Scandalous Rumors About Meghan Markle She'll Never Live Down

If you're going to marry a royal, as Meghan Markle did with Prince Harry, you'd better expect every little thing you do to transform into a potentially scandalous and probably dubious rumor. There have been royal rumors ever since there were tabloids, but the media had a field day with Meghan. After all, here was an American woman, a television actor who identifies as mixed race, marrying Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. The resulting tsunami of racist, xenophobic, or just plain intrusive tabloids was partly why Meghan and Harry stepped down from their role as senior royals and left the U.K. for America.

You may think that, after experiencing the vicious smears of the British press, Meghan would've embraced a life shielded from public view as much as possible, but, ever the actor, the Duchess of Sussex did the opposite. Between giving interviews, hosting TV shows, starting a podcast, and appearing at various events, Meghan soaked up the attention of Americans that had previously turned sour in England. While she was in much better control of the narrative, she still couldn't prevent the rumor mill from speculating about everything from her finances to her politics.

While Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are said to have met on a blind date, there are rumors that Meghan somehow planned it. According to the official version of their meet-cute, when Meghan attended Wimbledon in 2016 and developed a friendship with a Ralph Lauren PR executive, Violet von Westenholz, who happened to be a friend of Harry's. Von Westenholz set up a blind date for the pair (despite Meghan supposedly being in a relationship with Toronto chef Cory Vitiello).

In their engagement interview with BBC (via ABC), Meghan claimed to be clueless about the royals. "I didn't know a lot about him. Everything that I've learned about him, I learned through him," said Meghan. "As opposed to having grown up around different news stories, or tabloids, or whatever else." However, rumors continue to dispute this. Royal biographer Andrew Morton, in his book "Meghan: A Hollywood Princess," quotes a childhood friend as saying Meghan was "always fascinated by the royal family" and "wants to be Princess Diana 2.0" (via ABC). Other friends alleged that Meghan wept during the funeral of Princess Diana, Harry's mother.

Katie Nicholl, in her book "Harry: Life, Loss, and Love," interviewed friends of Meghan who claimed she owned an authorized biography of Diana (ironically also by Andrew Morton) and repeatedly watched Diana's wedding on videotape. In fact, there are unsubstantiated rumors that Meghan intentionally wore Diana's perfume and similar clothing on her "blind date" with Harry in an attempt to subliminally affect him.

Before meeting Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan Markle had already been married and divorced. She began dating Hollywood producer Trevor Engelson in 2004; they married in 2011, separated after two years, and then divorced in 2014. However, some people believe that Meghan was actually married and divorced before that, but has kept it a secret.

It's rumored that Boston criminal defense lawyer Joseph Goldberg-Giuliano is Meghan's secret ex-husband. Rumors circled tabloids that the pair had a two-year relationship, but it is not mentioned anywhere that they had a marriage. That's where the speculation begins, with netizens even claiming Meghan had a secret child with Joseph. Internet sleuths believe that Meghan's niece, Noelle Rasmussen (daughter of Meghan's sister Samantha), is actually her daughter. Noelle hasn't publicly commented on this, but she has been a vocal defender of Meghan and has been estranged from her own mother since she was a child.

Noelle told The Sunday Mirror in 2018, "I've always really looked up to her, like a big sister I never had. She took me shopping for kids books and clothes." The rumors were exacerbated when one X user (formerly Twitter) found footage of actor Paula Trickey discussing Meghan in 2019. Trickey, who attended a 2008 celebrity golf tournament with Meghan, commented on how unusual it was for Meghan to become a royal. "She's been married, she already has a kid with someone, already divorced," said Trickey, which was enough to pour fuel on the fire at the rumor mill.

Ever since Meghan Markle began dating Prince Harry, rumors proliferated that members of the royal family have expressed varying levels of disapproval. The most rapacious royal rumor revolves around Catherine, Princess of Wales, known colloquially as Kate Middleton. There's a long, fraught history between Meghan and Princess Catherine, which hints at a feud or, at the very least, some simmering jealousies, to the extent that The New York Times even covered their dueling Instagram accounts.

Apparently, it all began over a child's dress. Meghan and Harry's wedding was a royal affair, and as such, it included Catherine and Prince William's children; Prince George was a pageboy, and Princess Charlotte was a bridesmaid. Despite the extravagant, significant nature of the wedding, some things were still rushed to the last minute, including dress alterations, which supposedly resulted in a poorly fitted dress for little Charlotte. "There was an argument between Meghan and Kate over the fit," one source told People. "Everything was left to the last minute, and it was really stressful for everyone involved." As a result, Catherine was "left in tears."

Well, that's one rumor. In Oprah Winfrey's interview with Meghan and Harry, Meghan claimed the opposite. "The reverse happened ... And it made me cry and it really hurt my feelings," said Meghan. "What was hard to get over was being blamed for something that not only I didn't do, but that happened to me." We still don't know which version is true.

