What once looked like one of Hollywood and royalty’s most high-profile friendships is now a source of hurt for Prince Harry, a new report has claimed.
When Harry married Meghan Markle eight years ago, the guest list was packed with A-listers from around the globe — George Clooney and Amal Clooney, Oprah Winfrey, Elton John, Serena Williams, David Beckham and Victoria Beckham, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford, James Blunt, Joss Stone and James Corden.
Meghan’s former Suits costars — including Patrick J. Adams, Gabriel Macht, Sarah Rafferty, Gina Torres, Rick Hoffman and Abigail Spencer — were also there to celebrate their colleague.
At the time, George and Amal’s presence appeared to reinforce Harry and Meghan’s growing status as glamorous global celebrity power players.
But according to RadarOnline.com, the friendship has since faded, with one insider claiming Harry has taken the alleged rift especially hard.
It’s been ‘bruising’ for Harry
British barrister Amal Clooney and her husband, actor-director George Clooney, were among the most high-profile Hollywood guests at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2018 royal wedding. By: Chris Jackson/Getty Image/ MEGA
“Of all the celebrity relationships that have quietly fizzled out since Harry and Meghan walked away from royal duties and reinvented themselves in California [in 2020], this is unquestionably the one that has hit Harry hardest on a personal level and left him reeling with embarrassment that it’s over,” the insider told Radar.
“He truly believed George and Amal would become part of their inner circle for decades to come,” the insider added. “In Harry’s mind, they were not just famous acquaintances from the wedding guest list — he saw them as powerful friends who understood the pressures of global scrutiny, philanthropy and public life in a way very few people could.”
According to the insider, “Harry was convinced they were building something meaningful together as two internationally recognized couples with similar values, political leanings and ambitions to use their platforms for humanitarian causes.”
“That is why the apparent distancing from George has been so bruising for him emotionally,” the insider explained.
“He cannot understand how things went from private holidays, warm public praise and regular contact to what feels like total silence. The fact that there has never been a confrontation or proper explanation has left Harry feeling embarrassed, rejected and deeply confused about where their bromance went wrong.”
George publicly defended Meghan
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle married at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in May 2018. Less than two years later, they moved to California to escape a toxic environment in Britain. By: WPA Pool/MEGA
In the years immediately following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s 2018 royal wedding, the couples appeared close.
George and Amal reportedly hosted Harry and Meghan at their villa in Lake Como, Italy. George also famously came to Meghan’s defense in 2019 while she was pregnant with the couple’s first child, Prince Archie.
The Oscar winner said Meghan was being “pursued and vilified and chased” in the same way Harry’s mother, the late Princess Diana, had been before her tragic death at 36 in 1997, CBS News reported. “She’s getting a raw deal there, it’s irresponsible,” George said while also criticizing the publication of a private letter Meghan wrote to her estranged father, Thomas Markle Sr., by a British media outlet.
“You’re taking a letter from a daughter to a father and broadcasting it everywhere,” the ER star said.
Around that same time, Meghan reportedly traveled between the U.K. and New York City on Amal’s private jet for her baby shower ahead of Archie’s birth. Amal, Serena, Abigail and Gayle King were among the famous friends who attended the celebration.
Attempts to reconnect
Amal Clooney was one of the A-list guests at Meghan Markle’s private baby shower in New York City in 2019. She also reportedly invited Meghan to travel to and from the event on her private plane. By: MEGA
By 2023, signs of distance between the couples had reportedly begun to emerge. George and Amal publicly supported King Charles III at the King’s Trust Awards just months after the release of Harry’s memoir, Spare — which was critical of some royal family members — and later reports claimed the Sussexes had been left off the guest list for the Clooneys’ star-studded Albie Awards.
A second source claimed efforts by Harry and Meghan to maintain a friendship with the Clooneys in recent years have been unsuccessful.
“Harry and Meghan have made several attempts over the past couple of years to reconnect with George and Amal, sometimes together and sometimes individually, but the response has been consistently lukewarm,” the source told Radar.
“Messages can sit unanswered for long periods, and when communication does happen, it is usually very polite but noncommittal. There is always a scheduling issue, another engagement, or some reason why meeting up never quite materializes.”
According to the source, Harry has been troubled by the lack of explanation surrounding the distance. “What has really upset Harry is not simply that the friendship appears to have faded — relationships drift apart all the time in those circles — but the fact he feels he has never been given an honest explanation,” the source said.
“From his perspective, George went from publicly defending Meghan and welcoming them into his private world to suddenly creating enormous distance, and Harry has been left trying to piece together what changed.”
The source added that Harry has even questioned whether royal tensions may have played some part in the freeze. “Harry has spent a lot of time questioning whether his brother [Prince] William may have played some role behind the scenes, because he genuinely struggles to understand why George’s attitude toward him shifted so dramatically,” the source claimed.
“In Harry’s mind, things seemed warm, supportive and mutually respectful for years, so the abrupt cooling of the relationship has left him suspicious that outside influences or royal loyalties may have been involved.”