In the past three months, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been seen in the company of Jeff Bezos, Ted Sarandos, Will Ferrell, Oprah, Ellen DeGeneres, the Mercedes F1 team, Kevin Costner, Misha Nonoo, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, NATO Joint Force Commander General Guglielmo Miglietta, Kelly Rowland, Kerry Washington, and I’m forgetting like a dozen other major people. Yet the British media insists, with tears streaming down their faces, that Harry and Meghan are unwanted, unpopular and unloved, that they are in a state of permanent social and financial struggle. LOL. Well, it’s time for one of my favorite sub-genres of royal coverage: who are the latest powerful people hanging out with Harry and Meghan? Page Six did a deep dive on the people sitting alongside H&M at the Katy Perry show in Las Vegas.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle partied in Las Vegas with Wall Street billionaire Ken Griffin and Michael Kives, the “super networker” who has a finger in every Hollywood pie, Page Six can reveal. Kives joined the “Montecito mafia” as he flew by private jet with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to watch Katy Perry’s final performance of her Las Vegas residency Saturday night. And Griffin took a prime seat right next to Harry at the gig. The 55-year-old Wall Street titan is worth a staggering $33.6 billion.
His presence raises intriguing questions about whether the Duke and Duchess of Sussex can look to him for help with their business and charitable activities. The Wall Street titan is a Republican mega-donor while the Duchess of Sussex has made little secret of her liberal politics.
Meanwhile, Kives, a former aide to both Hillary and Bill Clinton and a former CAA top agent, used to represent Perry, but now runs an investment fund called K5 Global. A well-placed Hollywood source told Page Six Kives is a “power broker,” and said, “This really presents a cozy picture of Meghan and Harry’s growing network. Who only knows what Harry and Griffin could be talking about. It’s all about power and money and who knows whom.”
We’re told that that noted environmentalists Harry, 39, and Markle, 42, and Kives, 42, were invited to Sin City by their billionaire mutual friends, Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd and her husband Michael Herd, an oil and gas heir from Texas. The private plane trip caused accusations of hypocrisy. Griffin met them there, while Markle was seen sitting close to Wolfe Herd at the Resorts World Theater.
“It’s a tangled web,” said the Hollywood source: “They all have friends in common. And it begs the question: will Meghan be seeking entrepreneurial advice or signing Whitney Wolfe Herd or Michael Kives on as Archewell donors or board members. Or both?”
Kives sat directly behind the couple, alongside his best pal Darnell Strom. Strom was his one-time protege at Hollywood agents CAA and is now a partner at rival firm UTA, whose boss Jeremy Zimmer embarrassingly called Markle not a “great talent”. (This prompted sources to tell Page Six that UTA had, in fact, been after Markle). The source added: “It’s particularly curious as Meghan signed with Ari Emmanuel at WME and yet here she is with this CAA alum and a UTA partner.” Insiders denied that the Sussexes are working with Kives in any capacity.
A source said that although the evening was definitely great networking, “There’s nothing Meghan can really do as she’s signed with WME and signed away the keys to the castle.”
LMAO, my head is spinning. I don’t doubt that Harry and Meghan socialize with many of the people mentioned in this piece, but I’d also like to mention that… it’s perfectly possible that several of these people simply wanted to see Katy Perry’s final show in Vegas. Like, it was a VIP section for KATY PERRY’S friends and associates, it wasn’t Harry and Meghan inviting their friends and associates. Anyway, I always enjoy hearing about Harry and Meghan casually hanging out with incredibly rich and well-connected people. It’s almost as if Harry and Meghan are they themselves very rich and well-connected.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Backgrid.
