The first Monday of May marks a spectacular occasion in the fashion world, as the elite of society congregate in New York City for the Met Gala. This event is renowned for its glamorous display of style and influence.

This year’s gala will be overseen by the iconic Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who has spearheaded the event for over three decades. Joining her as co-chairs are tennis legend Venus Williams, acclaimed actress Nicole Kidman, and music superstar Beyoncé.

Funding the event are Amazon’s billionaire founder Jeff Bezos and his partner Lauren Sanchez Bezos, who will serve as sponsors.

Absent from the guest list once again are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

Despite Meghan Markle’s aspirations and interests in the fashion industry—an area she hopes will contribute to their financial endeavors—the couple has yet to receive an invitation to this prestigious event.

The Montecito duo were also, unsurprisingly, absent from all events during King Charles’s state visit to the US this week.

As if to further underline their persona-non-grata status, even Prince Harry’s boyhood friend Guy Pelly was at a White House garden party with his wife this week – yes, the same teenage tearaway who was by Harry’s side when he notoriously dressed up as a Nazi.

President Trump only reinforced the Sussexes’ unpopularity when he remarked to my colleague Robert Hardman that Harry had done ‘too many things’ to come back to the fold of his family, adding: ‘That wife of his. Boy, what she’s done to that guy.’

And yet – and it feels as inevitable as a tolling bell – the Sussexes still found a way to insert themselves into the media discourse this week.

A cover story in People magazine, long their favoured media outlet, came out on Wednesday, reflecting on their quasi-royal tour of Australia where they met sick children at a hospital and survivors of the Bondi Beach terror attack while also racking up nakedly commercial speaking engagements. According to the magazine, the trip is being hailed as the blueprint for the couple’s new working model.

The article was seen by many as a full-throated defence of their right to defy the Sandringham Summit by being half in and half out of the monarchy.

Anna Wintour is said to have turned against Meghan in 2019 when she collaborated with then British Vogue editor Edward Enninful on a ‘Forces for Change’ issue of the magazine

A source suggests Meghan has failed to make potentially useful friends in Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos, a source says. ‘She snubbed Lauren before the [Bezos] wedding,‘ they added

‘Making their own rules,’ ran the admiring headline. But to what end?

For it’s all too apparent that the Sussexes no longer have the help of the powerful and influential protectors who could unlock a life of commercial plenty.

Speaking to sources in California, the story told is one of wall-to-wall fall-outs and alienation.

Put simply, it means in the circles that matter, Meghan and Harry no longer have any bridges left to burn.

One source says: ‘They have truly lost the plot. I hear she’s spiralling badly because she knows nothing is working. The whole thing about her [As Ever] stuff selling out isn’t true any more. I don’t think either of them are happy.’

The source tells me they believe the couple’s problems are worse than many suspect because of Meghan and Harry’s unfortunate habit of falling out with the very people who could help them make a go of things financially.

One of the prime figures in this list is Anna Wintour, who attended a charity gala with Charles and Camilla in New York on Wednesday.

The source says Dame Anna turned against Meghan in 2019 when she collaborated with then British Vogue editor Edward Enninful on a ‘Forces for Change’ issue of the magazine.

There existed a long-time rivalry between Dame Anna at US Vogue, and Enninful at British Vogue, and Meghan picked her side – unwisely, as it turns out. Enninful is no longer the editor of British Vogue. Wintour has stepped aside from day-to-day editing US Vogue but remains Global Editorial Director and Chief Content Officer at Conde Nast, and seems more powerful than ever.

‘Meghan pledged her allegiance to Enninful which p***ed off Anna,’ says the source, adding: ‘Anna hates her. Meghan doesn’t want to pay, and never returns things.

‘Also, Anna loves the Royal Family. She is a Dame. Anna would have hated how they [the Sussexes] handled their exit from The Firm.’

Worryingly for Meghan, the famously icy Wintour apparently never forgives or forgets. So even though Meghan’s friendship with Enninful is also at an end – for reasons which are still unclear – there seems no way for Meghan to return to Anna’s good graces.

