For years, the British media has been trying to get some dirt on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s friendship with David Foster and Katharine McPhee. To be honest, one week ago, I would have told you that Prince Harry and Meghan probably weren’t even that close to Foster & McPhee, and that the two couples probably had more of a “Hollywood friendship.” But then the Sussexes went to Canada to attend a gala for Foster’s foundation, and after several days of utterly deranged conspiracies about a red carpet snub, David Foster personally shut down any negative gossip about his relationship with Harry and Meghan. He called them dear friends, praised their grace and selflessness and pointed out that they donated their time and effort to come to the gala. So… the haters are in ruins. Quick, time to deflect to something else! So, here we go – apparently, Meghan doesn’t like David Foster’s politics. Girl, who does??
Could politics be putting an icy chill on one of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s oldest Hollywood friendships? David Foster has long been a father figure to Harry, helping the Sussexes navigate life after royal duty and maintaining a close relationship with the couple. But insiders tell Naughty But Nice that Foster’s increasingly conservative political associations have created some tension with Meghan.
In May, Foster and wife Katharine McPhee hosted a fundraiser at their Brentwood home for Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt. Foster played piano while McPhee performed a rewritten version of Tina Turner’s “The Best” praising Pratt over his opponents. Donald Trump has also publicly praised Pratt, calling him “a big MAGA person.” Meghan was invited but did not attend.
Then came an awkward moment at Foster’s 40th anniversary foundation gala in Canada. A viral video appeared to show Foster acknowledging Harry while seemingly walking past Meghan as she reached out to greet him. Social media quickly interpreted the exchange as a snub, although others said it could have been an innocent moment.
“David and Meghan have been close for years, so people noticed,” a source tells Naughty But Nice. “There is definitely an icy feeling there now, and politics is part of it.
Another insider adds, “Harry doesn’t seem particularly interested in politics. Meghan is much more politically engaged, while David has moved in a very different direction.”
“They’re not enemies,” the source says. “But the warmth isn’t what it used to be.”
“Harry doesn’t seem particularly interested in politics…” Eh? Harry is interested in politics, he just buries that interest under several layers of political and royal maneuvering. I actually find Harry increasingly savvy about how he operates in political spheres. I mean, he was the first member of the royal family to clap back on Donald Trump when Trump lied about Britain’s military involvement in Afghanistan. One could argue that Harry’s clap back gave enormous political cover for British officials and even Buckingham Palace to do something.
As for David Foster’s politics… from what I gather, he and Katharine are MAGA-ish (“California MAGA,” if that’s a thing). While I hate that Harry and Meghan are close friends with people like that, I honestly think that the Sussexes feel like “any port in a storm.” They were under siege for years when they first moved to California, and they remember the people who had their back in those days. David Foster was one of those people. So was Kris Jenner, btw.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Getty Images, Meghan’s Instagram.
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- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, at a benefit concert for Santa Barbara first responders on Kevin Costner’s estate in Montecito, USA, on 22 September 2023.,Image: 807665624, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: JERRY PEREZ / Avalon
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- Prince Harry makes an appearance to meet with First Responders at Rock for First Responders presented by One805 at The Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara, Saturday March 8th, 2025.,Image: 973950507, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: JERRY PEREZ/Avalon
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- SANTA MONICA, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – APRIL 18: Katharine McPhee Foster wearing Leo Lin and husband David Foster arrive at the 12th Annual Breakthrough Prize Ceremony 2026 held at the Barker Hangar on April 18, 2026 in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 1093305308, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no , Pictured: Katharine McPhee Foster, David Foster , Credit line: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon
“They were under siege for years when they first moved to California, and they remember the people who had their back in those days. David Foster was one of those people. So was Kris Jenner, btw.” — That’s why I do not understand and probably never will understand Harry’s need to talk to his deadbeat father! I am not him and he probably has way more info than I do on the situation. There were some people who really had their back in those days; I am grateful to those as I was so worried about Meghan and Archie…. to me, those people saved their lives vs people on the internet who always sit back in judgment!
My way of helping is to always buy what my girl is selling as well as the clothes she wears! What’s money for if not to sometimes help/support others?
Harry is a sweet and forgiving guy who went to therapy to break the royal generational curse(s), and Charles is his only parent. Plus, Charles does have redeeming qualities even to me as a pro-Sussex royal watcher, especially in comparison to his heir, so imagine what it’s like to be as close to him as Harry was? Death is forever, so I understand why Harry wants to try until the end. And, Harry is doing all this from Montecito, where he lives a full and independent life with his little family safe and thriving, so it’s not a question of kowtowing to Charles at any cost. Plus, I think Harry really thinks his father is trapped by the system, rightly or wrongly, so Harry gives Charles more grace than he deserves. I’m convinced Harry believes the courtiers/media (and the kompromat) are the main problem, and his father needs saving from them (like Harry thought the Queen did, for different reasons). Could be mental gymnastics to justify staying connected to Charles, could be true.
