Meghan Markle’s alienating the palace after lavish baby shower, says Diana’s aide

Meghan Markle took Manhattan this past week, embarking on a $500,000 baby shower with a gaggle of girlfriends including Serena Williams, who co-hosted the star-studded party.

But a former chief aide to Princess ­Diana, the late mother of Meghan’s husband Prince Harry, told The Post that the dazzling Duchess of Sussex risks alienating the very people who are meant to be looking after her at Kensington Palace.

When Page Six revealed on Monday that Meghan had landed in NYC, the palace stated that this was a private, self-funded “quiet girls trip.”

However, it turned into a circus as the Duchess checked into a $75,000-a-night suite at The Mark hotel and dined at Laduree bakery and the Polo Bar with pals..

She made no attempt to keep things low-key by using private entrances. Staff at The Mark were forced to put up crash barriers when crowds grew outside the Upper East hotel, watching baby-shower guest Amal Clooney treat the event like an Oscars bash as she arrived clad in a red jumpsuit.

Afterward, Meghan — wearing an $850 gold Jennifer Meyer necklace reading “Mummy” — joined Amal and her twins Ella and Alexander on a private jet back to the UK on Wednesday night. (Clooney and her husband, George, are believed to have funded the $200,000 round trip.)

“This is a clear sign that Meghan thinks that being a royal Duchess is about celebrity — not royalty,” Patrick Jephson, Princess Diana’s long-time private secretary, told The Post.

Duncan Larcombe, formerly the royal editor at London newspaper The Sun, said that staff at Kensington Palace had not been made aware of just how very public and starry the trip would be. “Eyebrows have been raised inside the palace,” he added.

And despite the fact that guest Gayle King called Meghan “a very private person,” many brands involved in the event were quick to plug their products on social media.

Jennifer Zabinski Events, which organized the shower, promoted themselves in an article on HarpersBazaar. Meanwhile, florist Lewis Miller boasted on Instagram: “Oh what fun it was to teach an ‘amazing’ flower class yesterday for Meghan Markle . . . and her closest pals at the Mark Hotel!”

“Royalty is about sacrifice, service and putting country ahead of self. Thirty years ago, I went to New York with Princess Diana on her first solo overseas visit,” Jephson recalled. But, he pointed out, Diana knew she could not shop or go to restaurants.

“If you are royal and you want to be private, there are a million ways you can be,” Jephson said. “Diana always stayed at The Carlyle in New York, which prides itself on its discretion for its famous guests. The fact that Meghan allowed this to become a media circus is very revealing.

“Nobody objects to Meghan having time with friends . . . [but] dignity and privacy are consistent with her primary role as a British duchess. That fact that her friends seem to fail to understand this is deeply worrying for her future royal career.”

Princes Harry and ­William have both used more stringent privacy laws to protect their wives from the paparazzi than their royal parents did.

Which is why, according to a top British publicist, it was so bizarre that Meghan chose to publicize her trip. “All the things that Meghan could have done privately or discreetly, she failed to do . . . The Mark doesn’t have a [garage], but The Carlyle nearby does — or Meghan and her famous friends could have rented a beautiful private home with underground parking for true privacy.”

All this comes as Prince William and wife Kate are believed to have gone on a private skiing vacation — so private, no one is totally sure of it.

“Of course you would never see [them] doing anything like this, but Meghan is saying, ‘Don’t judge me by anyone’s standards — like or lump it, this is me.’ Which is a very American thing to do,” the publicist added.

“Is she royal or is she a celebrity?” asked Jephson. “I saw that a cotton-candy machine had been delivered for the baby shower. Cotton candy is fluffy, airy, sugary and a very short-lived treat — worryingly close to how Meghan appears to be.”