Meghan Markle has made a low-key trip to New York to reportedly attend a baby shower to celebrate her pregnancy with her closest friends.

The heavily-pregnant Duchess of Sussex is spending five nights in New York and is said to have visited Laduree in the city’s SoHo district on Saturday for afternoon tea.

She is thought to be meeting her close friends during her visit, including Canadian fashion stylist Jessica Mulroney, who attended the royal wedding in May last year.

Mrs Mulroney supported the duchess in the days leading up to the wedding to Harry amid the media storm surrounding the absence of her father, Thomas Markle.

Kensington Palace declined to comment on the duchess’s break in New York.

Meghan, 37, is preparing to give birth in late April or early May.

She spent Valentine’s Day with Prince Harry after he returned to the UK following a trip to Norway with the Royal Marines.

The couple are due to visit Morocco on Saturday at the request of the British government.

Meghan was pictured in New York on Monday, wearing a black coat by Victoria Beckham and a grey Helene Berman tweed pageboy cap as she was escorted into an SUV by a royal protection officer.

Her relaxed itinerary is reported to have included shopping and eating at restaurants ahead of a baby shower with 15 of her friends at a hotel on New York’s Upper East Side, organised by Mrs Mulroney.

A source told Harper’s Bazaar: “The trip is a lovely chance to catch up with friends and spend time in a city she loves.

“This will be the last time a lot of them will see Meg until after the baby is born so it’s nice to share precious moments.”

Meghan’s trip comes just days after five of her unnamed close friends spoke to the US publication People in a bid to counter the “global bullying” directed at her by the media.

One friend said Meghan’s father has never tried to contact his daughter, telling the magazine: “He’s never called; he’s never texted. It’s super-painful.”

Mr Markle, 74, dismissed the claims and responded by revealing a personal letter from his daughter to the press, in which Meghan said his actions “have broken my heart into a million pieces“.

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