Dame Anna meeting Camilla during this week’s US State Visit

Meghan’s attempts to insert herself into the high fashion narrative by attending fashion shows has notably not resulted in any commercial endorsements, writes Alison Boshoff

This is most unfortunate as there’s nobody more influential in fashion than Wintour.

Meghan’s attempts to insert herself into the high fashion narrative, by attending the Balenciaga show in Paris last year for instance, has notably not resulted in any commercial endorsements. Cringingly, Balenciaga designer Pierpaolo Piccioli let slip afterwards the embarrassing truth when he said the Duchess rang up and asked if she could come to his show.

For a self-confessed fashionista like Meghan, becoming an ambassador for Chanel, Dior or another major fashion house would be a dream come true – and a wonderful stream of revenue.

But Wintour is the kingmaker in this realm and without her patronage it remains out of reach.

The best Meghan could do was a cover of the less prestigious Harper’s Bazaar magazine in November 2025, which turned out to be a curiously fumbled chance – she barely plugged her As Ever jams and instead spoke about pursuing a career which felt ‘authentic’ to her and her pursuit of ‘fun’ over perfection.

It could, of course, have been very different for Meghan, because even Anna Wintour is not above flattery.

Consider how she has been carefully cultivated by Lauren Sanchez Bezos.

Married to one of the world’s richest men, Sanchez Bezos was happy to bend the knee to Anna, and accepted Wintour’s suggestion that she should be dressed for the Met Gala last year by Oscar de la Renta.

A source suggests Meghan has failed to make a potentially useful friend here, too.

‘She snubbed Lauren before the [Bezos] wedding. Meghan was invited to things by Lauren and didn’t want to go. She didn’t want to be seen with her because she thought she was trashy.’

Other powerful figures offended by Meghan are the Kardashians, who are also close to Lauren. The family’s matriarch Kris Jenner had her 70th birthday party at the Bezos house in LA in November last year. The party happened to fall on the eve of Remembrance Sunday, and was attended by Meghan and Harry, as the Royal Family gathered at the Albert Hall for the annual Festival of Remembrance.

During their ‘non-royal’ tour of Australia, Harry and Meghan posed for selfies with volunteers from Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club, who were present during last year’s terrorist attack

As if to underline Harry and Meghan’s persona-non-grata status, even Harry’s boyhood friend Guy Pelly was at a White House garden party with his wife this week, writes Alison Boshoff

Surprise was expressed by some that the Sussexes would party on such a solemn landmark. A row then blew up over pictures of them posted on social media by Jenner but later removed, apparently after a request by the Sussexes. The Sussexes denied they had asked for them to come down; Jenner’s daughter Kim Kardashian said the opposite was true.

As a result, says a source, the Kardashians have also had enough of Harry and Meghan: ‘The Kardashians are over them.’

If you are trying to make a lifestyle business fly on social media, it would be useful to be friends with the most followed people on the planet. But Kris Jenner hasn’t liked a single post on Meghan’s Instagram pages since last year.

And so, without the mutually beneficial relationships celebrities rely on, the Sussexes have been left to find other ways to maintain their profile, as they did this week.

On Thursday, as the US royal love-in continued for Charles and Camilla, an anodyne interview with Meghan (about her taste in clothes and ‘love’ for Australia and the Australians) was published in Australian Women’s Weekly.

She also reshared a message on her Instagram account captioned ‘Taurus, Leo, Scorpio & Aquarius ending the hardest seven years of their lives on April 25th’.

The post has been interpreted by many as a dig at the Royal Family, as seven years ago, in 2019, Meghan was settling into life as a working royal alongside Prince Harry. Megxit came the following year. Six years on, the couple are no closer to finding the long-term answer to their economic survival.

Meghan’s new big idea is making money by funnelling buyers towards the designers of her tour clothes via the website OneOff. For every sale, it nets her a slice of ten per cent of the value of the clothes she has worn.

Some believe the couple are now planning a similar tour in Africa.

More of this is likely in July, when Harry is due to attend a launch event for the 2027 Invictus Games in Birmingham.

