Duchess Meghan & Harry were photographed in Santa Barbara with Eugenie & Jack

Something that’s still very cool to me is the fact that everyone – American media and British media – were all in the dark about Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank’s visit to Montecito. Two Sundays ago, Prince Harry and Eugenie hit up a private suite at the Super Bowl and that was the first inkling anyone had that the Brooksbanks were visiting. I still believe that Eugenie had to come to California for work, because of the Frieze Los Angeles art show/sale. Eugenie still works for a British gallery and all of the big art people were in LA from the 17th through the 20th. I think Eugenie decided to make it a family thing, so she brought her husband and their son and they went to Montecito for a week or so before the Frieze.

At some point during the Family Brooksbank’s visit, all of the adults went out for a nice dinner in Santa Barbara. TMZ was the outlet willing to pay the big bucks for these photos, which you can see here. TMZ doesn’t even name the restaurant! I wanted to look at the menu, boo! Anyway, this is the first photo of Meghan since the Christmas card photo. She was also snapped by a paparazzo in Santa Barbara before Christmas. They called her a famewhore and suggested that she’d sell out the precious royal title to everyone and everything, and all she does is stay quiet, do good work, raise her kids and bang her ginger husband.

Photos courtesy of NBC and Backgrid.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

96 Responses to “Duchess Meghan & Harry were photographed in Santa Barbara with Eugenie & Jack”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Becks1 says:

    I love that those pictures are the best they could get. Distant picture through glass (or some sort of plastic tarp/tent?)

    Everyone looks like they are having a great time, lots of laughing, can’t see jack but I’m assuming he was as well. I’m sure that’s going to drive some salty royals insane.

    Also LMAO that these pictures were released yesterday, I don’t think TMZ gives two craps about Kate’s Denmark “tour” but you know KP is going to be big mad about this LOL.

    • molly says:

      In addition to all the outrage over her being an American famewhore who’d CERTAINLY sell out her royal titles in America, I remember people gleefully predicting what a paparazzi target she’d be in LA.

      “Well, if she thinks the UK paps are bad, wait until she gets to Hollywood! That place is swarming with paps, and she’ll have a giant target on her head. She’s going to hate it, mwahahaha.”

      Nope, suckers. She emerges when she wants, wearing fabulous clothes and having a great night out with friends, and the only thing leaked are blurry, long lens shots of people’s backs.

      • Debbie says:

        I recall those predictions from the British press too. The nerve of them trying to tell an American what the American press is like, jerks. But, as it turns out, to those who said, “If she thinks the UK paps are bad…” Well, it turns out they ARE bad. And we all knew that.

    • Christine says:

      These very real smiles make me so happy!

    • I LOVE seeing them laughing and happy and enjoying dinner. And Kaiser, I did some detective work, and Harry and Meghan have been to the same restaurant with others! I’ve also seen it and I recognize it! It’s Luckys Restaurant in Montecito!!!!

      https://www.luckys-steakhouse.com/#welcome

      I have never been there but the next time we go to Santa Barbara, I want to try it. It looks great!!!

      • jamzsquared says:

        I was just coming here to say that I’m 100% sure it’s Lucky’s! I had lunch in Montecito on Monday, across the street, and noted the lovely outdoor space they have, complete with plastic tarp enclosure.

        Lucky’s is one of my favorite restaurants, hands down. When I lived in Santa Barbara for grad school, I’d order their bread pudding as a take-out order, just to feel a little glamorous. It’s the spot that my family goes to for celebrations when we’re in town as well. Such a great spot.

      • Anne says:

        Yep, I was going to say it’s Lucky. I was there last Friday night sitting outside and I’m remembering that someone with a bunch of camera equipment slung all over themselves went by and walked into the restaurant. Wonder if they were there that night and I didn’t notice after my martini kicked in. Anyway, it’s an iconic “steakhouse” that’s been on the main road, Coast Village rd in Montecito for 25 years. They just opened another one in Malibu. Everyone in Montecito goes there, I’ve seen Carol Burnett and Ellen. Their abalone is to die for.

        https://www.luckys-steakhouse.com/menu#dinner

      • RoyalBlue says:

        Damn, Celebitchies are everywhere. I would not be surprised if some of y’all are living on my street.

