What to Know
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s relationships with members of the royal family tend to be rather… complicated. But they seemed to maintain a close friendship with Princess Eugenie in spite of it all (even after they stepped down as working royals). Now, though, people are noticing apparent signs of tension—and another high-profile issue within the royal family might have something to do with it.
Now, Princess Eugenie is reportedly more invested in appeasing other members of the family.
It’s not hard to understand why. According to recent reports, she seems to feel more pressure to stay on her relatives’ good sides because of her father, the former prince Andrew. Andrew lost his royal titles and was evicted from his residence amid renewed concern about his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the allegations against him.
Though that seemed to be the breaking point for King Charles and other members of the royal family toward the end of last year, Andrew’s many scandals have been an ongoing source of stress and discomfort for the family for decades.
So, it’s not hard to believe that his immediate family would worry about their reputations.
Perhaps Eugenie doesn’t need any additional negative attention right now.
Which might explain why she seems to be keeping her distance from Meghan and Harry. According to a new report from RadarOnline, Eugenie is more concerned about maintaining a positive relationship with King Charles and Prince William. And remaining close with Meghan and Harry might not be the best way to go about doing that.
Sources told the publication that she’s worried that maintaining a close relationship with Meghan and Harry could worsen her relationship with Charles and William, which is really the last thing she needs when the former prince Andrew is her father.
“Eugenie has become very reluctant to maintain the same level of contact with the Sussexes, despite their longstanding friendship,” a source told RadarOnline. It seems like she’s been fairly discrete about it, but it also sounds like Meghan and Harry have noticed. The source added that they find it disappointing, given that Eugenie was once “one of (their) most dependable allies within the royal family.”
Harry and Meghan are back in the UK now.
But it seems as though physical proximity hasn’t helped strengthen the strained relationship (Eugenie now spends a significant amount of time in Portugal with her husband and children, but Meghan and Harry had reportedly envisioned spending time with them there now that they live closer). Things have not gone as planned, though. Another source told the publication that Eugenie is now “less enthusiastic about arranging meetings with the couple.” Ouch.
This report comes just after an unexpected eBay listing raised questions about the state of Eugenie and Meghan’s friendship. Somehow, a book that Meghan gave to Eugenie’s family a few years ago ended up for sale online for $26, 500 (and it even included a heartfelt note from Meghan).
The listing later disappeared from the platform, but not before people started questioning whether Eugenie had intentionally gotten rid of a thoughtful gift from Meghan.
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