Harry and Meghan’s secret Amsterdam weekend

With a rather knowing flourish, they call these parties 'sleepovers', and this one was at the invitation of Nick Jones, the boss of Soho House, the fashionable global chain of members' clubs.

Jones is famed for creating sleek, super-private party palaces around the globe, and this celebration marked the opening of an outpost of the Soho House empire in Amsterdam, surely the European capital with the naughtiest reputation.

Last weekend, however, was a particular milestone since the usual crowd of millionaires and celebrities were joined — in secret — by no less a couple than Prince Harry and his new wife, the Duchess of Sussex.

The duchess joined the club chain when she was plain Meghan Markle and filming her legal drama, Suits, in Toronto four years ago.

I have discovered that the royal couple, having arrived in Amsterdam on Friday afternoon and left on Sunday, attended two boozy private parties with Jones and his friends. One fellow guest tells me there was a sense of a 'new court' forming around them — a group who are mostly friends of Meghan's, including Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne. 

The Oscar-nominated American actor Stanley Tucci was also in town for the shindig.

A guest told me: 'On the Friday night it was more of a loose party, and Prince Harry and Meghan were circulating with everyone.

'Because she went to the opening of Soho House in Istanbul in 2015, it was a very similar invitation list, so she did know a lot of people. She spoke to everyone, and Harry never left her side. They looked absolutely in love.

MailOnline