      • Christine says:

        Thank you! I find Yelp reviews to be soothing.

      • Agreatreckoning says:

        Love all of your detective work! Now, being far away I want to to know if Bouchon’s is as good as the menu reads.
        https://www.bouchonsantabarbara.com/menus

        Or, if Santa Barbara’s Brophy’s has one of the best clam chowders ever according to a favorite food blog.

        Harry & Meghan & Eugenie & Jack looked to be having a great time time wherever they were. This pleases me. And, the fact that it might displease some, makes it more enjoyable. Cue the fat head Tindall’s & Cambridge’s having a night out. Or, in the game of checkers, Bill & Cathy bribe Bea & whatshisname to go out to dinner for a photo op. Would the Cambridges dare with Andrew’s f*ckery? Slippery slopes.

        The H & M and E & J table looks like the fun ones.

  2. Chic says:

    And the RR never knew. Keen got upstage by Meghan existing ( paps sat on these until the right time) and Ukraine invasion.

  3. L84Tea says:

    I love seeing her happy and just living her life. It’s hilarious to me how upset people are just seeing her having a nice night out with her husband and family. And I love that Eugenie and Jack are still there!

    • Jais says:

      Yes, I love seeing this pic of her smiling. Wish this moment could’ve stayed totally private but I’m glad the shots were so few and far away. Mostly, they looked happy. Love it.

    • HeyJude says:

      Agreed it’s so nice to see they’ve found happiness after all the tumult they were put through.

      It’s heartwarming in time were heartwarming stories are much needed.

    • Lucy says:

      I saw a few more pictures where you can see Eugenie’s face, Jack is sitting with his back to the camera. What strikes me about these is they’re laughing and happy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pap shot of anyone on salty isle laughing/happy. I’m sure most of the time they’ve set the shots up (on Salt Isle), but even any street shots, there’s no joy.
      Keep living well, it’s the best revenge.

  4. Angie says:

    They look so happy. I love to see it.

  5. Myjobistoprincess says:

    Oh I am so happy to see pictures of them laughing and having a great time with Eugenie and Jack! I hope we get more pics and also that menu I want to look at.

  6. Sapphire.Topaz says:

    I love how happy and healthy everyone looks. Living well is the best revenge. But my favorite part in my head is how mad the Keens were when they first found out about this, which was probably when we all did.

    • BothSidesNow says:

      I find the pictures lovely too!! They all seem to be having a great time together!! I do love what I can see of her outfit, winter white?

      It’s lovely that they all seem to be close as it appears that they all spend time together like when Meghan mentioned they went to a Halloween party in Canada. I imagine that Harry is close to Eugenie, not so much Beatrice, and they have a close bond. Harry certainly treasures his relationships within the family as well as those that are close to him like Dyer.

      As for when we all found out about their visit, not only were the Lambridges angry and raging around their stuffy household, but Chucky probably miffed as well! He did invite Harry and Meghan but instead Eugenie and Jack went to visit them. It proves that those who want to see Harry and maintain their relationships CAN certainly visit he and Meghan, which is something that his father could do any time.

  7. Oh_Hey says:

    It’s just nice to see that Harry has someone (anyone) from his forsaken birth family. I’m glad Eugenie seems to be just as close with her cousin as she was before and seems to have nice relationship with Meghan.

    • BendyWindy says:

      IIRC, Eugenie was friends with Meghan first and may be who introduced them? I could have the details wrong.

      • Chloe says:

        Considering they said that they wanted to keep the identity of this person private in the engagement interview i don’t think it was Eugenie. There’s no reason her identity has to remain private

      • SarahLee says:

        Chloe, I think the reason might be so all hell didn’t rain down on Eugenie anymore than it already would with her staying close to H&M. I’m guessing Harry was trying to keep her out of the crosshairs as much as he could.

