Is there a new member of the 'Sussex Survivors' Club'? The Mail's Royal experts discuss Meghan Markle's friendship with Edward Enninful on PALACE CONFIDENTIAL

Daily Mail​

23-05-2025

Meghan Markle first came across Edward Enninful, the former editor of British Vogue, when she was invited to guest-edit the fashion magazine in 2019.
At the time, they were inseparable with Meghan describing them as 'like-minded thinkers' who enjoyed 'philosophising' over cups of mint tea.
But there have long been rumours amid fashion circles that the pair fell out over a planned feature in British Vogue about the Duke and Duchess's charitable work in 2022.
Now, the Mail's team of unrivalled royal experts have delved into the truth behind Meghan and Edward's friendship on the latest episode of Palace Confidential, questioning whether the style stalwart has become an 'honorary member' of the 'Sussex Survivors' Club'.
'One of Meghan's friends was the editor of British Vogue,' Richard Eden, the Daily Mail's Diary Editor, said. 'Or he certainly used to be.'
Richard, who has written about the Royal Family for over 20 years, urged viewers of Palace Confidential to remember the 'cringemaking' video that Meghan made in 2019 to promote the record-breaking issue she guest-edited for Vogue entitled Forces for Change.
The cover featured familiar faces such as Salma Hayek Pinault, Greta Thunberg and Laverne Cox. It was described as the 'fastest-selling' issue in the magazine's history by Forbes.
'The video was them wearing party hats,' he said, 'and they talked about their shared love of mint tea. Anyway, they were besties for a while these two.
'Then it clearly went badly wrong and they did that classic modern thing of unfollowing each other on social media but it was known that they were really not on speaking terms anymore.'
Pointing to a 'very interesting' article in the Mail on Sunday written by his colleague Charlotte Griffiths, Richard said it reveals 'what actually went wrong'.
'Meghan was hoping that Enninful would run in Vogue a big number on the [Sussexes'] charitable work,' he explained.
'This is going back to 2022 and she was hoping there would be a special that was to coincide with Meghan's appearance at the One Young World Summit.
'I think she hoped for a cover of Vogue as well as a big spread online as well as the magazine. But it didn't happen.'
Although the Duchess is said to have been relaxed with 'no expectations', her team supposedly had 'high expectations for the piece'.
A source told the MoS they were 'expecting she might get a print cover or at least a digital cover out of it, but Enninful was not able to meet those expectations.
'He already had a magazine cover in the bag for that month.'
Adding his own commentary on Palace Confidential, Richard said: 'I think the problem was he had already designated a cover to the great former supermodel Linda Evangelista.
Forces for Change - Vogue's September issue that was guest-edited by the Duchess of Sussex in 2019
'It was a really striking cover and presumably they had been negotiating for ages.'
Indeed, British Vogue's September 2022 cover star was the Canadian fashion model.
In the issue, Linda opened up about her struggle to 'love herself' again after a botched cosmetic procedure left her 'permanently deformed' and 'brutally disfigured.'
According to insiders, Meghan's project needed a full production team including photographers, videographers, stylists and editors to shoot exclusive images and film an in-depth video feature with the royal couple.
Shelving it is said to have caused irreparable damage to Meghan and Edward's friendship.
'Edward was furious to have lost the project, as were the powers that be at Conde Nast,' a source told the MoS. The newspaper approached the Duchess of Sussex and Enninful for comment. Conde Nast declined to comment.
Richard added: 'Meghan was so disappointed that it sounds like she threw her toys out of the pram and never spoke to Edward again.'
He then passed the floor to Jo Elvin who not only hosts the hit YouTube show Palace Confidential but previously edited the glossy fashion magazines You and Glamour.
Sharing her insight, Jo said: 'I haven't ever had the weird privilege of turning away royalty on my magazine cover - that is a whole rarified Vogue world that I know not of.
'But I have definitely been in the situation so many times where you've got three celebrities who want that cover and they can only have that one cause it's the only that's promoting the thing at the time that they want it to be at - and you've already given it to somebody.
'People don't pay celebrities to be on magazine covers, I think that might surprise a lot of people.
'Once you've said, "you can have the cover, Beyonce" to suddenly dump Beyonce because Meghan wants the cover. You just can't do it.'
'So Edward Enninful would have had no choice?' asked Rebecca English, the Daily Mail's Royal Editor.
'He would have been between a rock and a hard place,' Jo replied.
'If it's true that she then decided that she didn't even want to be in the pages of Vogue, I think I can sympathise with him being pretty annoyed at having probably at least a 10-page hole.
'Most celebrities understand that once that offer has been somewhere else, you're not going to get it.'
'If this is true,' Richard interjected, 'it does seem very self-defeating because if they did wanted publicity for their charitable works, surely you would welcome any publicity?'
To which Jo said: 'I think the three of us know that if Meghan had been in Vogue with somebody else on Vogue, there would have been reams of speculation worldwide about why she wasn't "good enough" for the cover.'
Turning back to her role as host, Jo turned to Rebecca and said: 'On another note, the Sussexes do fall out with a lot of people, don't they?'
'I wonder if Edward Enninful has been given honorary membership of the Sussex Survivors Club?' Rebecca said.
'Oh, he may well have a t-shirt,' Jo joked. 'He could design the t-shirt.'