The 19 random celebrities who are secretly friends with royals
Obsessed with the Uber selfie!
When it comes to their inner circles, members of the royal family – from Prince William and Kate Middleton to King Charles himself – are notoriously private. Which is fair enough really, given the amount of public scrutiny and press interest that they all face on a daily basis... It must make it pretty difficult knowing who to trust! Which, actually, could be part of the reason why they gel so well with the Hollywood elite and some of the world's biggest music stars.
In fact, it seems that many of our fave royals have a tonne of celebrity friendships in their lives, some with notable names including the likes of Rihanna (erm, okay Prince Harry, we're jealous!), Margot Robbie, Eddie Redmayne and Serena Williams.
Typically, these close bonds are shrouded in secrecy and intrigue... but, luckily there's been the odd slip up over the years meaning we can piece together who is pally with who (well, when a famous person shares a picture of them all hanging out together in an Uber on Instagram, it's kinda hard to deny).
Elsewhere, we're increasingly seeing Prince Harry and Meghan Markle bonding with A-listers now that they're living over in California, with some appearing on Meghan's Netflix cooking and lifestyle show, With Love, Meghan. Names for season two included model and fellow foodie, Chrissy Teigen, and Queer Eye style guru, Tan France.
So, let's take a deep-dive into which stars are not-so-secret friends with royalty...
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher share Ubers with Princess Beatrice
Perhaps they lucked out on an Uber Pool, or maybe Ashton and Mila really are good mates with Princess Beatrice and it's no biggie.
The Princess reportedly met the Hollywood couple through her ex-boyfriend Dave Clark who worked for Uber, the taxi tech company which has made Ashton millions from his investments.
The famous foursome have also been photographed holidaying in St Tropez. Such is the life of royals and the rich and famous.
Tom Hardy and Prince Harry shooting the breeze at the polo
Oh, to be a polo horse in that field and be a part of Prince Harry and Tom Hardy's chinwag.
The pair met when they both cameoed in Star Wars: The Last Jedi (yep, we also didn't know Haz took a turn in that!).
Chrissy Teigen and the Duchess of Sussex
Fellow food enthusiast and kitchen queen Chrissy Teigen joined Meghan for season two of her Netflix show.
Previously, the model said she and the Duchess bonded over their shared experiences of miscarriage and baby loss, with Chrissy saying back in 2021, “I think she's been very honest [and] open. I think her truth has been her truth since the very beginning.”
Ellie Goulding and Karlie Kloss just chilling in the desert with Princess Beatrice
While Prince William and Kate Middleton welcomed Prince Louis into the world, Princess Eugenie was busy hanging in the Wadi Rum desert with supermodel Karlie Kloss and singer Ellie Goulding. Of course.
Ellie is close friends with the royals, having previously performed at Prince William and Kate's 2011 wedding, and Beatrice and Karlie have been friends since 2016, when they were pictured at a tennis match together.
Margot Robbie, Sienna Miller, Cara Delevingne posing with Prince Harry and Princess Eugenie
We've all been there... it's a raucous night out and there have been too many drinks, and you're suddenly in a photobooth with a polite young ginger bloke. You immediately assume it's Ed Sheeran, when in fact it's actually the fifth-in-line to the throne.
"When I saw him [Harry] in those glasses, I was like, 'Oh my God, I didn't know Ed Sheeran was at the party'," Margot recalled about her first introduction to Prince Harry and Princess Eugenie with Sienna Miller and Cara Delevingne to Jimmy Fallon.
"And he was really offended. He was like, 'Shut up!'"
But it looks as though they made amends, until Margot later revealed Cara coerced her to prank the Prince during a break from filming Suicide Squad.
"I said, 'We can’t prank-call royalty’, but anyway we did — and he was so cool with it,'" she told The Sun.
The star concluded: "Prince Harry is so nice. England literally has the coolest royalty in the world."
All is forgiven.
Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Ron Howard mingle with Princess Diana at a premiere
Well, who wouldn't want to be best buddies with Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson? The couple met the late Princess Diana at numerous premieres and charity events.
They also paid their respects at Diana's funeral in 1997.