@Aseverjam
It might well be as you say.
Nothing changes the fact that Charles is a lousy father and a weak man focused entirely on himself. He waited decades to become king, and now he wants to bask in peace—enjoying the crown, the waving, the travel, the carriages, and sitting on the throne. Everything else is just a distraction that irritates him; he’ll do a lot for a quiet life—like signing off on the Sussexes’ eviction—just to get William to stop bellowing and spitting in his face.
I’m not excusing him; after all, no one forced him to mistreat Diana—except maybe Camilla—but he was a jerk of his own accord, and he might have done even worse things to her. That’s something that can’t be forgotten, but here we’re talking about Harry—a beautiful, brave, and upright man who wears his heart on his sleeve, and who is also a brilliant, intelligent diplomat. The Invictus Games are coming to the UK in six months—to the very country that attacks everything connected to Harry and Meghan—and the King’s favor could silence the hostile media and even shut William up.
For Charles, too, it would be a chance to improve his image by appearing at such a high-profile, international, and beloved event.
Harry plays the long game and knows what he’s doing. The fact that Meghan stood by his side during this visit is a testament to the strength of their relationship. She was there for Harry—not for Charles, and certainly not for Camilla.
For two people with messed up families (literally everyone except their mothers have been terrible to them), I don’t blame H&M for embracing less than perfect chosen family who have been consistently kind and supportive of them. Plus, H&M are rich (and getting richer), this is what rich circles are like these days.
All I have from this is that the BM is really bothered that he went on the record, and did so pretty quickly. They wanted that narrative to stick, and it was blown up. Even with the Martha Stewart gossip it came with the aside of being at an A List dinner party. Being ” failures ” that everyone in ” Hollywood ” hates just isn’t landing. They aren’t universally hated, and have friends who will stick up for them.
It’s just so old now, the hyper focus on everything they do and parsing of everything they say. The pool of people believing this nonsense isn’t growing it’s shrinking. I don’t understand solely from a business perspective how this continued campaign is productive.
I am cracking up that Martha may have gotten herself disinvited to some future dinners because of her nonsense too.
OMG, I’ve been cackling about the same thing as well. Hosts and hostesses faced with inviting both, then deciding that it’s a no-brainer to invite the one who will be discreet and not lie about other guests, possibly even withdraw invitations previously extended.
I’m guessing that Shuter wrote this piece before David Foster spoke out. I’m with Kaiser on this. Harry and Meghan may not share the same politics with a lot of their friends but they remember the ones who were welcoming and kind to them when the moved to California.
Let me get this straight. David Foster invited Meghan to a fundraiser for MAGA mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt? She didn’t go but the friendship with Foster endures apparently. This is one of those things I will never understand about H&M. Because someone like Pratt is not just someone you disagree with politically. Racism is not politics. It must be shunned. So, no, I don’t get this friendship with a MAGA like Foster. And I will just mind my own business and move along. It’s their life, but they make some choices I would never.
I wouldn’t make the same choices, either. But I’m also not the most scrutinized and vilified woman on the planet and whose every move becomes a global scandal that has to be addressed and explained. She went to tea with Charles, who represents centuries of colonizers and racists – but hey, he’s Harry’s father. And now we have Harry’s “second father” and an important Canadian (Commonwealth nation) charity. I don’t envy how she has to navigate these situations.
Yeah I am sorry, I have said her before I won’t defend them being friends with people like this, Jeff Bezos, etc.
Where are people getting that H&M are friends with Bezos? I’ve seen this a few times here but I’m pretty sure the British press would have made a thing of that if it was true considering Bezos has partnered with Earthshot recently. They attended Kris Jenner’s party at Bezos’ house but so did half of the entertainment industry so don’t think that makes them Bezos friends.
Again Shuter is making this story up and I agree with a poster below that i bet he got this story about the Spencer Pratt fundraiser from this site. I don’t know much about the Fosters but I don’t think much of them from but what I’ve read here. I know that people are annoyed with George Clooney over the 2024 election & Biden article still but I prefer when someone like him and Amal were the famous friends they had rather than some of the Montecito neighbours like Ellen, Kris Jenner & apparently the Fosters. I’m curious how Harry & David even connected. I can kind of see that being a melodrama one day- the Prince and the pianist.
Out of their well known friends, I like their photographer friend Misan Harriman the most- I follow him on social media and he’s been an incredible advocate on various social issues over the years. I think when you are at a certain level of fame and wealth, you need grounded friends like that
Just because Shuter said it doesn’t make it true.
Yeah. There is iceness, this is why the Sussexes came to the 40th anniversary of this most important event. Those gutter rats do not know how to accept losses and move on, they just have to keep reinventing and reimagining to console themselves and to continue their debunked narrative.
