Prince Harry has taken to skiing with a Kardashian’s beau – as the Sussexes continue with their attempts to nudge their way into LA’s elites following Meghan’s ‘calculated’ launch of her new lifestyle brand on Instagram.
The Duke of Sussex, 39, is understood to have been enjoying the glories of Aspen, America’s swankiest ski resort in Colorado, in the company of business executive Corey Gamble, 43.
Gamble is the man in the life of Kris Jenner, the 68-year-old mother of U.S. television royalty Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian; she also has two daughters, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, by second husband Bruce – now Caitlyn – Jenner.
A source said that Harry had been hitting the slopes with Gamble, as well as Bumble dating app billionaire Whitney Wolfe, 34, and her husband Michael Herd, whom she met on a previous skiing trip.
However, there has been no sign of Meghan on the pistes: she has been too busy relaunching herself as an online guru with cookery and lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard.
Meghan and Harry pictured at an Invictus Games event in Whistler, Canada last month. Harry has been skiing with Kris Jenner’s partner Corey Gamble – while Meghan has just launched her new lifestyle brand online
Corey Gamble with Chris Jenner. Gamble, 43, is a business executive – and has reportedly been hitting the slopes of Aspen, Colorado with the Duke of Sussex
Corey Gamble pictured here Buttermilk Mountain in Aspen in January, where he went skiing with Kris Jenner and her daughters Kim, Kendall and Khloe Kardashian
Harry is a noted skier – pictured here in the pistes of Verbier, Switzerland on New Year’s Eve 2011
Harry and William were also taken skiing by their father, the then-Prince Charles, as young boys
The Duke was recently pictured in Whistler, Canada trying his hand at ‘sit-skiing’ – a form of the downhill sport for disabled athletes – during an Invictus Games preview event
Harry did not appear to be at home when he delivered a video message to recipients of the Diana Legacy Award on Thursday
Harry’s other skiing buddies are believed to include dating app entrepreneur Whitney Wolfe (pictured), a co-founder of Tinder and later founder of female-friendly dating app Bumble
Texan oil heir Herd owns the private jet on which Harry and Meghan flew to Las Vegas last November to watch their California neighbour, the pop superstar Katy Perry, perform in concert.
Wolfe became the youngest female billionaire in the world when she took Bumble public in 2021 with an initial public offering that valued the app as being worth $7billion; it is unique in that women send the first message to a male match.
The Duchess is also not thought to share the Duke’s love of downhill winter sports – but was pictured taking a trip with friends at the Powder Mountain resort near Salt Lake City, Utah at the end of February.
The source said: ‘Harry’s been skiing with Corey. They’ve been skiing during the day and going to one of the better-known speak-easies in the evening.’
Harry was not at home as he dialled into his virtual appearance at the Diana Legacy Awards on Thursday – controversially staged across London in another location from where his brother, Prince William, handed out the awards to its recipients.
The background of his call into the Hilton in Waterloo – across town from the Science Museum where William had presented physical gongs – showed a wooden lodge-like building with a stone fireplace over his shoulder.
The Duke is no stranger to skiing, having been pictured on the slopes of Verbier, Switzerland in 2011 and being taken out with brother William by his father, the then-Prince Charles, as a boy.
In his controversial memoir Spare – shortlisted for two British Book Awards – he spoke about his love of skiing, despite the fact his mother Princess Diana was not keen on the winter holidays.
It meant that whenever he went skiing again – as he did with ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas – he felt wracked with guilt about doing something his mother hated.
He credits one skiing trip with her with helping him to open up emotionally – crying for the first time since his mother’s burial whilst on a holiday in Switzerland.
He wrote in the autobiography: ‘Skiing was so sacred for us, so symbolic, especially after our previous skiing holiday, in Switzerland, when she’d (Cressida) miraculously opened me up.
‘It happened late one night, after a long day on the slopes, and a fun time at après-ski. We’d gone back to my cousin’s chalet, where we were staying, and Cress was washing her face, brushing her teeth, while I was sitting on the edge of the bath.
‘We were talking about nothing special, as I recall, but suddenly she asked about my mother. I answered her, straight-out, and then started to cry.’
He went on to write that it was on another skiing trip that he realised the relationship was over, glibly noting that their ski trips always led to a ‘revelation’.
Harry was also pictured having a go at ‘sit-skiing’ in Whistler, Canada as he held a preview event for next year’s Invictus Winter Games.
The Duke grinned as an instructor took him on a downhill run in the special chair, which is used by disabled athletes in competitive skiing events.
Harry’s snowy escapades could, it has been suggested, lead to a Kardashian team-up with Meghan as she promotes her new brand.
American Riviera Orchard was launched on Thursday with a glitzy Instagram video showing Meghan whisking in a stunning rustic kitchen, and a woman arranging flowers, all set to I Wish You Love by jazz singer Nancy Wilson.
It is understood a trademark application has been made covering cutlery, cookbooks, coffee, jams and butters that could bear the brand name – as well as a physical store that could hawk Meghan’s wares.
Meghan Markle pictured at the SXSW 2024 conference in Austin, Texas last week
She launched her new lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard on Instagram on Thursday in what experts say was a ‘calculated’ move at a time of bad press for Prince William and Kate Middleton
Insiders have suggested the new brand will bear some resemblance to Meghan’s doomed lifestyle blog The Tig
The brand launched on Instagram on Thursday and has since accumulated more than 421,000 followers
The Instagram account for the lifestyle brand bears the biography ‘by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex’
The Instagram account – with a biography reading ‘by Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex’ has already gathered some 421,000 followers after launching a day ago.
It has been suggested by insiders that it will coincide with a new cookery show on Netflix – part of the $100million deal the Sussexes inked with the streaming platform in 2020 – and will be followed by books and blogs.
PR experts have suggested she seized the opportunity brought about by Kate Middleton’s Mother’s Day Photoshop scandal to relaunch herself on social media.
Professional PR strategist Mark Borkowski said the timing of the launch – ‘crashing’ the Diana Legacy Awards while also looming over the ongoing scandal of the edited photograph of the Princess of Wales – was a ‘calculated’ move by the Duchess.
He added: ‘Of course they planned to launch it at this time. It was calculated. They understand about creating a noise on the internet. To launch anything you have got to get a huge surge of interest.
‘So timing it with the Diana Legacy Awards, why not? It’s akin to what Kanye West is doing right now, causing chaos left, right and centre.
‘I think the timing of the Photoshop incident is coincidental, it was all about this week I suspect.
‘If they can succeed with this in the way they didn’t with Netflix and Spotify and get a range of products the public like, this could make a mark for them.’
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliam told : ‘The Sussexes in my opinion do nothing by accident and timing is often absolutely pivotal.
‘For years they’ve been unpredictable but they have been predictable in one sense, and that is the unerring timing when they believe it’s beneficial to get information out. They don’t do anything by accident.’