The wedding incident initiated a lengthy timeline of rumors regarding a rift between Meghan Markle and Princess Catherine. Some rumors feel all but substantiated, while others are dubious at best. Perhaps the most legitimate rumors come straight from the proverbial horse's mouth, as it were, with Prince Harry's pretty shady book, "Spare." He writes that, following the wedding, Meghan and Harry had a contentious meeting with Catherine and Prince William. Catherine sought an apology for Meghan supposedly stating that she had "baby brain," with Catherine shouting, "We're not close enough for you to talk about my hormones!" It came to a head when William pointed at Meghan and said, "It's rude, Meghan," to which Meghan retorted, "Kindly take your finger out of my face."

Rumors then spread that staff at Kensington Palace began picking sides among the four royals, with Harry writing that the atmosphere became "poisoned." Harry and Meghan's decision to leave and recant their "royal duties" only aggravated the reported rift between the two couples. One source told the Daily Mail, "Kate is furious about the larger workload. 'Of course she's smiling and dressing appropriately but she doesn't want this. She feels exhausted and trapped.'" While Meghan and Catherine haven't spoken out, internet sleuths and royal obsessives try to make mountains out of molehills. There are countless rumors that interpret small gestures and comments as attempts for Catherine to upstage Meghan, or for Meghan to twist the knife into Catherine.

If you believe the rumors, then Princess Catherine is certainly not the only member of the royal family who has problems with Meghan Markle. Many people have come to believe that Catherine's sister, Pippa Middleton, has personally disliked the future Duchess of Sussex since the beginning. Rumors first emerged with Pippa's wedding on May 20, 2017, when Meghan and Harry were forced to be separate, supposedly so as not to distract from the bride's day. As the rumor goes, Meghan was even uninvited from the main church ceremony at the last minute, leading to all sorts of negative speculation. Others have suggested that one of the main reasons Meghan and Pippa don't get along is because the former has been trying to use the latter to get into Catherine's good graces.

The rumors get more vicious when it comes to Prince William. One alleged former courtier told Cosmopolitan, "He loathes and despises Harry and Meghan with every bone in his body, he believes they have betrayed everything the family stands for." Despite recent rumors of a royal reconciliation in August 2025, royal expert Ian Pelham Turner told Fox News that William would never "welcome back" Harry and Meghan. A legal battle between Harry and King Charles III over the stripping away of royal titles from Harry and Meghan has only divided the royals further, with rumors that King Charles is done with Prince Harry altogether.

Before the so-called "Megxit" of 2020, in which Meghan Markle and Prince Harry stepped back from their royal roles as senior members of the family, the pair lived at Kensington Palace with their family. While there, it's been said that Markle behaved like a bully and treated staff and others with a royally rude attitude, resulting in the resignations of numerous aides and staff. The floodgate for these rumors wouldn't be lifted until after Megxit, though. The Times royal correspondent Valentine Low explained on the "Kinsey Schofield Unfiltered" podcast that it took people time to go public because they were very worried about what Meghan would "do to them," and "viewed her capacity for revenge as infinite."

The first big bombshell came when The Times leaked an October 2018 email from Meghan and Harry's communications secretary at the time, Jason Knauf, after he had conversations with the head of HR, Samantha Carruthers. "I am very concerned that the duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year. The treatment of [redacted] was totally unacceptable," wrote Knauf in his complaint. "The Duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights. She is bullying Y and seeking to undermine her confidence. We have had report after report from people who have witnessed unacceptable behavior towards Y." While others have, of course, refuted this, saying very kind things about Meghan, her ex-staff have not backed down from the bullying claims.

One of the oddest rumors revolving around Meghan Markle is that the Duchess of Sussex did not actually give birth to her children, Prince Archie or Princess Lilibet. Of course, this would be impactful, since it would technically remove them from the line of succession. As the rumor goes, Meghan is supposed to have actually used a surrogate for her children. A fake social media post attributed to Prince William went viral in April 2024 after an X user shared it, with the phony tweet reading, "This is a public announcement. The Duke & Duchess of Sussex used the services of a surrogate."

Rumors were ignited in November 2024 when Meghan's sister, Samantha Markle, appeared on "Dan Wootton Outspoken" and claimed, "My father said nine months before Archie was allegedly born that [Meghan] picked up her frozen eggs. I thought: 'That makes sense there would be a surrogate involved.' But why the secrecy? Instead of lying to the world, just say: 'We're using a surrogate.'" Then, in January 2025, a supposed "high-level palace courtier" told RadarOnline, "This scandal comes as no surprise ... There are so many questions swirling around them. This crisis won't die down until the irrefutable truth comes out." Some people believe that Meghan responded to this nasty rumor with a taunt of her own in an Instagram post. The May 19, 2025, message celebrated her seventh anniversary with a collage of images, one of which included an ultrasound.