      • Fortuona says:

        Misha Nonoo . Who is friends with Meg and both the York sisters (they were all at her wedding )

  8. Layla says:

    She is smiling and free. That’s all that matters. Can’t wait for Invictus Games.
    She was rocking those trousers 😍 another thing to add to her signature style list 💁🏻‍♀️

    • Jan says:

      Jack seems to be quite the story teller in one pic he had Meghan and Harry in stitches.
      Pictures were taken Sat night and tmz sat on them like a true Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid, to use get most out of them and the running late Denmark just happened to fit.
      One paper actually counted the number of days since Meghan was last seen.

      • Debbie says:

        One paper in which country counted the days since Meghan was last seen? Was it England or somewhere else?

  9. GuestWho says:

    Do we think that they hold the publishing of pap photos to maximize people’s anger over them? Richard Eden was all in his feelings about the “coincidence” of these photos being released when buttons dolittle was on her magical lego land tour. I can’t imagine that E&J are still visiting with M&H, so these photos probably aren’t “fresh” – they’ve got to be days old at least.

    Tons of trolls, obviously, agreed with him that Meghan has some deal with paps (and TMZ I guess – nevermind that it’s owned by Murdoch who she wouldn’t deal with ever) to constantly overshadow ffq.

    If your super important, toddler life changing trip is overshadowed by grainy photos of the 6th and 9th(?) in line and their spouses, it’s time to up your game.

    • Becks1 says:

      I don’t know. On the one hand I can’t see TMZ caring about Kate’s trip to copenhagen or thinking “aha! I know what we need to do to steal attention!” But I also don’t think the timing is completely coincidental either.

      But regardless, Meghan had nothing to do with it.

    • Polo says:

      Richard is literally a troll who makes his money off disparaging Meghan. That’s why he’s always writing the most stupid articles on them and tagging her name. He’s just like piers, Angela, and Camilla T. They will say or do anything to continue their con game.
      He doesn’t care how embarrassing it is…he just knows it gets him attention and money. I wish more people would ignore it otherwise we’ll start seeing him all over TVs like Piers and Angela.
      He barely gets engagement on any of his other posts.
      There’s no point fighting with trolls.

      • Harper says:

        Eden is the one who got #princewilliamaffair trending big time after Christmas. That had to have been the highlight of his journalistic career. Burger King and Fries should be a little afraid of his antics. Jobson is another rota who is starting to pick at the Cambridges on Twitter. He had a tweet yesterday about some typical half-sentence Mumbles uttered about the wind on her flight which did not flatter her. Look for Jobson to get into the muck more now as he has a book on the Burger King turning 40 set to release in May and he’ll need attention too.

    • C-Shell says:

      I’m *fascinated* that Murdoch-owned TMZ and Page 6 sat on these pap pics for some number of days and released them during the Big Lego “tour.” Eden’s weird “coincidence” whining just brings more attention to Khate’s irrelevance. Are they really just flinging spaghetti at every wall or is there an agenda coming to light? The RR PR game is such a shambles it’s hard to tell.

      ETA: I love this new look Harry’s sporting with the crew neck under a blazer. Very hot.😋

    • Bren says:

      Richard Eden loves fanning the flames. He could’ve just ignored the dinner photos and reported on Kate’s events. He’s like that person saying hold me back in a one way fight. A complete joke.

    • Ginger says:

      Richard Eden and his haters think the world should stop when Kate does anything. No one cares about Kate’s little tour. Even her “fans” don’t care. They cared more for these photos of two people they supposedly hate.

      I loved the photos and I am glad they look happy and carefree. Living their best life.

    • terra says:

      Just counted and am pretty sure Eugenie is the 12th in line. Charles, Willnot and his three, Harry and his two (no matter how much the racists hate it, they’re there), Andrew (gag), Beatrice and her little girl, THEN Eugenie.

      If the law putting birth order first overall, not counting boys first were retroactive then Eugenie would be 20th as Anne and her children would jump ahead of Andrew and his kids.

      (Side note: when they changed Sweden’s succession laws in the 80s the king was BIG MAD that doing so meant his newly born son was displaced as heir because that law WAS retroactive. Oh, England – always doing things the wrong way.)

    • Lemons says:

      I don’t check TMZ to know what stories they do have, but I’m sure they were released during a slower celebrity news day to drive traffic to the site. They have absolutely NO —- to give regarding Keen’s trip.

