Martha Stewart’s Claim About Meghan Markle Gossiping at Dinner Party Draws Pushback From Host

Martha Stewart’s account of a recent dinner party encounter with Meghan Markle is facing a direct challenge from the person who hosted the event, who says Stewart’s version of what the Duchess of Sussex discussed that night is simply not accurate.

Stewart, 85, told People in a new interview that she and Meghan were both guests at a dinner party in California shortly after the Duchess returned from a trip to Europe that included a reunion with King Charles III. “She had just gotten back from the palace,” Stewart said. “I didn’t talk to her really more than to say a couple words, but I know she was talking about it.”

A Host Offers a Different Account

That characterization did not sit well with the person who organized the dinner, who told Page Six that Stewart’s recollection of events was inaccurate. “I sat next to Meghan at the dinner party and this account of what happened is simply untrue,” the host said. “Meghan didn’t talk about her European vacation other than to say the family had a great time.” The host did not elaborate further on what else was discussed that evening.

According to a separate account relayed to People, the same host said Meghan has long admired Stewart and had enjoyed the brief opportunity to meet her at the dinner, a detail that suggests the interaction, whatever was actually said, was a positive one from Meghan’s side regardless of the disputed specifics.

What Stewart’s Comment Actually Referred To

Stewart’s reference to Meghan having “just gotten back from the palace” appears tied to Meghan and Prince Harry’s broader European trip this summer, during which the couple and their two children, Archie, 7, and Lilibet, 5, met with King Charles and Queen Camilla on July 10 at Highgrove House, the king’s country estate in England. Notably, the reunion took place at Highgrove rather than at any formal royal palace, a distinction some outlets have pointed to in questioning how literally to interpret Stewart’s “palace” reference. Newsweek reported that Meghan was actually asked about her European vacation more broadly during the dinner conversation, rather than specifically about the Highgrove meeting, suggesting some headlines characterizing the exchange as Meghan “boasting” about the royal reunion may have overstated what Stewart’s comments actually established.

The Highgrove gathering marked the first time Charles had seen his American-based grandchildren in person since 2022, when the family last gathered for Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. The king, who has continued treatment for cancer, met with the family alongside Camilla in what royal commentators described as a significant, if carefully managed, step toward repairing years of estrangement between Harry, Meghan and the wider royal family.

Meghan and Harry’s broader summer travels extended beyond the United Kingdom as well. According to Town & Country, the family also spent time in Melides, Portugal, sometimes described as the “Hamptons of Portugal,” a destination the Sussexes have visited regularly in recent years and reportedly purchased a home in back in 2024. A source told People in late July that Harry and Meghan are drawn to Portugal specifically because it allows Archie and Lilibet to, in the source’s words, “simply be kids.”

Stewart Also Weighed In on Meghan’s Netflix Show

Beyond the disputed dinner party account, Stewart used the same interview to offer a pointed assessment of Meghan’s broader career transition, referencing the Duchess’s Netflix lifestyle series “With Love, Meghan,” in which Meghan shares cooking, baking, decorating and entertaining tips. “If you’re an actress, it’s hard to then transition to a princess and then from a princess into a homemaking guru on a television show,” Stewart said. “It doesn’t sort of follow. So go from there.” The remark, delivered by one of the most established figures in the American homemaking and lifestyle media space, was widely interpreted as at least mildly skeptical of Meghan’s pivot into the same general content category Stewart herself has built a decades-long career around.

A Story That Fits a Familiar Pattern

Newsweek noted that the sequence of events, an initial celebrity claim followed by a competing account from someone else present, echoes a recurring pattern in coverage of Meghan and Harry dating back years. The outlet pointed to Harry’s own remarks during a 2023 interview promoting his memoir “Spare,” in which he said that every time he had tried to address issues privately, there had been “briefings and leakings and planting of stories” against him and his wife, criticizing what he characterized as the royal family’s informal motto of “never complain, never explain.” Whether or not this particular dinner party dispute reflects that same dynamic, the underlying pattern, dueling and often contradictory anonymous or semi-anonymous accounts of private social interactions involving Meghan, has recurred repeatedly across royal media coverage over the past several years.

A History of Disputed Claims

This is not the first time a report involving Meghan has been directly and publicly disputed by another party close to the situation. Kensington Palace has previously issued rare, direct denials of specific claims about Meghan, including a 2018 report alleging a heated argument between Meghan and Catherine, Princess of Wales, ahead of Meghan’s wedding, which a palace spokesperson at the time flatly denied, saying, “This never happened.” That history of competing narratives, official or informal, underscores the difficulty of establishing a fully agreed-upon account whenever conflicting versions of a private social interaction involving Meghan become public.

What Remains Unclear

For now, the central factual dispute, whether Meghan discussed her European trip and royal reunion at length during the California dinner, as Stewart suggested, or only briefly mentioned that the family had a good time, as the event’s host maintains, remains unresolved, with both accounts attributed to named or clearly identified sources rather than anonymous insiders. Neither Meghan nor her representatives have publicly commented on either version of events, and it remains unclear whether any further clarification will be offered as the story continues to circulate across entertainment and royal media coverage this week.