Meghan Markle claimed she knew nothing about the royals – but now estranged BFF Jessica Mulroney recalls how her father-in-law hosted Charles, Diana and the late Queen as Prime Minister of Canada

• Jessica shared an Instagram post suggesting a strong royal connection 
• READ MORE: The rise and fall of Meghan and Jessica Mulroney’s friendship: How did the Canadian stylist go from being a royal BFF to airbrushed out of the Sussexes life? 

The Duchess of Sussex has long maintained that she knew very little of the royal family before meeting Prince Harry – but now it’s emerged that one of her closest friends could perhaps have helped her with a few pointers. 

Meghan, 42, and her former BFF Jessica Mulroney, 43, were once inseparable after meeting on the showbiz scene in Toronto – in fact they were so close that Meghan FaceTimed the stylist and presenter just before Prince Harry proposed to her. 

Now, Jessica who is married to Ben Mulroney – son of the former Canadian PM Brian Mulroney – has taken the opportunity to remind fans of her family’s other brushes with royalty. 

She took to her Instagram story to share a snap of Brian and his wife Mila, hosting  Prince Charles and Princess Diana on an official visit to Ottawa back in the 1990s. 

What’s more, Brian and Mila also hosted the late Queen Elizabeth in Vancouver in 1987 at a Commonwealth meeting during her official tour of Canada, while Jessica’s husband Ben also attended a dinner with the monarch as a child. 

Jessica Mulroney’s in-laws, Brian and Mila Mulroney, who were prime minister and first lady of Canada for nearly a decade, dined with Prince Harry’s parents in 1991

Meghan Markle’s close friendship with Jessica Mulroney and her husband Ben may have brought her closer to the royals before meeting Harry than previously thought, according to resurfaced photos

Meghan famously said that royal protocol was a mystery to her and that she was baffled by having to curtsy to the late Queen Elizabeth at their first meeting. 

So it seems she never asked her former BFF Jessica Mulroney to tap up her in-laws for the inside track. 

The pair have since drifted apart after Jessica became involved in a ‘white privilege’ row on social media, that saw her lose her illustrious gig at Good Morning America (GMA) and be cut off by Canadian TV network CTV.

Meghan and Harry have long insisted that the Duchess knew very little of the royals before meeting her future husband, with Meghan joking in their Netflix series that she had no idea how to curtsey when meeting the Queen. 

Meanwhile, Harry wrote in his explosive memoir Spare that Meghan ‘definitely hadn’t Googled’ the royal family ahead of their first date.

After a fan account shared photos of the former prime minister and first lady with Charles and Diana in the early 1990s, stylist and mother-of-three Jessica reposted the snaps with the caption: ‘Love this!’

Jessica Mulroney recently shared images from a fan account praising Mila Mulroney for her sense of style which used images from Mila’s meetings with Princess Diana and King Charles

Jessica Mulroney reposted some images of her mother-in-law Mila which celebrate her sense of style 

Brian and Mila even hosted Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth in Vancouver in 1987 at a Commonwealth meeting 

The photos were taken during the royal couple’s visit to the Canadian capital, Ottawa, on 29 October 1991 where they visited the Prime Minister’s residence and were welcomed by Brian and Mila.

And their evening with Charles and Diana wasn’t the only royal encounter Brian and Mila had during Brian’s nine years in office.

In 1987, three years after Brian was elected as Prime Minister of Canada, he and First Lady Mila welcomed Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth to the nation on a Commonwealth visit.

The late monarch was pictured with the former Canadian leader and First Lady in Vancouver at a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Following the death of Her Majesty in September 2022, a CBC news report said Brian Mulroney knew the late monarch ‘well’ and that the pair had ‘met often’.

Speaking to the news station, he paid tribute to her, saying: ‘I remember one Sunday night when she was coming to Canada and we planned a small dinner for her…

‘She conveyed to her private secretary that the kids should be there as well.’

The former prime minister described how he and his children, including Jessica’s husband Ben, dined with Her late Majesty that evening.

This connection is not the only time doubt has been cast on Meghan’s claims she knew nothing of the royal family before meeting Harry.

A resurfaced post from the Duchess’s now-defunct lifestyle blog, The Tig, revealed Meghan giving her thoughts on the British royals and the wedding of ‘Princess Kate’ in particular.

The entry from 2014, which was written by Meghan during her time on Suits, revealed that she dreamt of being a ‘royal rebel’ rather than ‘a Cinderella’ as a child – as she reflected on the ‘pomp and circumstance’ and ‘endless conversation’ about Kate and William’s royal wedding.

Violet von Westenholz pictured with Meghan Markle at Wimbledon in 2016 – around the time the Duchess of Sussex started dating Prince Harry

Eugenie and Meghan first met at an event in Miami in May 2014. Fashion designer Misha Nonoo pictured in 2015 with Meghan

The Sussexes, Eugenie and Jack were all guests at Misha’s lavish Rome wedding in the summer of 2019. Pictured, Misha and Eugenie in 2019

The post suggests that she not only knew exactly who the royals were – but that she’d also formed several very strong opinions about the Monarchy and its many traditions, years before she met her future husband.

‘Little girls dream of being princesses,’ Meghan wrote in the post, before insisting: ‘I, for one, was all about She-Ra, Princess of Power.

‘For those of you unfamiliar with the ’80s cartoon reference, She-Ra is the twin sister of He-Man and a sword-wielding royal rebel known for her strength.

‘We’re definitely not talking about Cinderella here.’

She continued by noting that many adult women seem to carry on their ‘childhood fantasy’ of becoming a princess – before making a rather scathing nod to the public fascination and intrigue surrounding William and Kate’s 2011 nuptials.

‘Grown women seem to retain this childhood fantasy,’ she wrote. ‘Just look at the pomp and circumstance surrounding the royal wedding and endless conversation about Princess Kate.’

And Meghan appears to have other connections to the British royal family, in the form of various friendships she has had over the years.

Her friend Misha Nonoo, whom she met on the set of Suits, was once married to Alexander Gilkes – who attended Eton College at the same time Prince Harry and Prince William were pupils there.

What’s more, Alexander – who is now engaged to tennis champ Maria Sharapova – has such close ties to the Royal Family that he was even invited to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding back in 2011. 

In 2014, the Etonian founded his own auctioneer firm Paddle8 in New York – which employed Princess Eugenie for two years in 2013.

The mother-of-two was Alexander’s Benefit Auctions Manager and the two became so close that he even referred to her by the nickname ‘Eug’.

During the Princess’ time in New York, Alexander also attended the Gavel&Grand Benefit Auction with Eugenie and her mother Sarah Ferguson.

It is through Alexander’s work that his ex-wife Misha is believed to have become close friends with Princess Eugenie.

In the couple’s Netflix docuseries, Meghan explained how she travelled around Europe in 2016 to have a ‘single girl summer’.

In the couple’s Netflix docuseries, Meghan explained how she travelled around Europe in 2016 to have a ‘single girl summer’. 

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