Meghan and Harry’s Euro summer holiday in Portugal’s luxury ‘Iberian Hamptons’ that Princess Eugenie also calls home

Meghan Markle’s summer holiday snaps reveal the Sussexes spent much of their break in Portugal’s ‘Iberian Hamptons’ – an exclusive enclave also home to Prince Harry’s cousin, Princess Eugenie.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are believed to have bought a £6.3million villa at the prestigious CostaTerra Golf and Ocean Club, a 300-home development on the idyllic Melides coast.

Observers said the secret family holiday to Portugal underlines how close Harry and Meghan remain to their only remaining royal ally, Eugenie.

Meghan’s holiday photographs, shared with her 4.5 million Instagram followers, show the family on Portugal’s pristine beaches, frolicking in a pool, dining at a rustic fish restaurant and browsing local pottery and homeware shops.

Harry is seen charging into the Atlantic surf in Portugal, closely followed by Archie and Lilibet, while the Duchess watches from the shoreline in a swimsuit.

Other photographs appear to offer glimpses of the family’s life this summer. Meghan shared an image of the traditional seafood restaurant O Melidense, located near the luxury resort, and was also pictured browsing a rustic homeware shop, seemingly photographed by Harry.

In another snap, Meghan and Harry are seen laughing together over dinner. Elsewhere, the Duchess walks towards the beach with Lilibet, while another image shows Harry playfully tossing his daughter into the air in a swimming pool with Archie nearby.

In all the images featuring the children, their faces are turned away from the camera, reflecting Harry and Meghan’s long-standing approach to protecting their privacy on social media.

Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told the Daily Mail he believes the trip was almost certainly coordinated so the Sussexes could spend time with Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank, who have two young children and a third on the way.

This trip clearly signals that the couples remain close,’ he said, adding the Sussexes are determined to maintain ties with the Royal Family.

‘Now we know that Harry and Meghan have a base in Europe, their exile in California is far less distant,’ he added.

Like the Hamptons in the US, the beaches around Melides, just an hour’s drive from Lisbon, are sandy and stretch for almost 40 miles. The area, known for its spectacular Atlantic cliffs, also enjoys around 300 days of sunshine each year.

Mr Fitzwilliams said the relationship between the Sussexes and the Brooksbanks could prove ‘extremely significant’.

‘We have known that Harry and Meghan and Eugenie and her husband Jack have been close for years. It will be interesting to see how they intend to develop this friendship,’ he said.

Will it, for example, lead to more solo or perhaps even joint visits to Britain, but without participating in royal life or royal rituals at Sandringham and Balmoral?

‘It might lead to a “faux royal” tour of an EU country following their trips to Nigeria and Colombia.

‘It will certainly involve their children, and we may see photos of Archie and Lili with Eugenie and Jack in the future’.

When they were in the UK, Harry took his wife Meghan Markle and their children to his mother Princess Diana’s ancestral stately home in the UK, where they laid flowers at her grave.

After being unable to stay at Buckingham Palace, the Duchess of Sussex revealed to her 4.7 million Instagram followers that the family stayed as guests of Harry’s uncle, Earl Spencer, at Althorp.

In one image taken by Meghan, Lilibet is seen walking through the Northamptonshire estate’s famous avenue of trees, close to the private island on a lake where Diana is buried.

Ahead of her are Harry and Archie, with all three carrying large bouquets of flowers to lay at Princess Diana’s grave and the nearby memorial.

Sources have confirmed to the Daily Mail that Meghan’s pictures were all taken at Althorp.

In the Instagram set, titled Summer Holiday, Meghan also shared a landscape image that appears to show Loch Glascarnoch in the Highlands, suggesting the family may also have secretly visited Scotland.

Among the other snaps were shots of curated dinner tables, a landscape of hills around a lake, and picked lavender stalks.

Archie also appeared in the cockpit of a plane wearing a pilot’s hat as three aviators looked on while he pretended to take the controls.

Following their trip on the continent, Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet enjoyed a private cup of tea with King Charles and Queen Camilla at Highgrove.

But there are no photographs of their reunion a fortnight ago.

Harry had wanted Meghan and his young family to join him for the entirety of the five-day trip, which focused on Invictus and his former charities.

Instead, he flew to Britain alone and, hours before he arrived in London, fresh chaos erupted when an invitation to stay at Buckingham Palace was withdrawn.

Meghan delayed her arrival and entered the country secretly with Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five, amid ongoing security concerns.

A friend of the couple said Meghan would have felt ‘humiliated’ and experienced ‘sadness’ over the way the week unfolded.

The family had been visiting Europe in recent weeks ahead of Prince Harry’s return to the UK this month to attend the Invictus Games in Birmingham where he had intended to bring Meghan and their two children with him for the entirety of the five-day trip.