Ex-prime minister dies

Meghan’s ex-“BFF” mourns the death of her father-in-law

Jessica Mulroney looked after Meghan's flower children together with Princess Kate(Bild: APA/AFP/POOL/Jane Barlow)

Jessica Mulroney, the former very best friend of Duchess Meghan, is mourning the death of her father-in-law. The father of her husband Ben, Brian Mulroney, has died. The former Canadian Prime Minister has died at the age of 84.

He fell asleep peacefully surrounded by his family, his daughter Caroline wrote on the X platform (formerly Twitter) on Thursday (local time). Canada's current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau paid tribute to Mulroney as an "extraordinary statesman" and as someone "who had the courage to do great things".

In office from 1984 to 1993
The Progressive Conservative Party (PC) politician was the country's 18th Prime Minister and was in office from 1984 to 1993.

His greatest achievement was the negotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, the USA and Canada, which came into force in 1994. Mulroney also strengthened relations with neighboring USA and campaigned against apartheid in South Africa.

Son of Irish immigrants
Mulroney was born the son of Irish immigrants in the province of Quebec and spoke both English and French. In the 1960s, the eloquent lawyer was drawn into politics. He won an overwhelming election victory with his Progressive Conservative Party in 1984.

However, he fell out of favor during his second term in office. This was due to the ongoing recession, high unemployment, the introduction of new taxes and the failure of a constitutional reform aimed at integrating the predominantly French-speaking province of Quebec more closely into the federation with more rights.

"Whether anyone agrees with our solutions or not, no one will accuse us of shirking our responsibilities by ignoring the most controversial issues of our time," he said in his resignation speech.

Dispute over influencer
Jessica Mulroney has been married to Ben Mulroney, Brian Mulroney's son, since 2008. The couple have three children together.

Mulroney was considered a close friend of the Duchess of Sussex (née Meghan Markle), whom she met in 2011 while working in Toronto. In 2018, she and her husband attended Prince Harry's wedding, and their children were there as page boys and flower girls.

During her feud with influencer Sasha Exeter in 2020, Mulroney described Markle as her "closest friend" with whom she had experiences "where race was at the forefront", a statement that was allegedly taken by the Duchess as an exploitation of their friendship and led to the end of the "BFF - best friends forever" relationship.