Prince Harry’s ‘father figure’ pal David Foster and wife Katharine McPhee visit Montecito

It looks as though Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may have had some company this weekend in the form of their close friends David Foster and Katharine McPhee. 

David, 70, and wife Katharine, 36, were spotted near the Duke and Duchess’s Montecito mansion on Saturday, with exclusive images from DailyMail.com showing the couple filling up their car with gas before driving off to a house just a few doors down from Meghan and Harry’s new home. 

The couple’s Montecito outing comes just days ahead of Prince Harry’s birthday, for which David is reported to be masterminding celebrations, and could well be a sign that the foursome got together in order to celebrate the  big day early – while also no doubt toasting Harry and Meghan’s newly-inked Netflix deal. 

Both David and Katharine were dressed casually for the outing, with actress Katharine wearing a pair of jeans and a black T-shirt, with a white button-up which she had tied at the waist. 

She completed her look with a pair of slip-on Gucci loafers, and her hair was tied up in a messy ponytail. 

David mirrored his wife’s ensemble, donning baggy jeans, a white T-shirt, a blue button-up, and a pair of sunglasses that were seen hanging from the neck of his tee. 

The couple were both pictured taking turns by the pump, before David got climbed back into the driver’s seat of their Land Rover while Katharine blew him a sweet kiss through the window.  

Their arrival in Montecito came just over a week before Harry’s turns 36 – and one month after it was first reported that David is planning to throw the Duke a fun-filled party in celebration of his first Los Angeles-based birthday. 

In August, the Mirror claimed that the party, which is set to take place on September 15, the date of Harry’s birthday, will be held at David’s Los Angeles home, with a source telling the publication that it would be a low-key and intimate celebration. 

‘David wants to make it special for Harry but also keep it casual and low-key with some fine wine, great food and intimate company,’ the source claimed. 

‘He is setting aside the fire pit at his home plus the whole outdoor area, which security will cordon off.’ 

According to the publication, no royals other than Harry and Meghan were due to be in attendance at the event, however David was reportedly planning to include his daughters, actresses Erin and Sara, and their respective husbands, all of whom ‘are around the same age’ as the Duke and Duchess.    

But before Harry’s big birthday arrives, the couple still has plenty to celebrate – not least their newly-signed deal with Netflix, which is said to be worth anywhere between $100 and $150 million. 

Details of the deal first emerged last week, with The New York Times revealing that Meghan and Harry have founded a yet-to-be-named production company through which they will create documentaries, feature films, scripted shows, and children’s programming. 

In a statement, the Sussexes said: ‘Our focus will be on creating content that informs but also gives hope. As new parents, making inspirational family programming is also important to us.’ 

They added that Netflix’s ‘unprecedented reach will help us share impactful content that unlocks action.’ 

And that’s not the only news that the foursome will have had to celebrate together.

On Monday it was revealed that Harry and Meghan have paid back all of the $3.1 million in taxpayer money that was spent on the redevelopment of Frogmore Cottage, the five-bedroom property that they use as their UK base. 

The couple, who had been paying the cash back in monthly installments, announced that they have completely refunded the Sovereign Grant in the days after their lucrative Netflix deal was revealed. 

Sources close to the couple also claimed that they will no longer be receiving handouts from Prince Charles as they have sought to establish ‘financial independence’ – something that their latest career move will certainly help to provide. 

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex certainly appear to be settling fully into life outside of the royal family, having now spent several months in their new $14.7 million home in Montecito – where they may well have entertained David and Katharine over the long Labor Day weekend.   

It is understood that the two couples have grown incredibly close, with Meghan and Katharine establishing a friendship back when they attended the same Los Angeles school as teenagers, before introducing their husbands, who also formed an instant bond. 

In fact, Katharine told Access Hollywood in May of this year that her husband and Harry have formed a ‘beautiful relationship’ that is more like that of a ‘father and son’. 

‘My husband has a really, really beautiful relationship with Harry,’ she said. ‘They’re like, they’re so cute. They’re like father and son.’ 

She added that she and Meghan first reconnected last year, having formed a friendship during childhood, although Katharine noted that David and Harry have actually grown far closer than the two women. 

David even stepped in to help Meghan and Harry organize their recent stay at a $14.1 million mansion in Canada, where they spent several months before moving to Los Angeles earlier this year. 

Speaking to DailyMail.com in January, music producer David said that he hooked the royal couple up with the sprawling property, which was located on the waterfront in North Saanich, near Vancouver. 

David said his wife Katharine discovered that the Duke and Duchess were in need of a discreet spot for their first Christmas holiday with a then-seven-month-old Archie and Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland, and he was happy to oblige.

‘I felt honored that I was able to help Meghan there, because I’m a Canadian and we’re a commonwealth country, we’re the Crown’s,’ Foster told DailyMail.com. ‘It’s important to us, so I grew up with that kind of sentiment.

‘I was really happy to be able to help them to find a respite just to take a little time off.’

He added that he did not know if the couple were paying rent, saying that he simply helped them make the connection with a close friend, who owns the property. 

‘The owner has allowed this to happen through me, and I was happy to facilitate,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what their next plans are, but I know that it was reinvigorating for them to spend some downtime.

‘This is a great testament to my hometown of Victoria that they were able to go under the radar for so long.’ 

David and Katharine were not the only people from the Duke and Duchess’s close friendship group to be seen in Montecito this weekend however. 

Meghan may well have had another visitor in the form of her former Suits co-star-turned-close pal Abigail Spencer, who was pictured in the Duke and Duchess’s Montecito neighborhood on Friday, when she set up a flower shop pop-up for her new business, County Line Florals. 

The actress put on an incredibly chic display in a blue eyelet lace dress, black sandals, and a wide-brim black-and-white hat, finishing off the look with a pair of sunglasses and a pair of hoop earrings. She also added a silk neck scarf that doubled up as a face mask. 

According to an onlooker, 39-year-old Abigail’s flower pop-up proved incredibly popular with customers, with the Suits star selling out of all her blooms in under two hours. 

‘The traveling flower shop was an absolute hit, selling out of product in less than two hours with locals stopping to chat and take photos of the actress’s picturesque set-up,’ the source told DailyMail.com. 

Given Abigail and Meghan’s close friendship, it’s likely the actress stopped in to visit the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at their Montecito home, where they have been living with their one-year-old son Archie since the start of the summer.