This took much longer than I predicted. The Daily Mail finally sent one of their crack reporters to Portugal to talk to locals about the British royals in their midst. Since 2022-23, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank have lived in a luxury villa in Portugal, because Jack has a job with the real estate company making those luxury villas. Then, in 2023-24, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex purchased one of those villas too, and they’ve apparently been visiting Portugal regularly in recent years. The Mail only got a hard confirmation on that last month when Meghan posted the Instagram Carousel That Brought Down the Monarchy, which included pics from Portugal. Then, last week, Eugenie gave birth to her third child in Portugal too. All of which meant that the Mail spent the money to send someone to Melides to talk to locals. This Mail piece has some interesting gossip – apparently, Sarah Ferguson has turned up in Melides to help with the baby. And Meghan dropped hundreds of Euros in the local tourist-trap shops. Some highlights from this Mail piece:

Portugal is Eugenie’s preferred home? For what began as a second home increasingly appears to have become the family’s preferred and, in effect, primary base. There can be little doubt that Eugenie’s feelings towards her disgraced father Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have influenced her move to Portugal’s Alentejo coast. Whereas her sister Beatrice is more of a ‘daddy’s girl’, Eugenie is said to be repelled by her father’s behaviour, and has distanced herself from him.

Sarah might be in town: Now [Eugenie] has given birth and is recovering in her £3.6million oceanside luxury villa near the pretty village of Melides, locals have heard whispers that Sarah – who has not been seen publicly for a considerable time – has arrived to help look after her fifth grandchild. Staff at the nearby O Fadista restaurant, which the Daily Mail visited this week, say Eugenie, Jack and Sarah are regulars at the pretty whitewashed building on the main Rua Nova that serves generous pots of seafood rice. One waiter said: ‘Eugenie and her husband are regulars and have been here quite a few times with friends. Their mothers have also been here several times but I’ve never seen the father, Andrew. Now Eugenie has had a baby, there has been talk that Sarah is back in Melides to help her with the new little one.’

A royal hot-spot: Jose Santos, president of the local tourist board, told the Daily Mail: ‘For us to have Harry and Meghan and Eugenie and her family as guests and residents is such a fantastic advert for the area. It’s a closely-guarded secret – well, up until now – but word is getting out and we are getting more and more people coming here. But the locals are very discreet and they don’t talk about them. It’s great the new one was born here – she will be Portuguese if she wants – it underlines the close relationship between our two countries and strengthens our centuries-old alliance with Britain. Costa Terra where they live is very exclusive and the security is very tight. Unless you live there or are invited as a guest of one of the residents, you can’t get in.’

Meghan went shopping: So far, so wholesome – but Meghan still managed to splash some cash, shopping in a colourful homeware shop, Vida Dura, where she spent around £300 – including £65 on a toilet brush holder. On its website, the business describes itself as ‘Where Hard Life Meets Elevated Living’. Hence, staff revealed, Meghan bought a comedy porcelain loo brush holder with a decorative motif of a dog cocking its leg against a tree, along with two terracotta pots and a lamp. A source at the shop said: ‘We had no idea it was Meghan at first. She came in wearing a wide-brimmed hat and she was with some other people. I’m pretty certain Harry wasn’t there. It was only when she came to pay that I recognised her. She smiled and we joked about the items she had bought and she said she was having a lovely holiday; everyone does in Melides.’

They’re really obsessed with Meghan’s Instagram: While Meghan didn’t post an image from Vida Dura, she did of another shop interior which the Daily Mail identified as Caju Comporta in Comporta. A member of staff told the Daily Mail: ‘The first we knew Meghan had been in was when one of our regulars spotted the picture on her Instagram. Then we saw it and recognised her. She had the hat on and she had come in with friends to have a look around. She picked a few things up but didn’t buy anything and then she left. I’ve no idea why she decided to post a picture of the shop interior. Maybe she liked the display of kitchenware and crockery that we had on display. That’s always very popular with tourists.’

[From The Daily Mail]

From the eyewitness quotes, I can tell that the Portuguese people are pleased about their royal visitors but they’re not going overboard in that weird way which you typically find in force-fed palace PR. Like, if this was about some place visited by William and Kate, the quotes would be along the lines of “they looked terribly in love, her hair looked amazing, definitely not a wig, and he’s the sexiest bald man I’ve ever seen!” I’m barely joking. Anyway, yes, the Mail is absolutely obsessed, but they’re already paying for their reporters to regularly fly to Montecito to stalk the Sussexes. Can they afford to send their people to Portugal long-term? Hm. Oh, and I’m fascinated by Sarah popping up in Melides too. Where has she been? How is she paying for her travels? What’s going on?

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images, Meghan’s Instagram and Eugenie’s Instagram.