Made in Chelsea star Millie Mackintosh has claimed her friendship with Meghan Markle “abruptly” ended after the Duchess of Sussex’s romance with Prince Harry went public.
The reality star, 33, recently shared details about her former friendship with the duchess in an episode of her Mumlemmas podcast on 10 May, where she claimed she had been “ghosted” by the then-Suits actor once she began dating the royal.
The mother of two revealed that she became friends with Meghan around eight years ago, when the pair met at a hotel opening in Istanbul, Turkey. “I was a fan, I watched Suits,” Mackintosh told podcast co-host Charlie Boud. “We met at the bar and we were both ordering a drink at the same time and just started chatting. We got on really well, we got on like a house on fire.”
According to Mackintosh, the pair initially “clicked” over their marital troubles. The TV personality was married to British rapper Professor Green at the time, while Meghan had split from her first husband Trevor Engelson in 2013 after two years of marriage.
The women stayed in touch, and Mackintosh eventually gave Meghan her “little black book” of favourite spots and contacts when the actor visited the United Kingdom. “When she would come to London, she didn’t know London very well or know that many people,” Mackintosh said, adding that the two would go out for brunch or attend yoga classes together.
The last time Mackintosh said she saw Meghan was in September 2016, when the two were pictured together during a girls’ weekend at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire. “What I thought was going to be a day of yoga and chilling ended up being rosé and margaritas in the pool,” she said, adding that she and Markle had a “really fun afternoon.”
It was during that trip that Meghan admitted she had been messaging Prince Harry after the two were introduced by a friend, according to Mackintosh.“I didn’t ask too much of it, didn’t really think too much of it at the time,” Mackintosh recalled. “If only I had known.”
When news of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s relationship broke in the press just one month later, Mackintosh decided to reach out to Meghan amid the “intense” media attention. “I messaged her and just said: ‘Hey, hope you’re okay. Thinking of you,’” she recalled.
However, Mackintosh claimed the duchess sent back a “really abrupt” response that was “unlike any of our communication before”. While she didn’t disclose the message she received from Meghan, Mackintosh said that she “felt like [Meghan] kind of told me to f*** off, basically”.
“She cut me dead. I never heard from her again,” she added.
The former reality TV star went on to describe her thought process behind the message she allegedly received from Meghan, saying: “My take on it is that…she’s like, ‘I’m going to be royal now, I don’t need Millie in my life.’”
Mackintosh explained how the media attention surrounding her short-lived friendship with Meghan was “total bollocks”, as tabloids claimed she had introduced the duke and duchess and was planning the royal wedding. “At the time, honestly, it was quite hurtful,” she added. “Looking back, I do remember when they got married. I was a bit like, feels a bit s*** because she ghosted me.”
Meghan and Prince Harry began dating in July 2016, after they were reportedly introduced by mutual friend and Soho House consultant Markus Anderson. In their six-part Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, the two detailed how they kept their romance secret from the public – from their first date in London to an impromptu trip to Botswana, Africa.
In the first episode of Harry & Meghan, which was released in December 2022, Meghan recalled that Harry was late to their date, which almost put her off – but the prince won her over after he arrived as a “hot, sweaty red ball of mess” who was “genuinely so embarrassed and late”.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex also detailed their last night of freedom before news of their relationship broke to the world. The pair decided to “pull the pin on the fun grenade” and go out in costumes to a Halloween party in Toronto with Harry’s cousin, Princess Eugenie, her then-boyfriend, Jack Brooksbank, and Meghan’s friend, Marcus. She recalled Harry saying at the time: “Well, if it’s gonna come out tomorrow, let’s go have fun tonight.”
The two were married in May 2018 in a fairytale wedding ceremony at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. But the media attention surrounding the couple soon worsened, as they later claimed that Buckingham Palace was briefing the press against them by “leaking” and “planting” negative stories about Meghan to distract from less favourable coverage about other royals.
In 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle announced they were stepping down from the royal family and relocating to the United States. Since then, they’ve gone on to raise their two children – Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet – at their home in Montecito, California.
Last week, Prince Harry returned to the United Kingdom for the coronation of his father, King Charles III, and stepmother, Queen Camilla.
The Independent has contacted a representative for the Duchess of Sussex for contact.
