilibet, two.
The couple have made only four public appearances together this year, one of which was a meal with her pals. Meghan is due to join her husband in Germany next month for the Invictus Games, which he founded.
Neither have much time for their families, with her estranged father Thomas hoping to make contact again after a stroke and Harry leaving King Charles’s Coronation quickly.
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We look at the shifting allegiances of the self-exiled Prince and his wife.
THE IN-CROWD
The “wellness” people: This week Kadi Lee posted an image of her enjoying a relaxed late birthday lunch with Meghan.
The “wellness” entrepreneur co-runs a company called Highbrow Hippie, which sells products such as “moonstone crystal essence”.
Her blog, going for 11 years with Myka Harris, is like Meghan’s former one The Tig, with messages about “conscious community”.
Celebrity stylist Kadi was described as Meghan’s “hair colourist” last year and has worked with Elizabeth Hurley and Julia Roberts.
Gwyneth Paltrow shares an interest in lifestyle blogs with Meghan, who she dined with in May.
There has been talk of the Duchess bringing back The Tig, but it could struggle to keep up with Gwynnie’s Goop brand.
Tina Brown, who wrote an unauthorised biography about Meghan, said: “The wink-wink sensationalism of Goop’s This Smells Like My Vagina candle wouldn’t have found itself on earnestly tasteful Tig.”
Ellen’s friends: Much of the Sussex social network revolves around Ellen DeGeneres and her wife Portia de Rossi. Meghan went to see the Barbie movie with Portia this month.
The Ally McBeal star, 50, had been pals with the Suits actress prior to her meeting Harry and lives with Ellen in Montecito.
Well-connected cosmetics mogul Victoria Jackson is a long-time pal of Ellen who recently stepped inside the social circle. Victoria, who was credited with creating the “no make-up” make-up in the 1980s, is married to Bill Guthy, whose agency promotes the beauty lines of Jennifer Lopez.
Meanwhile, Amanda Leone is said to be Meghan’s most trusted hairdresser and lives close by. She is another pal of Ellen.
Power figures: Ari Emanuel’s company owns the mixed martial arts Ultimate Fighting Championship.
The 62-year-old businessman is the chief exec of talent agency Endeavor, which signed Meghan earlier this year. Ari’s wife Sarah Staudinger, 34, founder of cult accessory brand Staud, is also friends with the couple.
Tinder co-founder Whitney Wolfe Herd, 34 — chief executive of Bumble — and her Texas oil heir husband Michael Herd, joined Harry and Meghan on a sushi date in May.
And 16-time Grammy-winning songwriter David Foster and his fifth wife Katharine McPhee are also part of their inner circle.
American Idol runner up Katharine said: “My husband has a beautiful relationship with Harry, like father and son.”
Harry’s friendship with David, 73, came via Meghan, who has known Katharine, 39, since childhood.
They are also said to be “very good friends” with Oprah Winfrey, who they granted their first interview to after quitting as members of the Royal Family.
New showbiz “pals”: Harry has a connection with Saturday Night Fever star John Travolta as the actor danced with Princess Diana at the White House in 1985.
Meghan and her husband reportedly got on well with the 69-year-old star when they met at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles.
They hung out in the VIP Polo Lounge, but it is unclear whether this will be a long-term association.
One of the couple’s few date nights this year was shared with There’s Something About Mary star Cameron Diaz, 50, and her rocker hubby Benji Madden. They dined together in Montecito in May.
Old friends: Lucy Fraser is a long-time pal who partied with the Duchess at a Taylor Swift concert in Los Angeles last week.
She and Meghan met in 2014, went to Costa Rica together and worked on The Tig. Lucy was in the Netflix documentary and at their wedding.
And Harry has clung to Argentinian polo player Nacho Figueras.
They were together in Singapore earlier this month for a charity polo match and have been friends since 2007. Nacho, 46, is another friend of Ellen.
Meghan met model Kelly Zajfen through first husband Trevor Engelson.
She and Harry are thought to dine with her and lawyer husband Julian at private San Vicente Bungalows members’ club, Hollywood.
THE OUT-CROWD
Meghan’s out crowd: David and Victoria Beckham welcomed Harry and Meghan into their world shortly after the couple got together.
But according to author Tom Bower, that friendship is now over — with Meghan allegedly deciding to sideline Victoria.
Reportedly Harry invited former England captain Becks to Australia for the Invictus Games but didn’t meet him.
There are also rumours Meghan has sidelined her old pal and bridesmaid Jessica Mulroney.
The fashion stylist, 43, had a decade-long friendship with the Duchess that is thought to have been hit after blogger Sasha Exeter accused Jessica of “textbook white privilege” three years ago — and Meghan is said to have distanced herself.
But Jessica claimed that she still FaceTimed with Harry’s wife.
Made In Chelsea’s Millie Mackintosh said she felt “snubbed” by Meghan after they grew close in the UK.
Millie, 33, who was married to pop star Professor Green, spent afternoons with her at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire before being dropped after she met Harry.
The reality show star said: “I messaged her and said, ‘Hey I hope you’re OK, thinking of you’. She sent me this really abrupt message.”
Harry’s out crowd: Old Etonian Tom “Skippy” Inskip’s association with Harry dates back to those infamous naked pics and the “hippy crack” japes over a decade ago.
But according to the 2020 book Finding Freedom, by the Sussex’s journalist friend Omid Scobie, Harry was furious when Tom questioned the speed of his relationship with Meghan.
Tom is said to have been “punished” by not being invited to the couple’s evening wedding party.
It was a similar fate for Thomas and Charlie van Straubenzee, who have been torn in allegiances between rowing siblings Harry and Prince William.
Thomas is godfather to William’s daughter Princess Charlotte and is said to no longer be in contact with Harry.
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Some of the Prince’s former military colleagues disapproved of the content of Harry’s bestselling autobiography Spare.
There was disquiet about Harry, who was part of a helicopter crew which saw action in Afghanistan, talking about the number of enemy he had killed.