I think the Fosters are probably the sort of friends they just see at philanthropic gatherings. There was no way Meghan was turning up to a fundraiser for the aptly named Spencer Pratt.
There are social “dear friends” and then there are the friends you invite over to your house for spur-of-the-moment dinners and kids’ birthday parties.
I think when Foster says “dear friends”, he truly means it. He was the one, after all, who gave the Sussexes and their baby a place to stay in what would have been a private place at a remote end of a beautiful island, before some arse at Kensington/Buckingham palace leaked to the press not only that they were in Canada, but exactly where. Thank goodness for the local folks who banded together to protect them and tell the media to get lost.
I actually kind of agree that Harry doesn’t think about politics. He is friends with a fair amount of MAGA-adjacent folks unfortunately. From Foster to Nacho (who is a big Trump supporter). What I think a lot of folks don’t understand is that once people are in a certain socioeconomic range politics cease to matter: they will be okay no matter who is in charge. I think Harry thinks about politics in an abstract way – I think he and Meghan want to do good and create change – but I don’t necessarily think he has thought about the deep rooted causes for the things he wants to change. And that’s not an insult to him. It’s simply a by-product of being born and growing up not only as a rich white man but also as a ROYAL rich white man. And that has been born out by some of the things he has said himself over the years.
Nacho is a big Trump supporter? I had no idea. Yours is a really good take. The ultra rich really are different. Especially if they are born into royalty. Harry wants to do good but doesn’t want to think about it so deeply that he has to take it to its logical conclusion.
Wait Nachos is a Trump supporter?!?!?!?!
Unfortunately yes.
How do you know that he’s a Trump supporter?
@Nerd
I followed him on IG for quite some time until I realized he was following and LIKING pro-Trump accounts and posts. In 2016 he attended Trump events before his election – and after. It’s not hard information to find if you look for it. He isn’t hiding it.
I mean, Harry said it himself. If he and Meghan had been treated well by the institution they would still be working for it. And we all know how problematic the BaRF is.
There’s Nacho the Venezuelan singer who is a huge supporter of Trump, like “Latinos for Trump” and there’s Nacho the polo player who hasn’t been so vocal.
@Eurydice – I know the difference between the two. And both are Trump supporters. Nacho hasn’t been AS vocal- but he has still not hidden the fact that he is a Trump supporter – the info is there. I know this is bursting a lot of folks’ bubble about him. But it’s simple facts.
Yup.
DF hosted a fundraiser for Spencer Pratt?? Craziness.
I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact Foster apparently thought Meghan would be interested in donating to Pratt’s campaign. YIKES!
When it comes to situations like this, I am reminded of the Kahlil Gibran poem on children, specifically the lines
“ You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts. ..”
Freedom of thought is a philosophy that’s extremely difficult to navigate in this world. I have relatives, friends and neighbours whose political beliefs and support for problematic people are abhorrent to me. But this is just ONE facet of their being. They are also compassionate and the first to offer help and understanding when needed. Freedom of thought includes not demanding that others think like me. “For they have their own thoughts.”
Should Meghan & Harry have rejected David Foster’s help when they were in dire need? Tyler Perry? Oprah? Kris Jenner? Because their beliefs didn’t align with theirs or with ours?
So, it’s okay to be a Nazi as long as you’re an otherwise “nice” person? Seems to me that’s what got us here. Everyone has agency and can think what they want. But we must reject that which is absolute evil. Racism, misogyny, homophobia, and xenophobia are all absolute evils, not political beliefs to be tolerated.
What Brassy said. I hate that people make excuses for them being friends with trash people like this. These people are in some cases anti-LGBT, anti-women, anti-Black, anti-union, pro Trump and sorry, not sorry I am not going to do this well rich people tend to hang out and not care about politics. As we saw with the Fosters they do care, they wanted freaking Spencer Pratt as Mayor of LA and then they and others ran around screaming rigged when he lost.
I’ll bet in Germany in the thirties lots of people were telling themselves that everything is fine because Hitler loves dogs and is kind to little children. You really have to take a HARD line against these insidious belief systems.
It’s a fine line to navigate, isn’t it? Or even to know WHERE the line is.
Old Star Trek fan here. The Enterprise’s mission was to boldly go where no one had gone before. They were also entrusted with the directive to not interfere with the cultures they came into contact with. Kirk had to navigate this fine line and know when he MUST cross the line, when he must interfere. He wasn’t just a bombastic blowhard. Yeah, he was my fave Star Trek captain. Heh.
Back to the thread, I truly don’t know. I don’t have a definitive answer. I’m sorry. On an every day basis, I deal with people as I find them and hope for the best. And I am thankful that I am just an insignificant nobody and I don’t have hordes parsing and judging my every thought and action.
