Meghan Markle on high demand as leading Italian festival courts Duchess for cameo
Meghan Markle has been approached by the director of Italy’s Sanremo Festival to appear in the week-long event as a special guest. Meghan Markle is being courted to make a cameo at Italy’s leading music festival, local newspapers have claimed. The Duchess of Sussex could join the list of super-guests expected to line up the Sanremo Music Festival Stage next year.
The festival hosted several international superstars over the years, including Whitney Houston, Kiss, Queen and Madonna. Italian newspapers have reported festival director Amadeus first approached Meghan last year but had no luck in securing her participation. But now insiders have suggested the showman, who has also been serving as the musical fete’s host since 2019, has mounted a new campaign to win over the Duchess. According to the Italian website Dagospia: “Last year Amadeus is believed to have flown to London to get in touch with an actress close to the British Royal Family.
“Nothing happened, likely because of the hefty allowance. But rumour has it the presenter is trying again.” The cameo would mark a stark departure from the projects the Duchess of Sussex has gone after since quitting her senior working royal role in 2020. However, Meghan has a long-established love for Italy – naming her for-now-defunct blog The Tig after her favourite Tuscan wine, Tignanello. She also dedicated several posts on the platform to her love for food, pasta in particular.
Meghan was also spotted enjoying a holiday with her friend Jessica Mulroney on the Amalfi Coast shortly after she started dating Prince Harry in 2017. The stay in Positano was one of the last holidays she enjoyed as a single woman and snaps shared at the time by Mulroney showed a beaming Duchess soaking in the Italian sunshine. But she later returned to the Southern European country with her husband, taking some time off from royal duty after their marriage and relaxing on the banks of Lake Como.
The couple were hosted by Hollywood superstar George Clooney and his human rights lawyer wife Amal in their £8 million Villa Oleandra Mansion. Speaking to the authors of the Sussexes’ biography Finding Freedom, a source said: “Meghan and Amal spent a lot of time relaxing by the pool and playing with the twins while George and Harry checked out George’s motorbike collection. “Harry took one of them out with one of his protection officers. George recently had an accident, so he wasn’t back on his bike yet.”
Authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durant wrote: “To maximise security, the group stayed in every night, well-fed by rotating chefs. “On the final night of Harry and Meghan’s stay, George hired the chef from Il Gatto Nero, one of his favourite local restaurants, to prepare an Italian feast for 15. “The party, including neighbours and their house guests, dined at long trestle tables in the landscaped gardens.”