One might imagine that, after leaving royal life behind, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry would want to enjoy the privacy that was previously unattainable. That was absolutely not the case, though, considering Harry's tell-all book "Spare," Meghan's podcast "Archetypes," and their Netflix shows, including "Harry & Meghan" and "With Love, Meghan." While supposedly inviting audiences into an intimate, honest space, Meghan has been widely lambasted for her shows, with rumors that the series "With Love, Meghan" is completely staged. These rumors insinuate that she can't actually cook or garden, that the people on the show aren't actually her friends, that it isn't actually her home, and that everything is basically fake.

The New Statesman article "The Fakery of Meghan Markle's Netflix Show" just about sums it up. "The fakery is so enveloping," writes Rachel Cooke, "it falls on everything, like one of the tablecloths she'll soon be selling under her brand As Ever." Royal expert Kinsey Schofield, host of the "To Di For Daily" podcast, told Fox News, "It lacks authenticity. It's aesthetically pleasing but not where the content world is at right now. It's too controlled. Too glossy. Too produced." "My toes are curling," added British broadcaster and photographer Helena Chard. "This is so cringey and not fun at all. It feels too staged, and the tips and tricks are far too basic ... Meghan comes across as a modern Stepford Wife."

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry made a lot of money from Spotify and Netflix, with the former paying $20 million for a podcast and the latter reportedly paying $100 million for a five-year deal. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, there are increasing rumors that Meghan and Harry are in dire financial straits and low on cash. Spotify's head of podcast innovation and monetization, podcaster Bill Simmons, bluntly called the couple "f***ing grifters" after they supposedly failed to meet a productivity benchmark, only producing 12 episodes of their podcast, "Archetypes," after two years. Amid those grifting allegations, rumors flooded the internet that Netflix would not be renewing its contract with Meghan and Harry. 

News that the couple laid off even more staff in an effort to save cash only compounded the rumors, with one source telling Page Six, "It's the same old story — they cycle through staff as quickly as normal people cycle through toilet paper." Perhaps this cash flow issue is why there are so many rumors that Harry is seeking some kind of royal reconciliation. Longtime royal expert Robert Jobson writes in his book "Catherine The Princess of Wales" (via the Daily Mail), "They're trying to find an income stream (jam, anyone?) that doesn't involve dishing dirt on the Royal Family." He quotes a palace official as saying, "What worries His Majesty, and his top team, is what is going to happen when all the money runs out."

Perhaps Meghan Markle can make some money from a Super PAC, considering the rampant rumors about her political interests. In 2024, bookmakers actually took bets on her presidential odds. As Sam Rosbottom, the spokesperson of gambling company Betfair, told Express, "Even though she's a 500/1 shot to win in 2024, this is just another example of Meghan potentially building her political profile for if she's to run in the future." After all, Meghan once told Piers Morgan (via the Daily Mail), "As a kid, I wanted to be either President of the United States or a news broadcaster like you."

Meghan has let her beliefs be known in the past by supporting Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris, drawing the ire of President Donald Trump in the process. Back in 2016, she appeared on "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore," saying, "Trump is divisive," and calling him "misogynistic." Meghan's openness about her political views supposedly caused some problems with the royals. "Her politics are an issue," Lady Colin Campbell, a friend of Princess Diana, told The Daily Beast. She is ultra-liberal and that trendy-lefty stuff does not go down well with some of Harry's friends," a friend of Princess Diana shared with The Daily Beast. "She is very anti a lot of the things that their world functions upon." Now that Meghan has separated from royal life, she doesn't have to worry about that.

Alongside their rumored financial woes come rumors of a possible divorce brewing between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. These rumors have, of course, popped up from time to time ever since they were married in 2018, most notably in 2023 when there were reports that Meghan filed $80 million divorce papers, rumors which were fact-checked as blatantly false by Newsweek. Nonetheless, the rumors persisted that same year when Meghan did not attend the coronation of King Charles III.

Rumors spread that there's a "divorce clause" in Harry and Meghan's Netflix contract, and Vanity Fair reported that there were alleged conversations among Meghan's team about the possibility of a post-divorce book, which would certainly pay the rent. Ever since Harry's team met with Charles' communications secretary on July 12, 2025, rumors have spread that Harry will need to divorce Meghan if he ever wants to reconcile with the palace and return as a royal. Sources told RadarOnline that the divorce could be a "bribery card," saying, "[Meghan] firmly believes the royals are scheming to drive a wedge between her and Harry."

Some people are even convinced Harry and Meghan are separated, citing Harry's increasing independence. Of course, the couple displays a strong, loving marriage in public, and Meghan has tried to put rumors to bed, saying on "The Jamie Kern Lima Show" that she plans to be with Harry "forever" (via Newsweek). Time will tell whether forever really lasts.