A fresh start in the Cotswolds was meant to offer Prince Harry and Meghan a slice of country life, but school security scares, pub drama and royal tensions are reportedly making their new chapter anything but peaceful.
School group chat catastrophe
“Meghan has exited the group chat” took on new meaning after the Duchess of Sussex joined the Year 3 parents’ WhatsApp at Prince Archie, seven, and five-year-old Princess Lilibet’s new UK school – only for her phone number to be swiftly screenshotted and circulated online!
The security leak, which came after the couple had already changed the kids’ school once, left Meghan understandably shaken.
“Harry keeps saying they need to be patient and give it time, but this added stress over the children’s security and their school has made things that much worse,” an insider says.
“She’s hanging in there, but this is testing her limits.”
Soho House membership horror
They famously had their first dates at exclusive members club Soho House in London, but Meghan’s new association with its Cotswolds countryside counterpart Soho Farmhouse Cotswolds could be bad for business.
“Soho House is firmly Team Meghan, but in certain circles, being seen there now feels like making a statement – Meghan over Catherine,” an insider notes, revealing a drop in membership numbers supposedly due to loyalty for the Princess of Wales.
“People don’t want their dinner reservation interpreted as a royal allegiance.”
‘Fake’ photo drama
First there was a series of cute family snaps leaked by her best friend Kelly McKee Zajfen – showing exactly where the couple like to hang out, seemingly oblivious to their notorious security fears – then came the shots of Prince Harry, 42, and Meghan, 45, walking into a Cotswold pub.
These raised suspicions the Sussexes have quietly cooperated with an anonymous photographer, who snapped them in a bid to quell rumours about marriage problems.
“Meghan knows how the press works,” a spy tells us.
“The hand-holding in the picture was the message.”
Pub staff revolt!
The pub’s an integral part of British life, but Meghan might soon be drinking pints at home.
The Suits actress has twice been spotted at the Three Horseshoes in Asthall, firstly with Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi, then with close friend Kelly.
But despite Kelly thanking locals for being “so loving to her friend”, a recent Oxford Mail article claims that some employees refused to wait on the duchess during one of the visits!
“They not only ignored them, but there were several staffers at the Three Horseshoes who also refused to serve them, so somebody else had to,” claims award-winning journalist Paula Froelich.
Diary bombshell
The royal family better watch out as Meghan’s rumoured to be quietly biding her time, diligently pouring her heart out into a diary that insiders claim will become her ultimate revenge memoir!
“Meghan never forgets,” says an insider.
“Every time something bad or humiliating has happened to her, she’ll make a note of it in her diary and when she has time, she’ll expand on it, sometimes even pouring her heart out in a video. “She’s been talking to publishers, who approached her two years ago, so a deal is already on the table. She just might ‘leak’ it after the fuss over the Earl Spencer book dies down.”
Plus Eugenie’s book!
There’s nothing more subtle than the royal cold shoulder and Princess Eugenie has shown her rellies she’s up there with the rest of them by biffing a personally signed copy of Meghan’s kids’ book The Bench, which ended up on eBay.
While the official line is that she has “no idea” how it got there, an insider says, “Eugenie’s always tried to stay out of controversy, but with Harry and Meghan on her doorstep demanding a catch-up, she’s had to take a stand – and it was always going to be with Kate and William. This book scenario is the perfect play. No one, especially Meghan, really believes that book was discarded by accident.”