Angelina Jolie has been honoured by the late Queen, and had tea with Prince William and Kate
Not only was Angelina made an honorary dame by the late Queen Elizabeth for her campaigning against sexual violence, she also appeared in Her Majesty's recent ITV documentary with David Attenborough.
In The Queen's Green Planet, the star describes the monarch as a "lovely lady who really cares about people around the world", and flies a plane as she discusses conservation in the Namibia desert.
The actress can also boast having tea and biscuits in Buckingham Palace with Prince William and Kate Middleton.
"They discussed their shared interest in combatting the illegal wildlife trade," a Palace spokesman said at the time.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Serena Williams go way back
Tennis legend Serena Williams is widely regarded as one of the Duchess of Sussex's closest friends. She appeared on Meghan Markle's Archetypes podcast and even hosted an extravagant baby shower for Meghan during her pregnancy with Archie. The two are believed to have first crossed paths in 2010, prior to Meghan joining the royal family, at a Super Bowl game. They later reconnected at another American football event in 2014.
Reflecting on that encounter during her podcast, Meghan shared: "I show up and I see you walking toward someone. I remember thinking, 'Oh my gosh, who is Serena Williams going to talk to?' I looked behind me, and when I turned around, you were there right in front of me... We became such fast friends."
Eddie Redmayne and Prince William go waaaay back
Jolly hockey sticks! Wills and Eddie go way back to their boarding school days at Eton College, and here they are enjoying a giggle and a catch up at the polo.
The Fantastic Beasts actor also recalled the perks of playing rugby with the prince.
"The thing about playing rugby with Prince William is it was great for us, but you would go and want to play but all the people from the other schools would want to tackle him because they could go home and tell their families they tackled Prince William; so we were sort of running around with no-one on us," he once explained to Andy Cohen.
Rihanna and Prince Harry just chillin'
The pair first met at the Toast to the Nation in Bridgetown during the prince's two-week tour of the Caribbean on behalf of the Queen.
Harry and Rih then marked World AIDS Day by undergoing HIV fingerprint tests "to show how easy it is to be tested for HIV", Kensington Palace announced.
Geri Halliwell and Prince Harry lark about
Just look at Harry and Geri giggling like old friends as they enjoy some bants and in-joke lols.
"I met Prince Harry when he was about 10. I've seen him grow up and it's brilliant what he's done with his life, it's all for a great cause," Geri previously said of Harry (via The Telegraph).
"He's shown people he cares and he's got a great heart and spirit."
Cara Delevingne and Prince Charles having a hoot
Another entrant for Cara! We're not sure if Charles has cracked Cara up, or the other way around, or if it was Camilla who has the royal circle in stitches... either way, they're clearly enjoying the bants.
Cara's family have connections to the royal family dating back to her grandmother Janie Sheffield, who was previously the lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret.
And as mentioned above, she's on such good terms with Prince Harry, that she regularly pranks him with her showbiz pals.
Reese Witherspoon meeting Kate Middleton, and playing it super cool (that grin)
The pair apparently made friends during Prince William and Kate's tour of the US and Canada some years ago, and reportedly bonded over their joint support of the The Tusk Trust, the African wildlife charity.
James Blunt and Princess Eugenie enjoy a festival (but probably didn't camp)
Remember that story about Princess Eugenie accidentally cutting Ed Sheeran with a ceremonial sword after a mock-knighting and too many drinks during a night out (it's happened to the best of us...)?
Close friend to the royals James Blunt insists it absolutely isn't true. "Ed was drunk, messing around, and he cut himself," the singer told Shortlist.
"We made a fancy story up; people fell for it. It was very embarrassing."
Dave Grohl and Prince Harry looking like the ultimate besties
We want to meet someone who can make us laugh like Harry tickles Dave Grohl.
The band have performed at many a fundraising gig for Harry, and Dave recently revealed that Harry was one of the first people to visit him after leg surgery in London.
"When I had my surgery here in London he was actually one of the first people to come visit me afterward and he brought me a gift," Dave told BBC News.
"He brought me this little pillow to put my iPad on while I was in recovery."
Awww...
Naomi Gordon is news writer mainly covering entertainment news with a focus on celebrity interviews and television.
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