      But Murdoch’s other outlets will be able to stir up some drama relating to this article about how Keen has been overshadowed because her relatives are seen getting along whereas she is looking drab on her solo trip.

    • Agreatreckoning says:

      I’m pretty sure H & M don’t have any dealings/relationship with any Murdoch owned media other than Harry’s ongoing lawsuit involving Murdoch media. Eden knows this. After reading the different comments and the other post about the Danish press (not having looked at the timing of everything), did Eden’s tweet come out after the Danish press’s pieces about KP’s rules and Kate’s lateness? It’s not like rotas/BM wouldn’t be active in deflection. It is pathetic that Eden and the others use Meghan or Harry for engagement numbers.

      Happy to see the four of them enjoying themselves.

    • Chuck says:

      Come on TMZ get it right. There are no restaurants in Montecito or Santa Barbara that look like that. The Red entrance door, the rails with glass…not here in our little piece of heaven. We’re major foodies and know all the restaurants in town and that’s not one of them. Also, most of us could care less that celebs live here, it’s where they go to be treated like “ordinary” people. (Except Oprah, who used to be seen driving through town with her car top purposefully down…)

    • Debbie says:

      So, if this Richard Eden (who dat?) was so concerned about Kate capturing ALL the European headlines, why, oh why, didn’t he just focus on Kate and leave Meghan out of his coverage? What’s the matter, was Kate not interesting enough? If that’s the case, don’t blame Meghan, blame your bore.

  10. K.T says:

    Love that they all look relaxed and happy, that should be our maxim…embrace all joys!
    But it’s gotta be another truth that TMZ is close to daily mail in various weird ways.

  11. Kelly says:

    Lol. Kween of Steal’s Denmark trip is overshadowed by one paparazzi shot! Meghan’s PR game is so good even when’s she’s not playing

  12. Drusilla says:

    This is nice. In hindsight they should have just gotten married and cut their losses from the get go but they still got out and are living life on their own terms.

  13. Che says:

    Those pap photos show what living free from BM & RF family looks like. Happy for their new lease on life.

  14. LoryD75 says:

    This story and the pics have not been reported by the DM. Hmmm wonder why? Because everyone looks happy and shows if any member of the senior royal family wanted to see the children they could. They haven’t figured an angle to play.

    • Jegede says:

      Cause TMZ has the exclusives. No one else has the rights. At least for the next 24 hours.

      Same with that pic of Meghan & Archie last year.
      ALL THE RAGS in Blighty would have given their last yellow teeth for that shot🤤🤤, but Pg 6 alone had the exclusive and held the rights.

      The pics weren’t published anywhere else.

  15. Crowned+Huntress says:

    This should put to bed for the last time all of those ‘Eugenie hates Meghan for upstaging her at her wedding’ rumors. I’m pretty convinced it was Eugenie that set Harry & Meghan to meet to begin with. I hope they had an excellent time together with the kids. I’d also imagine Eugenie wanted to get away from the UK with the circus surrounding her father. With the Sussexes renewing the lease on Frogmore I’m thinking that Jack & Eugenie are saving their money to get out of that country once and for all.

  16. ABritGuest says:

    This is odd as thought Meghan was keeping Harry away from his family& that she had insulted & terrorised the queen, her family & all staff so why is the queen’s granddaughter in California spending time with her? 😆

    Once Eugenie &Harry were seen together at the super bowl I thought the paparazzi would be on their trail trying to get further pics of them out & about. Meghan said that the 4 of them got on so that’s nice. I guess this is the kind of content people wanted for the Cambridge’s & the Sussexes when they tried the Fab 4 thing at first.

    I saw a screenshot of the article saying pics were taken on the weekend. Given tmz is now part of murdoch’s empire I do think they were being messy releasing it on same day Kate’s tour started. Some of Kate’s fans & some royal press certainly seem to be upset & claim it was about deliberately overshadowing her. Pathetic

    • Haylie says:

      The tabloids and Kate’s deranged fans needed the overshadowed by Meghan cover story for when Keen’s tour flopped, like we all knew it would. Which it would’ve done even if Meghan was in total seclusion and isolated.

