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Meghan Markle’s Celebrity Wedding List Had a Secret Agenda, Insider Alleges


Meghan Markle's Celebrity Wedding List Had a Secret Agenda, Insider Alleges originally appeared on Parade.

A royal insider alleges that Meghan Markle's wedding list, filled with A-list stars, had a secret agenda. They believe the Duchess of Sussex was trying to set the stage for her future as an A-lister the day she married into the royal family.

Celebrities including Oprah Winfrey, George and Amal Clooney, Victoria and David Beckham, Serena Williams, and James Corden were invited to the May 2018 event to boost Markle's Hollywood connections, alleges a new report by The Daily Mail. The publication cites a former high-profile magazine editor, who believes these public figures were friends Markle wanted to "recruit."

Ex-Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown, author of The Palace Papers, cites the star power of the event as the reason for her claim. Brown alleges in her book, "The celebrity guests were a portrait not of Meghan's intimate circle but of the friends she most wanted to recruit."

This statement alleges Meghan's royal wedding may have doubled as a strategic move to deepen her ties with Hollywood's elite. This statement appeared to be supported by Rachel Johnson, who wrote an article for AirMail in 2020 sharing Clooney's admission that he and his wife weren't close with the Sussexes before being invited to their wedding.

"In 2018, there was a splashy royal wedding full of celebrities that could not possibly be old and dear friends of the bridal couple," Johnson's post began.

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"Oprah, Posh and Becks, James Corden, et al., went to Harry and Meghan's nuptials, and there's a story doing the rounds that while Carolyn Bartholomew, Diana's former flatmate, was waiting for the wedding service to start, she turned to the couple alongside her and asked how they knew Harry or Meghan. 'We don't,' the Clooneys answered brightly."

Since the wedding, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not been publicly seen with any of the aforementioned public figures, save for Winfrey, with whom they sat down for a one-on-one interview in 2021, and Corden, who interviewed the prince for The Late Show with James Corden that same year. However, that is not to say the couple does not correspond with any of these celebrities privately.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry recently celebrated their seventh wedding anniversary on May 19. They are parents to two children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4.

Meghan Markle's Celebrity Wedding List Had a Secret Agenda, Insider Alleges first appeared on Parade on Jun 14, 2025

This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 14, 2025, where it first appeared.

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