Madame Verseau said:
... The Elbas may be more acquantied with the Sussexes than let on. He won't spill pots of tea on the royal couple as one TV show try to pump him for information. I wonder if the Elbas will be invited to the christening?
Invited to the christening? Surely not! Only godparents will be the non-family members in attendance. I doubt that Harry was fast friends with Elba and his beau prior to the royal wedding. At the time of the wedding, I'd heard that Elba was fairly acquainted with Prince Charles, since Elba had benefited from youth initiatives provided by the Prince's Trust (but that he only knew Harry slightly, in passing). Elba's acting success and his connection with being aided by the Prince's Trust is seemingly one reason why he was on the guest list with his plus one (Canadian model, Sabrina Dhowre, a former Miss Vancouver).
I've already seen the DM article you posted, because I was enticed to the site (a rare exception) due to a Markle-related cluster-bust story.
M&H's wedding gift to Elba & bride must be related to conversations the couples may have had at informal gatherings post-royal wedding, otherwise it's pretty obscure. I've never heard of the artists. And the painting to my eyes and sensibilities doesn't seem worth the amount reportedly paid. But who knows, re the art world. Perhaps Harry and Meghan struck up a cordial friendship with Elba and Dhowre at last year's royal wedding festivities [ETA: Elba served as dj at the after-party; thanks to alvinking for the recent video where Elba describes how he was asked to do the honors by Harry].
In any case, let's be honest that a lot of world famous celebs are lining up, eager to become acquainted with the Sussexes and possibly eventually cop an invite to dinner at Frogmore Cottage, just as M&H's royal wedding guest list invite was the hottest ticket in the world last May. [ETA: there was never any intention on my part of grouping Elba in this category, since he obviously already knew Harry].
Gayle King attending Meghan's baby shower in NYC was rather eye-opening, since King didn't know Meghan from Adam during the years Meghan was working on
Suits in Toronto. King apparently must have gotten into the evening after-party on the hem-tails of her BFF status with Oprah, and since then both King and Oprah have apparently continued to make the most of having cemented some kind of relationship with Meghan & Harry (with Oprah having capitalized on a church-related connection to Meghan's Mom, Doria, in LA). I can imagine it's rather surreal being courted by Oprah Winfrey after your daughter becomes engaged to a Prince of England.
After all Meghan's years of being a face in the crowd at Hollywood auditions and struggling to land bit parts in movies and middling to major roles in television pilots that might or might not be picked up, it must have been such a life-changing switcheroo after her
Suits success and meeting Harry, for Meghan to suddenly experience famous people jockeying and/or putting out feelers to get to know her. Also, I'm reminded of all the cold-calls Meghan made to celebrities to contribute features on her Tig blog, and now the tables have turned.
Meghan and Doria must be fairly flattered by someone like Oprah's advances, which both Meghan and Harry clearly have welcomed. I suppose like 'birds of a feather,' the most astute wealthy & famous people who find common ground, tend to flock together. But surely some of these friendly connections are polite and tangential, or solely professional and philanthropic-oriented, rather than of the intimate BFF quality.