Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, met seriously ill children at the WellChild Awards in London on Tuesday. / AP
Meghan Markle is having a difficult time deciding who she can trust these days.
Since the 37-year-old Duchess of Sussex said "I do" to Prince Harry earlier this year, relationships she had in her pre-Harry days have fallen by the wayside as she struggles to know who she can let in, reports the Daily Mail.
"Meghan has lost touch with some of her close friends from before the wedding, which has been tough," a source told People in its new issue. "She's finding it hard to know who to trust."
According to the magazine, she's cut her circle of friends down to a select few whom she knows are trustworthy.
With so many leaks to tabloids — and her own family frequently talking to the press about her — it makes sense that she would limit her relationships to people who won't blab to news outlets as "anonymous sources" with inside scoop.
These trustworthy friends include her makeup artist, Daniel Martin, and her stylist BFF Jessica Mulroney — whom she secretly flew out to in Toronto in August to visit.
"There's a small group of us that check in with her and see how she's doing, but she's still the same person," Martin told People.
Being guarded is hardly new for members of the royal family. Earlier this year, royal observer Patricia Treble told Vanity Fair, "You look at all the senior royals, and they're incredibly careful about whom they're friends with. They end up having lots of 'acquaintances,' or people who 'know them.'"
Another royal-watcher, Emily Nash, told the magazine that post-wedding, Meghan "getting used to a more discreet social life . . . she is still going to be seeing and speaking to her most trusted friends just as before."
Then there's her family. While her mother Doria Ragland recently made the move to the UK to be closer to her daughter, she's very publicly estranged from much of the rest of her flesh and blood.
Her dad, Thomas Markle, has continued to criticise her and her new husband to the press, while her half-sister makes rude remarks on social media.
"It was very wearing on her. It's her private life," a source told People of the family scandal. "The beginning of marriages are not that easy, but to have that impetus of your own family being disloyal is horrible and embarrassing."
Just this week, Meghan's sister Samantha took to Twitter to coin a nasty schoolyard nickname for her and attack her yet again.
"I am not candy coating anything anymore! The DUCHA** should be humane to our father who has given her everything and this media crap can stop!' Samantha tweeted on Monday.
"He was the one who was always there for her. Fake waves and smiles can stop. The duchA** can bow to the daddy".
At one point during her rant Samantha proclaimed that the Duchess of Sussex "wasn't much different than Trump" — clearly failing to see the irony that it was her, not Meghan, coming up with Trump-esque insults on Twitter.
"[He] thinks he can shoot someone and still get votes. She can dump an entire family both sides and a best friend of 30 years and ignore it and be popular. Sad," she tweeted.
Markle is reportedly losing touch with friends. Photo / Getty Images
Samantha continued with the comparison in another tweet as she hit back at one critic and proclaimed she had the right to express her feelings about Meghan.
"She was the one who crapped on both sides of the family and she wants everyone to be quiet and not respond?" she wrote. "I am not surprised Trump said he could shoot someone and still get votes. Same mentality here."
She also repeatedly referenced Meghan's former best friend Ninaki Priddy. Priddy has also been more than happy to speak to the media about the Duchess.
"Sorry folks there is no valid or a good argument in favor of inhumane treatment of both sides of the family and a best friend of 30 years," Samantha wrote.
The childhood friends had a falling out after Priddy, who was Meghan's maid of honor at her first wedding, disapproved of how she broke things off with her film producer husband Trevor Engelson.
In December of last year, Priddy spoke to the Daily Mail about the end of their friendship.
"I don't believe she gave him enough of an opportunity. I think there was an element of "out of sight, out of mind" for Meghan,' she said. 'The way she handled it, Trevor definitely had the rug pulled out from under him. He was hurt.
"I tried to get details from her, but she wouldn't tell me. What came to light after Trevor and I spoke ended my friendship with Meghan.
"All I can say now is that I think Meghan was calculated — very calculated — in the way she handled people and relationships. She is very strategic in the way she cultivates circles of friends. Once she decides you're not part of her life, she can be very cold.
"It's this shutdown mechanism she has. There's nothing to negotiate. She's made her decision and that's it," she said.