Meghan with Nicole Avant, wife of Netflix boss Ted Sarandos, at TV series launch last month… pictures of the event were removed a day after, even though Netflix had okayed them all. The theory is Meghan didn’t like the way she appeared to be ‘clinging’ to Nicole, a source says

Just last week, Meghan was flogging her US Mother’s Day offerings on her ‘As Ever’ social channels, which include a small box of chocolate caramels, priced at $58 for ten tiny squares

It all feels murky because the couple’s activities are still being carried out with an implicit and explicit ‘Royal’ imprimatur.

In Ukraine on April 24, Harry was asked if he recognised the phrase ‘not a working royal’ and he replied: ‘No. I will always be part of the Royal Family and I am here working, doing the very thing I was born to do and I enjoy doing it.’

A ‘source close to Harry’ tells People magazine this is perfectly fine. ‘This idea he’s going against the wishes of the [late] Queen by being half in, half out is nonsense. None of this is being done in the name of the institution.’

He is then royal, and working, so a working royal… but at the same time he is not representing the Royal Family in that work, so nobody is allowed to object.

There is a sense he is tap dancing along a narrow semantic beam, living a ‘life of service’ and making a buck at the same time.

Just last week, Meghan was flogging her US Mother’s Day offerings on her ‘As Ever’ social channels, which include a small box of chocolate caramels, ferociously priced at $58 for ten tiny squares. Her Mother’s Day candles cost a similarly premium $64.

Her plugging clearly flew a little too close to the line of monetising their royal status, as a reference to ‘Prince Archie of Sussex’ and ‘Princess Lilibet of Sussex’ disappeared from promotional materials relating her Mother’s Day candles within a few hours.

People magazine was told, more than a year after its launch, that the As Ever business ‘is still in test-and-learn mode. [Meghan] wakes up thinking about new ideas and works on it all the time’.

For all the talk of ‘test mode’, though, the path appears to be set – ‘working royal’ engagements plus commercial ventures which will lean on their status.

One associate says: ‘They don’t have a choice at this point. They really need the money.’

The couple’s expenses are huge: that Montecito mansion, taxes and upkeep, security and travel, with some estimates reckoning they need to clear $5 million a year just to keep going.

Meghan is thought to have turned down deals to be the face of a capsule range at middle-middle fashion brands (I’m told American label J. Crew was interested). One wonders whether she can keep up this resistance to ‘lesser’ brands with bills to pay. It’s hard to see her current collaboration with OneOff amounting to much.

Of course, the most spectacular professional immolation for the Sussexes has come in the sphere of TV and film production, where Netflix has gone from being ‘all in’ six years ago, to ‘done’ now.

The deep-pocketed streamer walked away from a deal to back Meghan’s As Ever business earlier this year. Boss Ted Sarandos was even said to have joked that he didn’t want to talk to Meghan without a lawyer present.

To be fair to Sarandos, he tried to help Meghan and Harry save face when he invited them to an event to launch the second season of the prestige drama Beef in April.

Yet again, though, it all went wrong. Pictures of the couple were removed by Getty Images 24 hours after being published, even though Netflix had okayed them all.

The theory is Meghan didn’t like the way she appeared to be ‘clinging’ to Sarandos’s wife, Nicole Avant. My source is blunt about what is going on: ‘Nicole [Avant] hates her. So does Bela [Bajaria, a key Netflix executive] and Ted.’

As to why, it’s said Netflix came to understand the Sussex team were ‘briefing against one of their executives’, although it’s not clear if that was on anyone’s orders.

A source says: ‘Unless someone is of use to them with money or unwavering attention then [the Sussexes] always fall out with them. They are worse at dealing with people than they are with business. And that’s saying a lot.’

In a dramatic breach of security at the recent White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, an armed individual managed to bypass a checkpoint, igniting a national debate over how such a serious security lapse could occur so close to the President of the United States.

The suspect, 31-year-old Cole Allen, now faces federal charges for allegedly attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump. Allen reportedly transported a firearm across state lines and discharged it during his intrusion, reaching just one floor beneath the venue where President Trump and senior Cabinet officials were gathered for the event.

