An elderly neighbour allegedly knocked at Meghan Markle and Prince Harry‘s Montecito mansion to personally hand over a documentary on the area to the former actress – but ‘never got past the gate’, it was claimed today.
The unnamed California local historian had apparently wanted the Duchess of Sussex to have a copy after she moved to the area with her royal husband in 2020.
Fellow neighbour and local journalist Richard Mineards has claimed that the anecdote reveals how ‘distant’ Meghan has become in the $14.7million home she shares with Harry, Archie and Lilibet.
‘She cultivates a very controlled image. She pays attention to every appearance, every word, every gesture. And here in Montecito, we appreciate simple people, even famous ones. Oprah Winfrey, for example, shows up at charity events. Meghan doesn’t play the community game’, he said.
Speaking to Ici Paris, Mr Mineards, a journalist living in the celebrity-heavy enclave of Santa Barbara, claims Meghan has ‘never tried to fit in’ in Montecito.
‘There was even this anecdote of an elderly neighbour who wanted to give her a documentary he had made on local history. The old man never got past the gate’, he said.
But in contrast, Harry is considered the much warmer of the two, he claims.
‘He is always charming, approachable, with that very recognisable Windsor accent. He smiles, shakes hands, willingly exchanges a few words’, he said.
‘We’ve seen him at the beach, in an organic coffee shop, or cycling in the hills’.
Meghan Markle celebrated her 42nd birthday at local Italian Tre Lune (pictured). But locals have claimed they don’t often see them
Meghan, pictured at home being climbed on by her children Archie and Lilibet on Mother’s Day, is said to be ‘distant’ and has ‘never tried to fit in’ in Montecito, a journalist and neighbour has claimed
Prince Harry loves a solo bike ride in his spare time – but followed by his security team, neighbours have said
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s $14.7million home in Santa Barbara, California, is seen above
He is ‘less in control’ and more natural than his wife Meghan.
‘Harry has kept his good-natured side. We feel that he is more at ease here, even with his personal struggles’, Mr Mineards said.
He went on: “Meghan, on the other hand, is practically invisible. She’s there, of course, but she shows herself very little. Her relationship with Montecito is… distant, shall we say’.
A spokesman for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex has declined to comment.
Meghan has given a number of interviews and also released her own new podcast where she has spoken about family life in Montecito.
But she was immediately ribbed for making the school run with a nanny on hand sound ‘akin to climbing Everest and curing cancer at the summit’.
Working parents lampooned the Duchess of Sussex for her earnest description of her morning routine with Archie, five, and Lilibet, three.
Meghan also revealed she has used an ‘amazing’ nanny for five years – who steps in when she has early meetings – after she admitted ‘juggling’ work and motherhood had been ‘very overwhelming’.
The former Suits star, 43, told her friend Jamie Kern Lima that she wakes at 6.30am and after getting the children dressed, fed and to their two different schools, she isn’t back at her £11million Montecito mansion until two-and-half hours after getting up.
‘I know. That’s morning. That’s the morning’, she said breathlessly.
She also revealed how she goes to yoga and fitness classes with 40 to 50 others – sometimes on her own or with friends – and she recently greeted a stranger next to her with a fist bump and a ‘well done’.
Meghan said: ‘Once you know us, I think you want us to have the same normalcy as parents and for our children as they do, despite however unique our situation is.’
‘I have a couple of girlfriends up here – these are stay-at-home moms and working women with normal jobs, not in the public eye,’ the Duchess of Sussex, 43, told People of her life in California.
‘We went from just connecting through our kids to having girls’ nights out or doing Pilates together.’
One mother from the school run has said Meghan recently came to a child’s birthday party where she was ‘chilling’ with parents and talked about ‘mom stuff’.
But neighbours including Mr Mineards, who works for the local Montecito Journal and writes its Grapevine gossip column, have claimed that Meghan is not seen out that often.
One claimed recently that the Duchess of Sussex is more aloof than her husband, who is ‘jolly’ but not fully involved with the locals either.
Neighbours in Montecito have spoken about the couple’s life there – and admit they don’t often see them, unless Harry is on his bike followed by his security team.
There have also been questions about their ‘elitist’ lifestyle.
Meghan and Harry share this desk and mainly work from home. The Duke of Sussex is seen mucking around outside the window while working from home on his wife’s 40th birthday in 2021
The Duke of Sussex isn’t seen out often, unless walking the dog or going on the school run, locals claim
Harry puts a 30-40-minute meditation in his diary each day to make sure it happens
Royal commentator Duncan Larcombe said: ‘They are the public couple that claim to crave privacy and that I suppose would involve the local community. But when you have young children, they all mix with other young children at schools or nurseries’.
He told the Mirror: ‘Are they going to play the role of just another parent?’
Last year MailOnline revealed how Prince Harry spends his time pootling on his bike followed a security team in a Range Rover and walks his dog alone on the beach when not in the home office he shares with Meghan Markle or doing his daily meditations.
When away from his computer Harry speaks with staff and walks his garden enjoying the birds sandwiched between taking Archie to and from school. There is a long meditation in his diary each day – and often a workout with a personal trainer.
One declared: ‘They keep themselves to themselves. I haven’t seen Harry around much. Normally when you see him around here, he’s walking his Labrador on the beach or on his bicycle followed by his security in a Range Rover’.
Outside the confines of their mansion, he enjoys a solo bike ride on his own with his bodyguards following behind or alongside in their SUV – part of the biggest security team in the area, one local said.
There are mixed reports about his happiness.
One ally recently said Harry is ‘doing great’ – but others claim he has become an ‘angry boy’ who is ‘more and more isolated in California’.
Meghan appears to stick to a small and loyal group of friends. She is said to have joined a local mahjong group, stops to speak to locals in the street or shops and has bonded with other celeb-locals.
The Sussexes do venture out together from time to time. They enjoy date nights together at the local steakhouse named Lucky’s or pop out for an Italian meal at Tre Lune where a margherita pizza is $24 and spaghetti and meatballs is $35.
Harry and Meghan have been accused of hypocrisy while enjoying an ‘elitist’ lifestyle in the United States in a German documentary, released in December last year.
‘Harry: The Lost Prince’ includes damning criticism of the couple’s attempts to build a new life for themselves in the US as charity activists and campaigners since leaving the Royal family.
The programme was critical of their much-publicised visits to poverty-stricken countries such as Nigeria and Colombia sits uneasily with Meghan’s love of expensive designer clothes.
One stinging voice in the documentary was former soldier Ben McBean, who lost his left arm and had his right leg amputated above the knee after being seriously injured by a landmine blast in Afghanistan in 2008.
McBean who shared a flight home from Afghanistan with Harry, did not hold back in criticising the prince over his revelations about his family in his bombshell memoir Spare and in his Netflix show.
The veteran soldier says: ‘I just thought, with him kind of whinging about his family and he was saying something about his brother pushing him over or something like that, I was just like, “Mate, just leave it out”.
‘You and your brother had a little fisticuffs…but family’s family, you know.
‘If one of my friends fell out with his partner and started posting things on social media and saying my ex is this and that, I’d have told him to shut up as well.’