      Keen doesn’t have it.

      • Lorelei says:

        I thought that if the photos were in fact held to be released at a more strategic time, they were published when they were to coincide with the Queen’s Covid diagnosis?
        “Harry and Meghan out on the town callously LAUGHING as Her Majesty BRAVELY battles Covid!!” or some such nonsense. It seems like that would provoke more outrage?

        Would TMZ even have Kate’s two-day trip to Denmark on its radar? (I refuse to call it a “tour” when it’s that short! It drives me crazy that they keep referring to it as a “tour.” GMAB)

    • kirk says:

      As if Meghan and Harry control the news cycle in which their unsolicited, uncoordinated long-lens public photos are released. Anybody suggesting M&H are working with paps, photo agencies (one of which attributed their bankruptcy to M&H) or TMZ (which publishes estranged Thomas Markle rants) is either clueless, crazy or trolling.

  17. Cessily says:

    Love seeing them laughing and enjoying themselves. Hate thinking that someone stalked them and profited from this happy moment.

  18. beff says:

    Damn, wish I had scrolled a little further. I *hate* giving TMZ or the Fail a click.

  19. Izzy says:

    I’m holding out hope that Jack and Eugenie were also there doing some scouting for a possible place to live…

    • Snuffles says:

      Same. I’m still wondering how long the visit was or if they are still there.

      • JT says:

        So far it looks like they’ve been there for two weeks and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was longer. A UK to Montecito trip is simply too long of a flight to just stop by for a few days or a week, especially with a baby. I would want to make the most of it.

  20. Sofia says:

    It’s really nice to see all of them be super happy and enjoy a night out. It’s a shame they got papped but it’s inevitable when you’re a public figure I suppose (even ex Presidents get papped).

  21. Em says:

    I don’t know why royal fans want Harry and Meghan to never be seen again, the world doesn’t stop for Kate Middleton and William. There’s enough space for everyone to do their thing. Besides Harry and Meghan have no control over publishing images

  22. Digital Unicorn says:

    They all look fabulous – want that red coat. Anyone got an ID on it?

  23. Justplainme says:

    If Keen did anything but show up to a photo op then maybe she wouldn’t be upstaged. Pictures of her a dime a dozen and face it she looks pretty much the same day in and day out. She’s oversaturated the market, the royal version of going to the opening of an envelope.

  24. SaraTor says:

    2022 is Meghan living according to her own goals, desires and expectations for herself. I really love that she’s just living her life in her terms. I think in the first 2 years they almost tried at times to do quazi royal type activities, but now it really seems like they’ve shaken off those expectations of what they “should” do (for example, the New York trip activities). I would love to see Meghan do a speech, interview someone or a panel at a conference again soon, since she does it well and it’s interesting.

    • kirk says:

      New York trips? M&H took their roles with Global Citizen seriously and when have either of them treated their service roles in a skimming or performative manner – they get their hands in and get involved. As for Intrepid Museum, Harry’s been there before.

    • L4Frimaire says:

      @SaraT, did you not see Meghan on Dealbook with The NY Times? That was the last time she did something like a panel.

  25. Stephanie says:

    I’ve seen this comment in so many fandoms about Backgrid and it’s incorrect. Backgrid is a photo agency. Paps sell their pics to Backgrid for money. It has nothing to do with celebs calling paps. Back in the day the the photo agencies were Wire Image and Splash News those are the agencies that paps sold their pics to, and made money.

    • Lorelei says:

      @Stephanie, thank you! I kept seeing snide Backgrid comments on Twitter yesterday (did not have the mental energy to comment explaining why they were wrong, and it wouldn’t have mattered anyway) because somehow, the Meghan haters have convinced everyone that she has a relationship with them, that any photo from Backgrid is personally sanctioned by Meghan and arranged by Sunshine Sachs. “Backgrid” seems like it’s sort of become their shorthand for “Meghan organizing her own pap strolls.”

      These people don’t know how anything works!!

  26. Smices says:

    Doubtful, the graininess of the images suggest this was a fellow diner who took the shot.

