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Over the weekend, blurry photos began popping up online. The Sussex Squad was abuzz… the Duchess of Sussex had been seen outside! They quickly discovered why Meghan left the house: she attended the opening of a local bookstore called Godmothers, in Summerland (just next door to Montecito). As it turned out, Godmothers invited Town & Country to the opening too, which is how T&C got exclusive photos of Prince Harry, Meghan, Oprah, Jane Lynch and more star attendees of the opening. T&C also did a lovely write-up about how the store came together and why they named it Godmothers (hint: it was because of Harry). Some highlights:

Meghan visited a bookstore in 2019: Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, stood at the front of a new bookstore in the oceanside enclave of Summerland, California over the weekend and recalled the last time she set foot in a similar spot. It was back in 2019, during a covert trip to New York from the UK to watch her friend, Serena Williams, play in the U.S. Open. She stayed for a night in the West Village with another friend, designer Misha Nonoo; before anybody knew Meghan was in town, she went for a walk to a bookstore. “For me, sneaking to New York five years ago was a really big deal,” the duchess said, describing how she put on a cap and kept her head down. “I was still so uncomfortable being out in the world,” she continued, hinting at that fraught time in her tenure as a working royal. “The safety of what I was craving, I knew I could find in a bookstore.”

Godmothers was started by literary agent Jennifer Rudolph Walsh and cosmetics mogul Victoria Jackson. Consider the guest list for the Godmothers’ opening weekend. Oprah Winfrey popped by the friends and family party Friday evening, holding court underneath the string lights on the patio. Meghan was in the mix, as was Prince Harry, silently pointing to his memoir, Spare, when asked if he had a book recommendation. Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi made the rounds, as did Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos and his wife, Nicole Avant, former U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas.

The name of the store: Since its inception, Godmothers has been sprinkled with that Montecito magic. The idea for the name started with Harry at his Beverly Hills book party. He thanked Winfrey, Jackson, and Rudolph Walsh for their support, calling the trio his “fairy godmothers.” When plans for the bookstore took shape, Winfrey told the new shopkeepers: “There’s really only one thing you can name it: Godmothers.” Now the duke’s memoir features prominently on the store’s “Our Local Authors” display, another standard bookstore feature that gets a glow-up here. Meghan’s children’s book, The Bench, is part of the assortment, along with titles from Winfrey, Degeneres, Rob Lowe, Cameron Diaz and more.

The community in the area: “The sense of community here is kind of wild,” says Paramount’s BrianRobbins, who moved to Montecito with his wife, designer Tracy James, a year ago. “It’s Mayberry for rich people!” roars actress Jane Lynch from one of the fireside armchairs. Lynch was greeted enthusiastically Friday night by Jennifer Freed, a best-selling author and Gwyneth Paltrow’s psychological astrologer, complimenting her blouse (bought that day from the Johnny Was store in town). Holding a mocktail with a sprig of rosemary in it, Lynch gushes about her chosen home. “This is the most community I’ve ever had in my life,” she says. “We all know each other. We know each other’s dogs!”

The party on Friday: On Friday, the twain mingled as the DJ took the evening’s soundtrack from Carole King to Chappell Roan. The party was in full swing when the Sussexes arrived, slipping out of a darkened Range Rover and into the evening sun-splashed store. Meghan, clad in an ivory Ralph Lauren tank and long trousers with a diamond necklace around her neck, greeted people with kisses to both cheeks, while Harry turned handshakes into back-slapping hugs. At the end of the founders’ brief remarks, as they thanked Winfrey for her support, Meghan held her hand to her mouth and let out a “Woo!” The Sussexes then spent an hour deep in several conversations, moving seamlessly from one group to the next. Their ease meant a lot to Jackson, who has known the couple since shortly after they moved to California in 2020. “Seeing them be able to come here and be in a safe space,” she says, “it’s what we want it to be.” In turn, “their support, and the light that it will shine on Godmothers, is pretty extraordinary.”

Meghan came back for a second event on Saturday: Meghan was the only other VIP in the crowd filled with notable names to take the mic on Saturday. Clad in a black linen Club Monaco jumpsuit, she thanked the founders “for not just creating the space, but for holding the space for so many people to feel seen through the pages, either in laughter, in grief, in feeling less alone.” Meghan listened intently to the conversations from the front row, first from the store’s founders and then Winfrey, nodding and applauding. When it wrapped, she made a dash for the door. “Wasn’t that incredible?” she said, then added apologetically: “I’ve got to make dinner for the kids.”

[From Town & Country]

LOL, Harry and Meghan are insanely well-connected. We get glimpses of that every so often, when they turn up in a VIP section or a premiere in Jamaica. But they’re surrounded by wealthy, well-connected, powerful people who genuinely like them and want to help them. I would love to watch Harry and Meghan work a room in this kind of setting, because I imagine it’s majestic. Anyway, I love that Harry inspired the name of the bookstore and that he went to the big opening and worked the crowd too. Amazing.

Photos courtesy of Town & Country, Backgrid, Cover Images.