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- Düsseldorf, GERMANY – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle join Rita Ora on stage at the Invictus Games closing ceremony at Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany. Pictured: Prince Harry, Duchess of Sussex BACKGRID USA 16 SEPTEMBER 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Closing ceremony of the Invictus Games. Featuring: President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Dusseldorf, Germany When: 16 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Closing ceremony of the Invictus Games. Featuring: President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Dusseldorf, Germany When: 16 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Closing ceremony of the Invictus Games. Featuring: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Dusseldorf, Germany When: 16 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Closing ceremony of the Invictus Games. Featuring: Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: Dusseldorf, Germany When: 16 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Closing ceremony of the Invictus Games. Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex Where: Dusseldorf, Germany When: 16 Sep 2023 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
H + M are incredibly well connected. bc they’ve worked hard to build up their global brand. And also Harry’s from the most famous royal family of the world. Son to Diana. has done years of philanthropy work for the RF and on his own. Ppl probs want to talk to them. in terms of wealth, they’re rich but nowhere near as wealthy as some of the billionaires swimming in that place. billionaire money can buy you lots of influence, but there’s still something appealing about being associated with royalty, especially a couple that decided to tear down the institution.
I don’t know why, but I honestly believe the Sussexes are really wealthy. If prince Harry inherited about 30 something million pounds from his mother in 2020, and Meg already had about $5 million (rumored) and still has earnings coming from her acting gigs still showing on Netflix etc, plus all the money they made from both their books and their docuseries, and if all that money has been wisely invested? I would not be surprised if the Sussexes are now swimming in a cool billion USD but are humble enough to never brag about it.
But why are the Sussexes being branded “the Montecito Mafia”? I don’t get it. So they’re criminals now because why? What crimes did they exactly commit to be Mafiosi now?
I caught that to and thought it was ridiculous. Its no different than when Meghan first started dating Harry and they claimed she was Gangster Royalty from Compton, Cali and somehow involved with drugs. Their racism always makes them see Meghan as criminal and like she somehow stole the privilege and wealth she currently has.
Which is extremely ironic since criminality and theft IS baked into their royal family and aristocracy. Somehow that’s more tolerable than the Black self made multimillionaire.
no doubt they’re wealthy. but being billionaire level wealthy is hard to achieve. Harry had 10 mil from his mother. he himself said he didn’t have any concept of money/wealth when he was in the RF in Spare. they have assets and they’re doing well, but i think you underestimate what it takes to be a billionaire. even if they put their entire wealth (let’s just say no expenses and all cash of 30 million) into investments, they’d need over 50% return and way longer than from 2017 to now to achieve billionare status. the avg return form stock markets is 10-11% yearly. anything higher than 20% is high risk investments and you risk losing everything. we aren’t even counting any expenses and taxes…there’s no way they’re billionaires
My understanding is M would not be receiving any residuals from Netflix streaming suits. Because she worked under the old rules, not the new ones just being negotiated now. I doubt the agreement was ‘back-dated’ to include her show. But hey, I’ve been wrong before, and kind of hope I am now, too!!
Others have said they got a one-time payment up front so I’m sure Meghan got a substantial amount since her name is helping to drive the views for that show.
William will be throwing an absolute tantrum about this. Why can’t HE mingle with the great and the good, and people with influence, like Harry and Meghan can – given that he’s a “global statesman” and “social leader” and that.
Why indeed.
Because all he can offer is a photo op and a vague promise to be keen sometime in the future…depending on his mood.
While Harry and Meghan get shit done and have measurable impact.
don’t worry, Wills is def not lacking for suck-ups/social climbers…he is rolling with another type of billionaire…the saudi kind. he’s just mad he can’t advertise it as openly.
William “mingles” with Bloomberg, who is worth $96 billion. He’s the FK and can mingle with whomever he wants. Will’s problem isn’t “Why can’t I have the same as Harry?” It’s “Why does Harry have anything at all – I should have everything.”
Succinct and very accurate IMO. Well said Eurydice.
Exactly this.
William mingles with a lot of millionaires and billionaires. The duke of westminster, Bloomberg, middle eastern royals, russian oligarchs and all his millionaire friends. William will be sitting on the throne and all those wealthy people want access.
The problem with William is he does not want Harry to have those connections.
The “Montecito mafia”? Who comes up with this BS?
Ikr. Was going to say that too. I’m sure there is an incandescent rage temper tantrum being thrown, with soft pillows of course, about Harry hanging with all these power brokers. Harry and Meg are both very good at networking for their causes.