    • Cessily says:

      It looks like it was taken through outdoor weather protection vinyl which most restaurants in warmer areas have open year round, that would distort even a professional photo.

  27. Amy Bee says:

    Yeah so much for Meghan being an attention seeker. She didn’t even go to the biggest sporting event in the US. The stans were upset that pictures came out during Kate’s visit, they better get used to it. There are going to be many times when Harry and Meghan will be doing things at the same time as the Cambridges and William and Kate will be overshadowed every time.

  28. Bettyrose says:

    That red New York outfit always reminds me of Nancy Pelosi. I know Meghan probably won’t ever pursue public office but the look suits her.

  29. Julia O'C says:

    I can’t wait to see how Kate looks in head-to-toe red.

  30. MissKitten(is my cats name) says:

    Someone might have already said this, but I think that, in addition to H&M and E&J genuinely having a close relationship and wanting to meet each others babies, I think perhaps this doubled as a way for H&M to say to the world; “See? If H’s family (esp Charles) REALLY cared about seeing him and the new baby (and Archie), there is nothing stopping them from coming here.”
    Plus I think the UK tabloids are generally positive about Eugenie, and this open display of her good relationship with the Sussexes only helps to shoot down the idea that they have been shunned by H’s relatives.

  31. ma says:

    The release of the photos doesn’t have anything to do with Kate Middleton’s tour, which no one cares about in the States least of all TMZ. I didn’t know about it until I read the comments here. TMZ released Tuesday simply to get the most bang for their buck so they wouldn’t want to publish on Sunday. The best time to publish would’ve been Monday but it was a holiday in the US. So they did the soonest day possible on the best press day and could be choosey since they have the exclusive rights. Seriously people, the British royals are not on TMZ’s radar.

    • Tangerine Tree says:

      @ma Exactly – Monday was a holiday and you make perfect sense about the timing.
      And as others have said, don’t they all look happy!! How fun to be out to dinner with family. They are living their best life.

  32. Cerys says:

    Everyone looks very friendly and happy which will not go down well inside KP. I expect we will have a few pap shots soon of the Lamebridges double dating with some poor unfortunate couple.

  33. Eggbert says:

    I’m so curious to know what Eugenie thinks of Andrew. She must be a good person or else H&M wouldn’t be so close with her, so I’d like to believe she thinks her dad is a garbage person.

    • MelOn says:

      He’s still her Father, how she feels about him is up to her and she doesn’t have to satisfy public judgments. We know what he is, it’s a little bit more complicated for her.

  34. jferber says:

    Meghan is absolutely gorgeous and she knows how to DRESS. The all red outfit is perfection. I particularly love the jacket. They all look like they’re having fun and look so natural and normal. I hope Eugenie and Jack got to chillax in California. They really don’t know what they’re missing in frosty England.

  35. Bread and Circuses says:

    Prince Charles decided Bea and Eugenie wouldn’t be working royals. Eugenie was younger when the decision came down, so she had more time to come to terms with building a life without The Firm.

    Given she’s always been close with Harry, it may well be that she quietly sides with Harry and Megan over the Royal Family now.

    She got done dirty by them too, after all.

  36. Chris Sauer says:

    I drove a close friend of Harrys’ on a weekend in Napa Valley. Twelve or so young Brits staying in a mansion in the hills….we ate at In & Out before his departure from SFO…he said having a drink with Harry is by invitation only at some of the most exclusive clubs in London….anyway, that’s my brush with greatness story….

  37. Julia K says:

    I don’t think this is a pap shot. Looks more like the person at the next table aimed their phone at Harry. How rude. And then to sell it!

  38. L4Frimaire says:

    TMZ is demon spawn but I actually liked these pictures. It was nice to see them out having a good time and laughing. Some people really can’t handle them being out and happily living their life. Everyone was missing Meghan and she looked amazing as usual.

  39. Southern Fried says:

    Get ready for the pix of Willy and Kate eating out with laughing hyena expressions. Also copying Meghan’s outfit with Kate’s signature 1920’s schoolmarm touches. Fun seeing H&M enjoying themselves with his cousin. Maybe someday we’ll get to hear about all the fun the little ones had together.