That’s a beautiful sentiment, in the abstract. But—
When the thoughts you’re thinking lead to outcomes that harm me, that’s when it’s time to rethink the relationship. MAGA is doing active damage to our society. But—
Tremendously rich people are largely insulated from this damage. That’s what wealth is: a great insulator. So, it’s understandable that the Sussexes can maintain their MAGA-adjacent relationships. The calculus is different, for them.
Harry (and Meghan) is doing what he can with what he sees is wrong and try to make things better for others. Others can figure out what causes wrongs and try to change them. So Harry comes from a family that is part of the reason for so many wrongs. So what should he do instead of what he is doing? David Foster’s foundation has obviously done a lot of good, so there is nothing wrong with support that work. Would some of you not support the foundation if you could because of his politics? Charles is a POS as a husband and father, but his Princes Trust has done a lot of good, so it would not be a sin to contribute to the foundation or to support it. Even God loves the sinner. I think that saying that some of Harry and Meghan’s friendships are “problematic” borders on self-righteousness, and that’s not necessarily a productive trait to help the world become a better place from whatever little corner of the world you occupy.
Nooooooooooooo not Nacho!
If you want any proof that they stalk this site for stories, this article is it. Somehow sources and insiders have the exact same comments as we did on the story about H&M attending the foundation’s gala.
Ha! They got this “story” from the comments section of Celebitchy. Probably planted it themselves to set up the narrative, after the flood of coordinated comments about “problematic friendships” on the article about H+M visiting Canada to support their friends at the charity celebration.
I thought McPhee and Meghan were childhood friends?
Katherine has been GOP forever.
My best friend is a Trump supporter and I suspect my husband is also. I can’t disown them because of it. I only wonder why they support him, because my friend’s reasons don’t make sense to me. I have stopped discussing him (Trump) with them (especially my best friend).
Unfortunately, these friendships and personal relationships are prevalent.
Why do you only suspect your husband is a Trump supporter? Do you not talk politics with each other?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Rob Shuter has no sources.
When you’re at that level of wealth, class outweighs politics. Not that I think Meghan is trying to social climb, but even with the Hollywood world people from different viewpoints become friends. My friend’s uncle is a Dem and very wealthy. He was a member of Mar-a-lago well before Trump’s presidency and stayed one after. Thats when I really learned about class over politics. They need the network.
100 percent
I am old enough to remember when political preference was a private matter. No one discussed their own rights to vote as they choose. Voting booths also had privacy curtains….
Rich people are for other rich people, end of. They all cape for each other and are in the same club. Harry grew up uber wealthy surrounded by Tories. He took a different path in life toward philanthropy, but rich Republicans wouldn’t turn him off unless they are openly vile. Just like, I understand the side eye on Oprah launching these MAGA people like McGraw and Oz, but our outrage also shows how naive we all are. She’s just a rich lady and she hangs out with other rich people and seems to have a blind spot for grifters if they’re nice to her. But what about all the white celebs who went to the Bezos Met gala? Nicole Kidman hosted it, yet I saw no hate on her. That really turned me off but also made me realize… they’re all the same… Rich people stick together and none of them are on our side. They’re above the fray of everyday problems and politics don’t impact their lives. They’re only concerned with money and staying in the rich club.
Rich people are for other rich people, end of. They all cape for each other and are in the same club. Harry grew up uber wealthy surrounded by Tories. He took a different path but rich Republicans wouldn’t turn him off unless they are openly vile. Just like, I understand the side eye on Oprah launching these MAGA people like McGraw and Oz, but our outrage also shows how naive we all are. She’s just a rich lady and she hangs out with other rich people and seems to have a blind spot for grifters if they’re nice to her. But what about all the white celebs who went to the Bezos Met gala? Nicole Kidman hosted it, yet I saw no hate on her. That really turned me off but also made me realize… they’re all the same… Rich people stick together and none of them are on our side. They’re above the fray of everyday problems and politics don’t impact their lives. They’re only concerned with money and staying in the rich club.
The reality is in these elite circles, even in liberal California, a lot of wealthy people support Trump. Even in Nancy Pelosi territory, a lot of fundraisers are held for the GOP and Trump. The Sussexes have a wide circle of friends including “conservatives” (whatever that means). They aren’t hanging out with raging rightwing MAGAS and live in an elite, fairly liberal environment. We don’t know the Foster’s personal views (except supporting boneheaded Spencer Pratt), or their feeling on the current administration. However, the Sussexes do know the Foster’s, they have been supportive of them and David has mentored Harry. Whatever the Foster’s politics, they are not the Sussexes and who they are friends with are strictly up to them and no one else. Politics is messy now, we all have to interact with MAGAs. Former MAGAS who are disillusioned, and far left types who are very critical of Democrats. We’ve seen their values.