Meghan Markle has spent years trying to build something – from her lifestyle brand to a grand estate aesthetic. The only problem? Someone got there first. And right now, she’s everywhere.
Emma Thynn, the Marchioness of Bath, has had quite the month. She walked the Met Gala, flew to France for the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, and shook hands with King Charles at the King’s Trust Gala in New York – all while rubbing shoulders with people Meghan once considered her closest allies. It hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“It’s easy to see why Meghan’s so upset,” an insider tells Woman’s Day. “Emma’s living the life Meghan always wanted – while she gets dubbed ‘the Duchess of Salmonella’.”
THE INVITE THAT NEVER COMES
The Met Gala is a sore spot. Meghan has never been invited, and sources say it stings every single year.
“Meghan has been a ‘no-go zone’ since the Met,” the insider reveals. “Every year she hopes for an invite and she’s never got one. She’s dreamed of being the next royal after Diana to go – so when Beatrice snagged an invite in 2018, she’s been expecting one every year, to no avail.”
This year, Emma went in her place. She was pictured on the red carpet with Edward Enninful – once rumoured to be a close friend of Meghan’s before the pair reportedly fell out – and Serena Williams, whose own relationship with the duchess has looked shaky of late after a widely mocked Instagram post promoting Meghan’s As Ever range.
Seeing Emma cosied up to both of them hasn’t been easy to watch. “Meghan can’t believe Emma – the woman whose very existence helped derail her lifestyle show in America – not only got an invite to the Met and Cannes, but was cosying up to her kids’ favourite ‘auntie’,” the source says. “She’s furious.”
THE RIVALRY SHE CAN’T SHAKE
After the Met, Emma headed straight to Cannes, turning heads in a bold yellow gown at a Vanity Fair lunch before slipping into a navy dress for the opening ceremony of the Film Festival – while Meghan was absent from both.
But the real thorn in Meghan’s side is the cooking show comparison. When With Love, Meghan launched on Netflix last year, viewers were quick to point out how familiar it all looked – because Emma had been doing something very similar on YouTube for nine years, filming Emma’s Kitchen from her kitchen at Longleat House.
“Ever since Emma’s channel came to light, it’s become a big hit in the USA,” the source says. “The damage was done and Meghan’s had to fight back against criticisms over her originality and authenticity ever since.”
When asked about it, Emma simply raised an eyebrow. “No comment,” she said. But it’s the identity question that cuts deepest.
In the new season of Ladies of London: The New Reign, designer Lottie Kane didn’t mince her words. “She is the first black woman to be married into an aristocratic family,” she said of Emma, “and I think Meghan Markle tries to claim that – but it was actually Emma.”
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