The unfolding investigation has revealed an alleged manifesto written by Allen, suggesting his actions were driven by political grievances against the President and his administration. This revelation has intensified scrutiny over the effectiveness of the United States Secret Service’s protective measures, particularly during an era marked by increasing violence against political figures.

As the story continues to develop, the incident underscores the urgent need to reassess security protocols designed to safeguard the nation’s leaders. The suspect, Cole Tomas Allen, was apprehended by law enforcement following the incident. This breach has left many questioning how such a grave threat was able to penetrate what should have been an impenetrable barrier.

A photo from the scene shows law enforcement officials detaining Allen during the incident at the dinner in Washington, D.C., capturing a moment that has since reverberated throughout the country. The image, shared by former President Donald J. Trump on Truth Social, vividly illustrates the severity of the situation.

“I think the Secret Service’s model worked,” Bill Gage, a former Secret Service special agent and executive protection director for the SafeHaven Security Group, told Fox News Digital. 

“But there was definitely a lot of luck involved that Cole Allen wasn’t better trained, wasn’t better prepared,” Gage added. 

Within minutes of Trump, Vice President JD Vance and First Lady Melania Trump taking their seats to enjoy the annual festivities, authorities say Allen charged the Washington Hilton hotel checkpoint and fired his weapon, striking a Secret Service agent in their ballistic vest.

A Secret Service agent fires at Cole Allen, suspected in the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday, April 25, 2026. (Obtained by The Washington Post)

He was subsequently tackled to the ground and taken into custody. 

Miraculously, no one was seriously injured in the chaos, and Trump was rushed off stage as thousands of attendees ducked for cover under their ballroom tables. 

While federal officials — including Trump himself — applauded the Secret Service for agents’ quick-thinking, questions mounted about how an armed individual was able to get so close to the room holding a high volume of Cabinet members and celebrities.

Armed Secret Service agents stand on stage during a shooting incident at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2026. President Donald Trump and other government officials were evacuated after gunshots were reported. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“Obviously, the first family was not harmed,” Bill Stanton, a retired NYPD officer and security expert, told Fox News Digital. “No one was harmed, right? But that was not due to total professionalism. That was due to luck, the ineptness of the assailant and the redundancy – he should never have gotten that close.” 

However, Gage suggests the agency’s protocol worked as intended.

“The [Secret Service’s] concept is like rings of security where you have an outer perimeter, an inner perimeter and a middle perimeter,” Gage said. “Each one of those is sort of like a concentric circle that overlaps. So if one ring fails, the other one can sort of pick up the slack.”

President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2026, following the cancellation of the annual White House Correspondents Association Dinner due to a possible shooting. (Nathan Howard/Getty Images)

According to Gage, Saturday’s outer perimeter began with the agency’s magnetometers – where Allen rushed past authorities armed with a shotgun and other weapons. 

“So the attacker, just through sheer surprise and speed, races through the magnetometers,” Gage told Fox News Digital. “He gets through that perimeter, he’s still not sort of scot-free. He’s going to interact with other agents as he’s trying to make his way into the ballroom.” 

“There would have been agents assigned to the entry door,” Gage continued. “There would’ve been agents inside the event, just inside the door. So, I would say the Secret Service model was a success, because it proved that the sort of overlap worked.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was escorted out by Secret Service agents after loud bangs were heard during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton on April 25, 2026, in Washington, D.C. President Donald Trump attended the annual event. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

As details surrounding the alleged assassination attempt began to trickle out, new questions were raised regarding how Allen was allegedly able to check into the hotel the night before and remain undetected, despite having multiple firearms. 

“The urban legend out there is that the Secret Service sort of swoops in days before an event, shuts the hotel down, kicks everybody out and name checks every single person there – and that’s just not the reality,” Gage said. 

According to Gage, agents must strike a balance between maintaining a strong security posture and allowing public venues – like the Washington Hilton – to continue operating a business.

“There’s deliveries, there’s other workers that come and go – the kitchen staff, other employees, the maid staff,” Gage said. “There’s other people at the hotel that have nothing to do with the event. So the advance agent for the hotel or for the event is getting all these pressures.” 

