Revealed: The woman giving Harry and Meghan the royal life they can no longer afford - complete with lavish homes and a private jet.
When you are a friend of Victoria Jackson, there is clearly no shortage of places to stay.
She is, after all, the Queen of Cosmetics – and as such has fabulous homes on the Upper East Side in New York, in the heart of Beverly Hills and between the mountains and the Pacific blue in Montecito.
And now it can be revealed that the generous septuagenarian make-up tycoon has been loaning them all to her pal, the Duchess of Sussex.
It was Jackson’s imposing New York brownstone where Meghan was ‘announced’ to her Harpers Bazaar interviewer by a house manager.
A well-connected source says that Meghan and Prince Harry habitually stay there when they have business in the city. Indeed, they were staying there in 2023 when there was a disputed car chase with paparazzi.
Exquisitely appointed, the property boasts the interior glass elevator and kitchen with oak worktops noted in the magazine’s cover interview.
‘They have been staying there for years, they always stay at Jackson’s houses,’ says the source.
I’m told that Jackson’s home in Los Angeles is also used as a base by the couple. They are understood to have stayed there two weeks ago before – controversially – going to Kris Jenner’s 70th birthday party.
That whopping 14-bedroom Beverly Hills mansion, originally built for silent film star Buster Keaton in 1926, has a 50 ft living room, 60 ft pool, and staff quarters. Actor Cary Grant previously lived there and its olive-lined driveway is 500 ft long – such a distance that guests are shuttled to the front door on a golf cart.
Meghan also uses Jackson’s other mansion in Montecito. Indeed, she had her 41st birthday party there in 2021 rather than at her own home and, the following year, she met an interviewer from The Cut there. It’s a venue that’s also proved popular with children Archie and Lilibet, who apparently love petting the micropigs Jackson keeps there.
‘Victoria’s houses make their place in Montecito look like a prison or a beach shack,’ I’m told. ‘It suits them for security, the houses are unbelievable, and they don’t have to pay at all, which is also appealing.’
What’s more, the generous Jackson apparently lends the couple her Dassault Falcon private jet for trips. This will save them hundreds of thousands of dollars and allow them to travel with enhanced security.
And earlier this month, Meghan set up her first ever pop-up store, featuring her As Ever produce, in Godmothers, the Montecito bookstore co-owned by Jackson and her literary agent Jennifer Rudolph Walsh. An Instagram Reel on November 6 showed the duchess arranging her fruit spreads and candles in an event space on the first floor.
Clearly, through the patronage of this elegant, super-rich businesswoman, the couple are managing to have a quasi-royal lifestyle without spending a dime.
Indeed, Jackson, 70, appears to have become something of a mother figure to both the prince and Meghan. They were introduced to each other by feminist icon Gloria Steinem, who is one of Jackson’s New York neighbours, soon after ‘Megxit’.
They quickly became close friends and Prince Harry and Meghan gladly fell into Jackson’s millionaires-only social circle, which also includes Kardashian momager Jenner, who Jackson has been close to for decades. Ditto Oprah Winfrey.
In return, the Sussexes have supported Jackson’s ventures.
Before the As Ever launch this month, they have attended a number of events at the Godmothers book store in Summerland, close to Montecito.
And last year, Meghan wore foundation and blusher from Jackson’s new range No Makeup Makeup to the ESPY awards where Harry received an honour. Unusually, her make up artist Daniel Martin credited the brand on Instagram.
I was told that no money changed hands and it wasn’t an official ambassadorship – just a sweet gesture between friends.
Jackson wrote on Instagram: ‘You look stunning, Meghan! Thank you @danielmartin so much for your support with No Makeup Makeup’s red carpet debut! Xo Victoria.’
Jackson was among the friends of Meghan’s featured in the first series of With Love, Meghan, joining her as one of the ‘Maj squad’ to play the game mahjong.
So who is the woman who is playing such a significant role in the life of Harry, separated from his family, and Meghan, who has cast out her father?
Jackson is a genuinely impressive entrepreneur who has overcome poverty and trauma. In an interview in January with Meghan’s favoured magazine, People, Jackson said that she was born to a mother too young to have a child and raised in a house with an alcoholic stepfather. Aged 17, she was sexually assaulted and stabbed in her own bedroom by a serial rapist who was later convicted of multiple crimes.
Tags: Queen, Prince Charles, Camilla, Prince Louis, Prince William and Kate Middleton, Prince Charles, Prince Harry, Meghan, Lilibet
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