Meghan Markle looks pretty in pink as she parties without Prince Harry
The Duchess of Sussex celebrated alongside celebrities including Blake Lively– but Prince Harry was nowhere to be seen.
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Meghan Markle has been spotted partying without Prince Harry at a friend’s star-studded baby shower.
Photos taken by professional photographer Ashley Osborn and later shared on social media by the Duchess of Sussex’s good friend Kelly Zajfen show the royal looking pretty in pink.
Meghan wears a Posse Alice linen midi dress for the ‘pink-themed’ baby shower and can be seen laughing as she looks down at her friend Samantha Stone’s baby bump.
Stone is the Chief Membership Officer at Los Angeles’ exclusive Soho House.
“I love a theme. Wear Pink she said!” Zajfen captioned the post.
“Celebrating our sweet baby girl coming oh so soon! Adore you @samanthamstone and can’t wait to meet baby Stone.
“She’s a lucky little girl to have a mama like you.”
Actor Blake Lively, Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Crystal Kung Minkoff and Full House’s Marla Sokoloff were also among the celebrities.
Meghan’s solo outing comes days after the Duke of Sussex addressed rumours surrounding their marriage.
“Apparently we’ve bought or moved house 10, 12 times,” Prince Harry told host Andrew Sorkin at The New York Times Dealbook Summit 2024.
“We’ve apparently divorced maybe 10, 12 times as well. So it’s just like, ‘what?’
“It’s hard to keep up with, but that’s why you just sort of ignore it.”
HARRY, MEGHAN LOSE ANOTHER STAFF MEMBER
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex lost another key staff member with the chief executive of children’s charity Sentebale calling it quits.
London-based Richard Miller threw in the towel after five years at the charity’s helm and will be replaced by Johannesburg-based interim executive director Carmel Gaillard.
Prince Harry co-founded Sentebale in 2006 in honour of his late mother, Princes Diana, to help disadvantaged youngsters — including those living with HIV/AIDS.
The organisation offers comprehensive support, including healthcare, advocacy, vocational training, critical life skills and a focus on climate resilience in Lesotho and Botswana.
“This shift reflects our continued commitment to being guided by voices from within the region we serve,” said Prince Harry in a statement with co-founder, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
“We sincerely thank Richard or his pivotal role in steering our organisation.”
Meanwhile, Mr Miller said it was the right time “for this shift to local leadership.”
It’s unclear why Mr Miller has tendered his resignation, however, his departure comes just weeks after key figure Andrew Tucker resigned after a decade of service and follows the decision of British advertising guru Johnny Hornby to leave his position as a trustee.
The Duke and Duchess, aged 40 and 43 respectively, have also lost personal staff this year, most notably chief of staff Josh Kettler who resigned after just three months.
HARRY A ‘SUPPORT’ CHARACTER IN NETFLIX SERIES
The high-profile turnover comes as the couple released Polo, the third instalment in their $US100m ($A150m) deal with streaming platform Netflix.
The five-part miniseries on the “sport of kings” debuted to mixed reviews, raging from “sexy” to “spoof”.
Prince Harry appears as a supporting character, surprising critics by appearing on screen only a handful of times — he’s in the opening credits and not seen again until episode four.
Meanwhile, Meghan appears even less.
Instead, the show focuses mostly on the players in a style similar to that of Netflix’s other sports-documentary hits The Last Dance, Formula 1: Drive to Survive, America’s Sweethearts: The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Break Point, Sprint and Last Chance U.
There is no mention of the British royal family despite the couple being credited with their official titles: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.
RADIO HOST REVEALS MEGHAN’S ‘ICE COLD’ REJECTION
A US radio host has revealed the way Meghan Markle rejected his advances when she attended a flag football game while starring in legal drama Suits.
Ryen Russillo, 49, met the Duchess during the Super Bowl weekend in New York City a decade ago, about two years before she started dating Prince Harry.
Speaking on a podcast, the former ESPN radio host said the star-studded field included a lot of swimsuit models and he felt “nobody was really paying any attention to Markle”.
Mr Russillo said he thought she had never been more “obtainable”.
He followed up with her after the event, sending her a message on social media asking if she wanted to promote the show on his radio show.
“It was a very soft sell … It was really professional,” he said.
“It was like a gauging of interest. Like, if I got an emoji back, who knows?”
Meghan’s reply said: “Oh, I don’t know anything about sports, but thanks for the offer.”
“It was ice cold,” he said.
Meghan, however, walked away with a different relationship, as the event marked the beginning of her long-time friendship with retired tennis star Serena Williams.