The people in charge of making a ho into a queen, or making bags of cash being carried home from diplomatic visits look like normal business.
That part made me laugh.
I wonder if any of the members of this “mafia” would take offense to the label and avoid the BM and its associates thereafter, it would be the definition of cutting your nose to spite your face
The press don’t care if they were associates of Katy Perry. The more Harry and Meghan mingle amongst different peoples, that makes the press and family nervous because they still need that “ poor, unsuccessful, homesick and divorced” narrative going. The press are angry because they know the Sussexes connections go deep and they have more money than we think they do. They’ll forever be pissed they lost out in the end because the press picked the wrong team and lost have no access.
I’m not a fan of some of the people H&M have been connected with. That said, they are literally royalty and they’re literally rich & famous. I’m side eyeing the fact that we never get this much snarky detail in how H’s blood relatives travel and who they intermingle with. Like, KC and crew aren’t hanging out with poorly connected downtrodden folks and riding their bikes to work.
🎯 to all of this.
Yes, this sums it up!
I’m sure the main goal of the evening was to enjoy a show but it’s still a networking opportunity. I’ve got to admire Meghan because I would be SO intimidated by that crowd. But she clearly knows her worth and can roll with the big dogs.
I think it’s difficult for them to imagine people just being in periphery with each other with no ulterior motive because that’s not how the royals do things. Bags of cash would have been flowing plenty of Charles had met with these varied of a group of power players.
They are all so focused on the Sussex’s finances that they even do deep dives on people who bought tickets next to them? It truly is a sickness especially when they have royals receiving a 45% pay raise, that has to hurt the general population and it is being ignored by the British media.
Gosh the desperation. They were just sitting in the VIP section.
They don’t care. They have no access and no clue what the Sussexes are doing. This whole article is guessing and you can tell they’re irritated. Meghan and Harry have connections that go deep and with people with long pockets and I imagine Harry and Meghan are loaded, loaded. Not just from Netflix, betterup, books etc.
All hail the “Montecito mafia”…..hhahahahhahha!
That’s funny because didn’t all of the “experts” in the UK tabloids claim that life in Montecito was full of geriatrics and deadly dull?
Ken Griffin is an interesting connect to make considering reports that he may be entering the UK media industry with acquisitions.
Ken Griffin’s politics are so opposite Harry and Meghan’s. I can’t see where they would find common ground with him and I am assuming this was just a case of being seated in the same section with no forethought involved.
“Montecito mafia”? When there’s a 1000 yr old crime family with a king whose the head of church and state in the UK and a former US prez with multiple indictments currently on trial? I won’t even call them clowns bc clowns have more sense and are smarter. Its like they never left middle school and can only see people in cliques. They’re so desperate to push this bs narrative about the “unpopular” Sussexes that they can’t see how stupid it makes them look. And they’re still trying to paint Meghan with that same tired and lame racist brush (Harry as usual is barely mentioned so negatively). It’s the USA and this rag knows that like most people, they have to network to make their business and brand successful. No taxpayer funded castles, giant welfare checks and unlimited security for monarchs and heirs here. So BM and Murdoch rags, keep whining while the Sussexes keep shining!
The only people pushing that are the tabloids in Britain and Newsweek. Meghan being pictured during the Beyoncé concert with stars and Harry at the soccer game in Miami set the US Press straight with the unpopular, friendless, blacklisted from Hollywood narrative. If anything the press in Britain are still hanging on to that for deal life.
So much respect for Meghan’s civility. I could not be in the same room with anyone described as a “Republican megadonor” without starting a fight.
Same. And not only the Republican megadonor, but Whitney Herd who is problematic in so many, many ways. (Show me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are.)
It’s just like when RBG was friends with Scalia. Couldn’t be me.
I remember when they bought their home, the tabloids made a big story about their revenues & costs and calculated when they are gonna be broke. I am sure they are still waiting since their first prediction didn’t happen.
When you sit in the VIP section at an event like Katy Perry’s last Vegas show, you’re going to be sitting among…….wait for it……VIPs.
the Sussexes are well connected and rich and they’re going to associate with other people who are well connected and rich. That’s how the world works.
