Queen calls divorce summit as Meghan escapes the palace

Although the official reason for her trip was celebratory, a palace insider tells New Idea that privately, Meghan is in turmoil and has gathered her close friends for practical support and advice. 

“It’s no secret she’s been desperately unhappy and struggling to cope amid her worsening family crisis,” explains the insider. “Meghan’s girls’ trip and baby shower was all a very clever disguise.”

A group of Meghan’s 15 closest confidantes, including her best friend Jessica Mulroney, attended the lavish Manhattan baby shower, which saw guests arrive bearing gifts for the heavily pregnant royal. In the lead-up to the event, numerous deliveries were made to The Mark hotel, including flowers to decorate the suite and presents, including a Babyletto cot, adding to speculation that Harry’s worst fear may be realised and Meghan could be planning on setting up home in New York permanently.

According to the source, Jessica spoke to two top divorce lawyers to help advise the duchess. 

While they have suggested she should “hang on” as long as she’s able, the lawyers also advised that Meghan should make all the necessary preparations so that she’s ready to leave if the time comes.

Meanwhile back in the UK, the Queen requested a meeting with Harry and Meghan before their Moroccan trip to sort out the mess. Meghan was seen leaving for London directly after her baby shower.

While the monarch is sympathetic to the difficulties faced by the new royal, she’s also determined the royal family won’t face another messy, drawn-out royal divorce.

“Meghan’s feeling extremely lost and torn over what to do and fears that whatever she does is going to have such huge consequences that she’s not sure she’d ever fully recover,” adds the insider.

Meanwhile, Meghan’s dad Thomas Markle is still considering releasing a huge number of her personal letters, photos and videos.

Meghan’s half-brother exclusively tells New Idea the palace is right to be fearful about the release of these potentially embarrassing secret files, which their father appears to be using to emotionally blackmail his pregnant daughter.

“He is potentially at the point where he almost wants to push her so far it will provoke her into trying to speak to him directly,” Thomas Markle Jr exclusively reveals.

Despite severing the last vestiges of his relationship with Meghan after releasing to a British newspaper parts of the five-page letter she’d sent him last August, Thomas Sr has told his son he’ll go public with a “small mountain” of Meghan’s other private correspondence and memorabilia in a desperate attempt to force a reconciliation.

His son insists Thomas Sr isn’t doing any of this out of spite, but is rather acting out of frustration because he feels he has no other options at this stage.

“It’s really, really tough for him not being able to speak to her,” explains Meghan’s 53-year-old half-sibling. “It has been an act of frustration – he feels like he can’t communicate.”

Despite his erratic behaviour, the former TV lighting director has always insisted that he just wants to rebuild his relationship with his youngest daughter Meghan, who cut him from her life around the time of her May 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.

“He is sad and upset. He’s frustrated, he’s trying to sort everything out with his daughter,” explains Thomas Jr, adding, “He released parts of the letters to defend himself. I think he sees it as more proof of what a wonderful relationship they had when she was growing up.”

Thomas Jr doesn’t believe the threat of legal action – which UK newspaper The Telegraph reported Kensington Palace aides were considering after the leak – will stop his father. Still, he hopes the 74-year-old changes his mind or at least gets Meghan’s approval before releasing her private papers. “He had told me he didn’t want to do any more stories or any more interviews prior to Meghan’s baby being born,” says Thomas Jr. “And that was to not upset her. I don’t understand why he changed his mind.”

But it’s not only her father’s latest betrayal that’s caused Meghan stress in the final trimester of her pregnancy. Last week, UK newspapers reported William and Harry were splitting their households in a bid to help ease tensions between Meghan and Kate. The two brothers and their wives will now no longer share the same media relations adviser, confirms a palace spokesperson.

And, to make matters worse Kate reportedly skipped out on Meghan’s baby shower, instead choosing to go on a secret ski trip with William and the children while they are on mid-term break.

Kate’s noticeable absence from the celebrations has refuelled the alleged feud between the two women.

Meanwhile, according to a report in US magazine In Touch, the Queen has taken an even more dramatic step to end the much-publicised feud between the Sussexes and Cambridges: she’s asked Meghan and Harry to relocate from their Kensington Palace home.

“It was only a matter of time before the Queen separated the duchesses,” explains the insider.

“She didn’t point fingers or start making accusations, but in her own diplomatic way suggested they’d be happier living outside the palace, and they’d be better off moving.”

The magazine reveals the Queen is also privately “livid” with Meghan for allowing her friends to reveal details about her royal life and relationships in a recent interview with People magazine – the same one that prompted her father to go public with her private letter to him.