Dear Gossips,

There’s a story going around right now that Prince Harry has a say in what Royal Meghan wears. Supposedly Harry is Meghan’s “surprise stylist” and that he “ gives his views on what he thinks looks best, rather than helping her follow royal protocol on hemlines or anything like that”. Which… I mean… there’s more than a little exaggeration happening here, non? 

Are we seriously going to believe that Harry’s calling up designers asking them to send over options? It probably works more like this: Meghan tries on three or four options that were already narrowed down from a previous fitting, and she’s happy with all of them, and then she asks for his opinion. And maybe that’s the one. That doesn’t make him a f-cking stylist, GOD. That only makes him like many, many other husbands. 

But there is a takeaway here which is that for all the bitching from the old timey tight asses about Meghan wearing a barely off-the-shoulder dress at Trooping, accusing her of defying propriety, it’s not like she isn’t being advised – and one of the people advising her is Samantha Cohen, formerly the Queen’s press secretary. So Samantha knows her sh-t. If the goddamn not-really-that-off-the-shoulder pink dress really would have been a problem with Her Majesty, Samantha would have stepped in. The fact that Meghan was wearing it means that it clearly wasn’t a f-cking problem.  

A couple of weeks ago, PEOPLE reported on Samantha’s expanding role as a member of Royal Meghan’s team. According to a source: 

“She will make sure Meghan is as happy as she can be without ruffling feathers. She will represent her voice both internally and externally and fight her battles.”

A dress is not a battle and Samantha Cohen is a pro. She would understand that you don’t spend your reserves on a dress. Nobody internally is mad about the dress. There’s a bigger priority to focus on which is in two days – Royal Meghan’s first away day with Her Majesty. That’s where we should be eagle-eying the sh-t out of every step, every gesture, every single move. And hosiery. 

Yours in gossip,

Lainey