Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Have Never Looked More Royally Isolated

Princess Beatrice hugged Piers Morgan after a party at a pub that was also attended by Princess Eugenie—despite the royal sisters' friendship with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

The Talk TV host has called Meghan "Princess Pinocchio" and accused Harry of "indulgent whining" and hypocrisy.

Yet he has been pictured out in west London at the same party as both Beatrice and Eugenie—the only royal family member known to have visited the Sussexes in California.

The images are all the more awkward after a backlash against Queen Camilla in December, 2022, for hosting a Christmas lunch attended by Morgan and Jeremy Clarkson, a columnist for The Sun who two days later wrote that Meghan should be paraded naked in the street while people throw excrement at her.

While Harry and Meghan may no doubt still be close with Eugenie and Beatrice, their attendance at the social event calls into question whether anyone in the royal family shares their level of hostility toward the British media.

Eugenie and Harry were photographed together at the Super Bowl, in Los Angeles, in February 2022. She and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, also went for dinner with Harry and Meghan.

The Duchess of Sussex was close to Eugenie before she met Harry and made much of the connection in the Netflix series Harry & Meghan, which showed a picture of them at a Halloween party together.

Some on Twitter criticized Beatrice and Eugenie, with one user writing: "How disappointing to see Eugenie and Beatrice hob-knobbing with Piers Morgan at a London pub. This man is a vile bully that never stops denigrating Meghan. Surprised to see these two OK with him."

Newsweek sought comment from Princess Eugenie via email to art gallery Hauser & Wirth, where she is a director.

The two sisters—the daughters of Prince Andrew and granddaughters of Queen Elizabeth II—were at the Princess Royal Pub, in Notting Hill, where Piers Morgan was a guest.

In pictures published by The Daily Mail, Beatrice can be seen hugging Morgan, who has previously said royal family members had expressed gratitude to him that "somebody was standing up." He did not say who, and there is nothing to suggest it was Beatrice or Eugenie.

He told Extra TV in April 2021: "I've had some messages communicated to me on behalf of several members of the royal family.

"I'm not going to go into who it was but [it was] gratitude that somebody was standing up."

None of the pictures showed Morgan and Eugenie interacting with one another, which may partly be down to the fact the newspaper reported she left before the other guests.

Most of the pictures were taken outside the pub, though Morgan posted a photograph of himself inside with singer James Blunt on Instagram.

Blunt was there with his wife, Sofia Wellesley. They were both guests at Harry and Meghan's wedding.

Prince Harry who was photographed in the crowd at an L.A. Lakers game the following day, is preparing to return to Britain for King Charles III's Coronation on May 6.

It will be the first time he has been seen in public with his family since his bombshell Netflix documentary and tell-all memoir Spare took swipes at family members and spilled royal secrets.

While Beatrice was visibly warm and friendly with Morgan, there is nothing to indicate how Eugenie reacted to his presence, though the same could be said for Camilla in December, and that did not spare her the wrath of social media commentators.

At the time, British actor Colin McFarlane wrote: "😮WOW! Meghan Markle's abusers Piers Morgan & Jeremy Clarkson guests of QUEEN CAMILLA! Yet she's meant to stand up for abused women?!

"Has she seen how her step daughter has been treated by the press? So brazen. This is the tide Harry & Meghan are swimming against #WeLoveYouMeghan"

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.