I loooooove how those who were waiting with bated breath for the shidtmedia stories about the fall of H&M to materialize, are becoming angrier and angrier and more and more mentally distressed as they realize that H&M’s star power only keeps rising.
I recall that around the time M’s book, The Bench came out, you had a bunch of white women writers angry and upset on twitter that M had written a book, which was being published and biitching and moaning at the publisher for publishing the book when there “were so many writers who cant get published.”
I meeeeeaaaaan!!!! It was like they’d all been afflicted with a case of rabies. They were so feral with their envy and anger that M was moving on up and just succeeding in her own right at…………anything. So when the book became a NYT best seller and was translated into several languages, I actually saw some of those same angry white women writers begging forgiveness after SussexSquad read them for filth and promised them we would ensure that they reaped the whirlwind for their nastiness.
Dont forget that the britshidtmedia and the criminal mafia puppeteered by chuckyDaTURD, had promised the mindless royalists in britain that H&M’s life would be as depicted in cartoons in which they had H&M living in poverty, H working at a fast-food joint and begging for alms at the palace gates.
The mindless horde actually believed and were looking forward to H&M’s downfall! Ive actually seen some of them on twitter over these past 4 years since H&M left that mess on Salt Isle, crying and taking mental health breaks as they said they couldnt stand to see that “she’s always winning”!!!! I kid you not.
Hv you noticed that when M attended Beyonce’s concert with her girls and was seen in the company of both Tyler and then later, the legendary black billionaire godfather’s daughter and her Netflix-boss husband we didnt hear a peep from the shidt-stirrers on Salt Isle.
Thats because those cowards are afraid to start something they would inevitably be burned by and open up the left-over royals to hell-and-powder-house (as my granny would say.) And that would be because the entirety of black twitter would bury them in filth.
Imagine hoarding that much wealth.
I’m sorry to be superficial, but all I can think is “if the guy next to Harry is indeed 55 yrs-old, then my 55 yr-old self is doing something right, because he looks closer to 65″….YIKES
Lol, that photo is from the Invictus Games and the gentleman is the German president, who is 67 – so I guess he looks good for his age.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂, oops willy, who did you get for earthsht 😂😂😂😂😂never mind you poor little rage monster, even if Harry and Megan weren’t “with These MASSIVE, MASSIVE billionaires, you can bet your life THEY were with Harry and Megan when they saw them sat there. Still, I’m sure katey made sure you were well stocked with pillows 😂😂😂
Can we talk about Meghan’s dress? She looks absolutely timeless and stunning.
It’s funny how this “source” is analizing how the people sitting next to H&M mean this and that, when they are just… sitting next to each other. Why on earth is “particulary curious” that Meghan is sitting in a concert next to a UTA partner while she’s signed to WME? If I sit in the bus next to somebody who works for a phone company that’s not mine does it mean I’m going to change phone companies??? This is how crazy they sound when they talk about Harry and Meghan.
This article from Page Six is just really odd. I think most people know that this is the VIP section and people were invited (I assume) by Katy Perry. That’s not a secret. The fact that they’re going to all of this work to identify people who were there and connecting them to the Sussexes is just strange. Page Six should take a minute and ask themselves what their business model is. If their intent is to be a tabloid this is the way to do it. I guess people are supposed to find out who will be sitting in close proximity anytime they go to a concert, play, etc. to make sure that … what?
It’s just an odd article.
I know, that struck me as odd too. The Sussexes didn’t control the invite list and shouldn’t have their noses rubbed by the gutter press because of who else was there. It was a social occasion, not a republican fund-raiser, so Page Six should keep politics out of it.
I’m not at all surprised that people want to be near Meghan and Harry — they’re engaged, smart, kind and connected.
Cry more, Salt Island.
Ken Griffin is pretty terrible so i was glad none of the pics or videos showed H&M really interacting with him. As the article points out he’s richer than God and has thus paid for many performers over the years to perform him and one of them is Katy so I’d imagine that’s why he got that plush front row seat in the VIP box.
