Meghan Markle has flown alone across the United States to support her godson on the day of his First Communion - but an image of her in her pew has been mysteriously deleted, the Daily Mail can reveal today.
The Duchess of Sussex was seen smiling as a group of children processed down the aisle of the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago on Saturday.
A Sussex source told People, long the Sussexes' favoured media outlet in the US, that Meghan's godson is the child of an old friend from her alma mater Northwestern University.
The insider said that the Duchess was like any other member of the congregation - apart from her personal bodyguard.
'Meghan arrived early to the church and waited with other families and friends in the pews and that she didn't use a separate entrance or have any special accommodations', they said.
The source confirmed: 'Meghan travelled to Chicago over the weekend for the First Communion of the son of one of her best friends from college and that Meghan is the boy's godmother'.
Natalie Martinez, a Chicago TV reporter whose daughter was also having her First Communion at the same Catholic mass, took a picture of her daughter walking past Meghan.
But it was only online for a short period before it was deleted by Ms Martinez, who shared a picture of her daughter with the caption: 'Yep, that is exactly who you think it is to her right'.
The Duchess of Sussex, pictured in Australia last month, flew to Chicago to support her godson at his first communion
Meghan is proud to be a Northwestern graduate, recently wearing a sweatshirt on social media
Natalie has not commented on why she took it down - including whether she was asked to delete it.
The Chicago trip also reveals that Meghan has more godchildren than first thought.
Remi and Rylan were bridesmaids at Harry and Meghan's wedding in 2018.
Now it has been revealed that she also has a godson in Chicago, which is around 12 miles from Northwestern University, where she studied between 1999 to 2003.
She graduated with a bachelor's degree in theatre and international studies.
Neither her godson nor his parents have been named by People.
The boy is likely to be around seven or eight, given that is the typical age a baptised Catholic child will have their first communion and first confession.
Meghan's own son Prince Archie will be celebrating his seventh birthday on Wednesday, May 6.
The King's grandson will be basking in the festivities in Montecito, across the pond from the UK - where his parents gave up being working royals in 2020.
Archie's title has been fraught with controversy since months before that, when Prince Harry, 41, and Meghan Markle, 44, first welcomed their baby boy.
Meghan's former classmate recently shared a throwback snap on Instagram from her days at Northwestern University during a salsa class. She is pictured far left. It was not known she had a godson with a friend she made there
However, the greatest scandal surrounding the young royal's birth seemed to relate to his title.
Or, indeed, lack thereof.
Shortly after Archie's birth, Meghan announced that Archie would be a 'private citizen' without a title as they did not want the youngster to be bound by convention or history.
The couple were insistent that they wanted their son to be known as plain 'Mister Archie' and not bear the title of royal, which was done to help preserve his privacy.
At the time, journalists such as Omid Scobie, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex ’s future biographer, gushed that this decision was ‘all part’ of their desire to give their son ‘as normal a life as possible’.
However, during her and Harry's notorious Oprah Winfrey interview in 2021, Meghan declared that the Royal Family had in fact denied Archie a title, while also suggesting that this decision was linked to concerns over his skin colour.
Most recently, Meghan sold candles linked to her children, who are referred to as Prince and Princess now their grandfather is King.
The Sussexes were absent from all events during King Charles’s state visit to the US last week.
Yet they still found a way to insert themselves into the media discourse, the Daily Mail's Alison Boshoff said.
A cover story in People magazine said their trip to Australia is being hailed as the blueprint for the couple’s new working model.
Speaking to sources in California, the story told is one of wall-to-wall fall-outs and alienation.
Meghan and Harry no longer have any bridges left to burn, the Mail's source said.
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.’
Archie and Lilibet (pictured), now four, were not ‘prince’ and ‘princess’ at birth because they were not grandchildren of the monarch at the time. However, they gained the right to these titles when King Charles acceded to the throne in 2022. Archie turns seven on Wednesday
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.’