Martha Stewart has told People magazine that she and Meghan Markle were guests at the same California dinner party, where the Duchess of Sussex spoke about a recent visit to see King Charles and Queen Camilla at Highgrove.

Stewart, 85, gave the account in a cover interview with People, published on 5 August. "We were both guests at a dinner party in California," Stewart told the magazine. "And she had just gotten back from the palace." Stewart said neither woman hosted the gathering — both attended strictly as guests (Nine.com.au).

According to Stewart, Meghan described a July trip to Highgrove, the King's private residence in Gloucestershire, where she and Prince Harry brought their two children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5. The meeting on 10 July followed Prince Harry's travel to the UK for Invictus Games events. Charles and Camilla welcomed the children to Highgrove, marking the first time the King had seen his grandchildren since 2022. No photographs from the reunion were released, and the family kept the visit private (HELLO!).

Meghan later shared photos from the family's holiday on her personal Instagram account, including pictures from Portugal and the UK. Some images were believed to have been taken at the Althorp Estate and in Scotland, though the posts did not caption specific locations (HELLO!).

Not long after Stewart's interview was published, a contradictory account surfaced. A source told the Daily Mail that Stewart and Meghan were not seated near one another at the dinner party and suggested Stewart "must have been confused." The source's claim was carried by the Daily Mail and reported by HELLO! on 7 August. HELLO! contacted representatives for Meghan Markle for comment on Stewart's account; no response has been reported.

The result is two versions of the same evening, resting on different attributions. Stewart's account is on the record, in her own words, in a named publication. The rebuttal comes from an unnamed source, carried by the Daily Mail.

For royal watchers, the heart of the story sits in the visit itself. Highgrove is the King's Gloucestershire home, bought by Charles in 1980 and famous for its gardens. Archie and Lilibet, the children of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have lived in California since their parents stepped back from royal duties in 2020. The July visit brought the grandchildren back to a royal residence for the first time in roughly four years — and, by Stewart's telling, Meghan was ready to talk about it over dinner in California the moment she returned.