I did notice that Meghan kept talking to the people behind her and i was wondering who that was so it’s interesting that that turned out to be Michael Kives: does he live in Montecito too? It definitely looks like a lot of Katy’s neighbors came out for her; if it’s true that the Bumble founder was the one who organized that was sweet of her. And yeah i very highly doubt Ari cares there were former agents in that box; everyone was there to support Katy not find new representatives snd Meghan still wears his wife’s clothing line in public which i imagine has been very good for her business.
They’re partying with Republican mega-donors and climate-crisis supporting billionaires with private jets. So, yes, that does make them hypocrites, unfortunately. These are the very people driving the injustice the Sussex’s seem to want to aim their philanthropical work at, and that is not awesome.
Yes, I’m sure you’re right. H&M should have asked everyone in the VIP box their political views and then left in a huff, refusing to sit around ppl they aren’t in complete agreement with. Sure. Because H&M should have had complete control over who Perry invited to sit in the VIP box.
Then ppl like you could criticize them for being rude and haughty for refusing to sit with Perry’s other guests., or they shouldn’t have gone.
Get a grip
@’F’
No more hypocritical than say, you, sitting on a bus beside someone who, whether or not you know, is on the run for murder.
Would anyone accusing you of consorting with a murderer be any more correct than you saying “….partying with Republican mega-donors and climate-crisis supporting billionaires with private jets……….make [H&M] hypocrites?”
FYI: sitting in VIP seats beside other VIPs dont make any of those VIPs, ipso facto, co-conspirators in any nefarious deed that said VIPs do in their private lives.
In other words, breathing the same air as others who are guilty of crimes or any other wrong-doing or socially or politically unacceptable behavior, doesnt make one automatically a criminal or wrong-doer.
Being non judgemental about others and what they do with their own money and in their own lives, knowing that you have no control over the behavior of others…….woweeeeee! what a concept!
@F this same paper claimed they flew in with Misha Nonoo and her husband, then they claimed it was Cameron Diaz and her husband, then Zoe Saldana and now someone else. Plus Katy Perry’s family is heavy into Republican politics so more than likely they invited these people. The Sussexes don’t control the seating in the venue like the royal family does. We don’t even know if they flew in by private plane, its all speculation by the press. And once again the biggest drivers of climate change is coal powered electricity and automobiles, not private planes.
@F — the Sussexes didn’t control the invite list and I’m sure the conversation that evening didn’t center around fire-breathing political arguments. In fact what their attendance at the event shows is their respect for people of all stripes and that they’re comfortable with people who don’t share their political beliefs. It would be like getting invited to a party but leaving in a huff the minute you found out there were people there with differing political beliefs than yours. A social occasion is just a social occasion, not a platform to beef about “republican mega-donors and climate-crisis supporting billionaires with private jets.”
Damn, I have tickets to see the Nutcracker in a few weeks, I guess I better contact the theater to make sure that everyone sitting in my row are beyond reproach and have all of the same morals as me, lest I be a hypocrite too. 🙄
You have me worried now @And Away I Go! We’re going to A Christmas Carol play in a few weeks. We have front row seats. Didn’t think to ask the political affiliations of people near me. My Gawd, what was I thinking that people were just wanting to enjoy something. It’s not like bags ‘0 cash were being handed out.
Reading this article (I also don’t click on Page Six as they’ve become an extension of the BM). But it’s funny and seems like they have a sore spot. They also conveniently forgot that M has met a variety of leaders way before she was part of the BRF. Her work and charity achievements have gotten her to have a high profile network.
It seems obvious that some people esp on the other side of the pond are sore that HM are getting more influential esp with high profile people here in the US. And HM popularity is increasing despite the fake polls they try to put out saying they’re not. When in Reality, people on the ground are enthusiastic every time they get a glimpse of HM. You don’t see that enthusiasm with the tabloids but you definitely see it from just normal people’s own SM accounts every time they meet HM.
A democratic or republican billionaire, to me they are all the same. They all want to influence for their OWN benefit.