After moving to California and drifting away from The Firm, the only members of the royal family that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are said to have remained close to are cousins Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. But now, it appears that even they are distancing themselves from the couple.
Beatrice, 35, and Eugenie, 34, have not seen Harry during any of his trips to the UK this year, including at his Invictus Games event in May. And, after recently stepping up to support Prince William, it’s claimed that they have turned their backs on the Sussexes.
A source tells Closer, “One of Harry and Meghan’s great comforts was that they had Eugenie and Beatrice in their corner and on speed dial, not just for information about the royals but also because they loved them. Harry had all these plans to start building more of an alliance with them – he and Meghan wanted to bring them on board for their different projects in America and were ready to forge ahead.
"But suddenly things have changed, their calls with Eugenie and Beatrice have become way less frequent and when they do connect it’s more of a cordial exchange than a heart to heart like they used to have. They’ve read the signals enough to know that they’ve essentially lost them to the royals at this point, and it’s left a real sour taste.”
Harry, 39, and Meghan, 49, who live in Montecito with son Archie, five, and daughter Lilibet, three, remained in regular contact with the York sisters after stepping down as senior royals in 2020. Eugenie in particular had a close bond with the couple and was one of the first members of the royal family to be introduced to Meghan when she first started dating Harry.
In his memoir, Spare, Harry wrote, "I remember Euge hugging Meg, as if they were sisters. I remember [Harry's friend] Charlie giving me a thumbs- up. I remember thinking: If meeting the rest of my family goes like this, we're home free."
Eugenie made frequent visits to see them in the States and even appeared in their bombshell Netflix documentary at the end of 2022, which widened the couple’s rift with the royal family. In September, it was also speculated that Harry and Meghan spent time with her in Portugal, where she resides with husband Jack Brooksbank.
However, in more recent times, she has appeared to show signs of solidarity with Harry’s estranged brother William amid Kate Middleton and King Charles’ cancer diagnoses. In May, she supported the future monarch as she attended a Buckingham Palace Garden Party alongside Beatrice. “Come rain or shine, I was delighted to support my family yesterday to meet some special individuals at the Buckingham Palace Garden Party who have gone above and beyond to support their local communities and the country,” she wrote on Instagram.
Last month, the sisters also attended Royal Ascot with William, 42, and the Middletons, where Eugenie was seen deep in conversation with Carole Middleton.
And in another clear sign that Harry and Meghan may have lost their only royal allies, Beatrice and Eugenie's mother, Sarah Ferguson has also made her feelings towards the couple clear. The Duchess of York, 64, who has been going through her own battles with breast cancer and skin cancer, commented that she and Meghan do not have much of a bond, saying, "I don't really know Meghan, I haven't really met her."
She also appeared to make a thinly veiled dig at them last year when she said that royals who choose to step down “can’t have it both ways”. She added, “You can’t sit on the fence and keep one foot in and one foot out. You’re either in or out.”
While our insider says that Harry is trying “not to be angry or resentful”, he is reportedly planning to “confront Eugenie” about the frosty atmosphere when he’s back in the UK. “Meghan’s telling him to just let it go. It’s just another nail in the coffin as far as his connections with the family and really hurtful and difficult for him to deal with though, to say the least,” the source explains.
“He knows Beatrice and Eugenie aren’t exactly in a position where they can turn around to the royals and say that they’re ‘team Sussex’, but that being said, he does find it very sad that they suddenly seem to be so apprehensive of being openly associated with him and Meghan, which wasn’t the case up until very recently. It’s got Harry convinced that something was said to them because the change is so noticeable.
"Out of the whole family Beatrice and Eugenie and their husbands are the people he and Meghan are closest to, so to feel the relationship slipping away has got them both in a panic. They want to try and remedy it but it’s next to impossible because no one will come out and say what’s going on.”
However, the source adds that Harry is hopeful they can get their once close relationship back on track.
“They’re still hoping that this is just a blip and that they’ll come around again because they can’t imagine losing them too. They’ve had so much fun with them over the years and Meghan’s always felt they had her back, she really trusted and relied on them.
"They’ve always been there for her when others in the family weren’t, so this is quite a shock. And for Harry, even more so. It’s a real slap in the face to be effectively cast aside by two of the people he trusts the most and he still can’t wrap his head around it or believe it’s really happening,” we’re told.
“He had all these plans he was discussing with Eugenie when she came to LA and she seemed so keen to team up with him. He’s really at a loss to understand what’s happening and is convinced the only possibility is that someone from The Firm is meddling, which is just so disheartening but not the least bit surprising.”