WATCH: DOJ releases new video of alleged WHCA dinner shooter in halls, storming checkpoint

Additionally, the common misconception that the Secret Service is permitted to close off public areas is simply not true, Gage said.

“Is it theoretically possible that the Secret Service comes in and shuts down a thousand-person hotel or a thousand-room hotel the day before? Yeah, theoretically it’s possible,” Gage told Fox News Digital. “But logistically, it’s not possible. Financially, it’s not possible.” 

In light of a third assassination attempt against Trump, Gage emphasizes the duty of the president to be reachable by the people he represents, as some are calling for Trump to cease all public outings.

“I think the office of the presidency, our elected leaders in our free democracy, have to get out there and meet with constituents,” Gage told Fox News Digital. “They have to shake hands, pose for photographs and give speeches. They have to be seen all over the country.”

President Donald Trump is escorted out during the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2026. (Bo Erickson /Reuters)

Instead, Gage believes the Secret Service will simply increase their security posture.

“You’re going to see much more intrusive actions by the Secret Service on these public venues,” Gage said. “I can see the Secret Service, after Saturday, really inconveniencing the hotel and really inconveniencing the guests, and being very intrusive into the day-to-day operations of the hotels to have a sort of bigger security footprint there.” 

Allen remains in custody as he faces three federal charges stemming from the alleged assassination attempt, with authorities indicating he will likely be slapped with additional counts.

As the investigation into how an armed gunman was able to make it so close to Trump continues to unfold, Gage is applauding the Secret Service for ensuring there were no casualties Saturday night. 

“The Secret Service is made up of incredibly dedicated men and women who join the agency to protect the office of the presidency,” he said. “The agency is made up of incredibly talented humans that are dedicated and spend long hours on their feet, away from their families – and it’s even more incredibly stressful now.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Secret Service.

The United States has issued a warning to shipping companies, cautioning them about potential sanctions if they pay Iran for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

This warning, released by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control on Friday, intensifies the ongoing tension between the US and Iran regarding control over this critical waterway.

The Strait of Hormuz is a vital channel, with approximately 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas shipments passing through it during times of peace.

The situation escalated when Iran effectively disrupted normal passage through the strait by attacking and threatening vessels, following the onset of hostilities by the US and Israel on February 28.

In response, Iran began offering certain ships an alternative route along its coastline, sometimes imposing charges for this redirected safe passage.

That “tollbooth” effort is the focus of the US sanctions warning.

The payment demands could include transfers not only in cash but also “digital assets, offsets, informal swaps, or other in-kind payments,” including charitable donations and payments at Iranian embassies, OFAC said.

“OFAC is issuing this alert to warn US and non-US persons about the sanctions risks of making these payments to, or soliciting guarantees from, the Iranian regime for safe passage. These risks exist regardless of payment method,” it said.

The US responded to Iran’s closure of the strait with a naval blockade of its own on April 13, preventing any Iranian tankers from leaving and depriving Iran of oil revenue it needs to shore up its ailing economy.

The US Central Command said 45 commercial ships have been told to turn around since the blockade began.

The warning came as President Trump swiftly rejected Iran’s latest proposal to end the war between the countries.

“They want to make a deal, I’m not satisfied with it, so we’ll see what happens,” Trump said Friday at the White House.

He didn’t elaborate on what he saw as its shortcomings but expressed frustration with the Iranian leadership.

“It’s a very disjointed leadership,” Trump said. “They all want to make a deal, but they’re all messed up.”

Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Iran handed over its plan to mediators in Pakistan on Thursday night.

The shaky three-week ceasefire between the US and Iran appears to be holding, though both countries have traded accusations of violations.

The standoff is increasingly putting pressure on the global economy, driving up prices and leading to shortages of fuel and other products tied to the oil industry.

Negotiations continued by phone after Trump called off his envoys’ trip to Pakistan last week, the president said.

Trump this week floated a new plan to reopen the critical passageway used by America’s Gulf allies to export their oil and gas.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has briefed many of his regional counterparts on the country’s initiatives to end the war, according to his social media.

He also held talks Friday with European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, who is in contact with the EU’s Gulf partners.