PRINCE ABOUT TOWN?
Our spies spot Harry at T.O. bash with new flame,
Dressed to the nines, and all in their 30s, three women scrambled into one of those goof-time photo booths, one late Toronto eve.
One was the wife of the sitting prime minister, another the daughter-in-law of a former prime minister, and the last the va-va-voom-giving star of the TV series Suits.
A cheek-to-cheek. A stare-off! A funny pucker-up and Tyra Banks-worthy smize! They were all in: Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, Jessica Mulroney and Meghan Markle. The girlish trio — descending on the booth found on the third floor of Soho House — had arrived with a pack following a showy society gala held here in April.
Fast-forward, alas, to July, where — at another Soho House, this one across the pond — Markle appears to have made the scene with the fifth-in-line to the British throne. And then, last Saturday: a spy tells me that Prince Harry was actually here in Toronto at a Halloween party with Markle — a bait-andswitch that counters, possibly, reports that Harry was a no-show on a flight into YYZ on Sunday.
Clearly, no shortage of dance cards, she.
Boom! With the royals proving, as always, that nothing abhors a vacuum more than the English press, Great Britain has all but exploded this week with news that the Toronto-based actress was being romanced by Prince Harry. Scooped by the Sunday Express’s Camilla Tominey — who’s considered to be reliable (and this is important) in the murky world of royal reportage — Markle was suddenly being game-hunted for the covers of all the papers (even non-tabs such as the Daily Telegraph), being fanned across American vanes like US Weekly and Vanity Fair and causing mouths to all-around gape back here, in Toronto, where the slinky, smart brunette has long been immersed in the life of the city. (She once stood in my kitchen, but that’s perhaps another story.)
In terms of fan fiction, there was more than enough: World’s Most Eligible Bachelor meets slightly older, biracial, Pippa-lookalike divorcee who can make a mean Ina Garten chicken (it’s true!), has done humanitarian work in Africa ( just like Harry!), began her career as a briefcase model ( Deal or No Deal!) and once toiled as a professional calligrapher (what’s not to like about a gal with Grade-A cursive skills?).
People magazine — usually pretty on-it with this kind of stuff — reported Tuesday that things had moved so quickly Harry has even introduced his new lady, a graduate of Northwestern University, to his father, Prince Charles.
So, is it true? Three good sources tell me that there’s something to it all, although to what extent it is serious remains nebulous. Me, I’m partial to what gossipist Elaine Lui wrote Monday on her website, LaineyGossip.com: it’s “somewhere in between casual and pre-engaged.” Meanwhile, on the trick-or-treat circuit the other night, in the Dupont St. area of Toronto where Markle lives, there were some Halloweeners swearing up and down that they’d seen Prince Harry in the ’hood in the last few weeks, complete with black SUVs.
What does strike me as tin-eared was the official response from representatives of the Suits starlet, who told the Sun in Britain that the romance was still “unofficial” with a spokesperson adding, “However, should this be confirmed by the Palace, all of us at Kruger Cowne are delighted for them, and wish them well.”
A non-confirmation confirmation?! What might Her Majesty say? Rather than staying silent, or issuing a standard “We don’t comment on our clients’ private lives” comment, they gave press a puzzling statement. Do remember Kate Mid- dleton stayed mum the whole time she was dating Prince William (about eight years!) and the first time the world even heard her voice was the day — Nov. 16, 2010 — their engagement was announced.
All’s fair in love and Instagram? That’s the other interesting angle to this whole story. For the first time in Windsor love-circles the photobased social media platform is being mined for clues (he follows her, she follows him, she posted a photo of herself wearing a bracelet that looks similar to one Harry’s been sporting!). Meanwhile, Markle’s Instagram photos also form the breadcrumb trail being used to debunk the story that Harry and Meghan first met in Toronto, when the prince was here to launch the Invictus Games. That was May 2, when, according to photos from Markle’s own account, she was in Mexico.
Curiouser and curiouser.
In early July, meanwhile, Meghan’s longtime boyfriend, amiable chef-about-town Cory Vitiello, was heard remarking that he’d broken up with his girlfriend a few weeks prior. (He and Markle continued to custody-share their dog, Guy.) This week, he’s been inundated with interview requests from London, all of which he’s rebuffed.
In Toronto, needless to say, Markle remains Topic A. In Rosedale carpool circles and even some downtown corporate towers, the speculation is rife. Me? I do subscribe to the characterization painted by the fashion/royal-watchers known as FugGirls: “This IS a random story to be wholly invented, especially since we’ve technically never even seen them together. Without any jumping off point at all, it doesn’t seem like this is a story that would even occur to anyone to invent . . . When there is smoke without any matches on the scene, perhaps there is fire of some sort.”
However it all plays out, this much is also true: though Markle was famous last week (as famous as an actress on a USA Network show is going to be), her station on the celebrity food chain was clear. She wasn’t on magazine covers (not even a Marie Claire, or a Shape), wasn’t being snapped at the Met Gala, wasn’t hosting SNL. In a few days, all this has changed.
Finally, there is this very strange six-degrees-ism: Prince Harry is apparently courting Meghan Markle, who used to be coupled up with Cory Vitiello, who used to date heiress Belinda Stronach, who, long ago, was dogged by rumours of a special friendship with Bill Clinton. Stronach has always denied the latter, but it just shows how royally teeny-tiny this world truly is.