Meghan flew back from New York with Amal Clooney, who paid for £125,000 flight ...

Meghan Markle was flown home from New York City in a $43million private jet laid on by George and Amal Clooney - and in an extraordinary baby shower gift the A-listers picked up the $125,000 bill, MailOnline can exclusively reveal. 

The Duchess of Sussex came back to Britain with Amal and her twins early this morning after the extravagant $500,000 trip to the Big Apple where she partied for five nights with her celebrity friends.

Meghan landed at Farnborough Airport in Hampshire this morning after a $250,000 (£200,000) round trip to America following a lavish baby shower thrown by Serena Williams, her Suits co-stars and other VIPs.

MailOnline can reveal the $43million Gulfstream G450 private jet is owned by a US company registered to the same Los Angeles address as two of Clooney's film companies, and all three businesses have the same accountant. 

Last night Meghan boarded the luxury plane just hours after she was thrown a lavish baby shower by her closest friends in a $75,000-a-night (£57,000) New York penthouse - reputedly the most expensive hotel room in America. 

After the party ended Amal followed behind with twins Alexander and Ella, with the family travelling back to Britain with Meghan from the exclusive Teterboro private airport in New Jersey.

The Clooneys have also been regularly photographed using the private jet around the world, which has been compared to an airborne five-star hotel with space and beds for 19 passengers.

Meghan and her husband Prince Harry have become extremely close to the A-list couple, who attended their Windsor wedding last May and soon afterwards hosted the newlyweds for four days at their Lake Como retreat.

George and Amal, who use the jet themselves to split their time between their US and UK mansions, are even rumoured as possible godparents to the royal couple's baby, due in April. 

Kensington Palace today declined to comment on the transatlantic flight gift, while the Clooneys have yet to respond to MailOnline's request.

Meghan and Harry are so close Mr Clooney even made an extraordinary intervention in the ongoing turmoil caused by Meghan's toxic relationship with her estranged US family, including her father Thomas, who pulled out of her wedding at the last minute.

The actor, 57, claimed the duchess, 37, is being ‘pursued, vilified and chased’ in the same way that Princess Diana was. The star said history was repeating itself, and warned: ‘We’ve seen how that ends.’

Diana died in a Paris car crash in 1997 after her driver, who had been drinking, attempted to drive away at speed from paparazzi photographers. There is no suggestion Meghan has ever been pursued in this way.

He said: ‘They’re just chasing Meghan Markle everywhere, she’s been pursued and vilified. She’s a woman who is seven months pregnant and she is being pursued and vilified and chased in the same way that Diana was, and it’s history repeating itself. And we’ve seen how that ends. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to see that.

‘You’re taking a letter from a daughter to a father and broadcasting it everywhere. She’s getting a raw deal there, it’s irresponsible. I’m sort of surprised by that.’

His comments caused some fury among royal watchers, including royal correspondents at the height of Diana’s fame, who said Clooney should direct his concern at the duchess’s father not the press. 

Meghan, who is seven months pregnant, was whisked away from Farnborough Airport in two blacked-out Land Rover Discovery vehicles containing her security team, luggage and gifts today.

The eye-watering cost and extraordinarily lavish nature of Meghan's trip to New York has caused some disquiet in Britain despite Kensington Palace insisting it was 'privately funded'. 

Today it also emerged that Kate Middleton missed Meghan's baby shower after opting instead for a secret family skiing trip - in a move that will do nothing to dampen speculation of a royal rift between the pair. 

The Duchess, who will give birth in April, was pictured boarding the private plane on Wednesday evening less than an hour after she was seen leaving her swanky Upper East Side hotel - which served as the venue for her star-studded party. 

Meghan's extremely luxurious mode of transportation back to the UK - a Gulfstream G450 twin jet plane - is thought to have cost a staggering $125,000 (£96,000) for the six-hour journey back to the UK from the Big Apple. 

The 37-year-old royal is also thought to have arrived in New York via private jet, meaning that a phenomenal $250,000 (£200,000) was spent on her round-trip travel for the personal girls' trip.

After the whirlwind five-night trip, which appears to have cost up to $100,000 (£75,000) per day in hotels, events, food, drink and gifts, Meghan has just two nights to recover at her London home before flying to Morocco with Prince Harry on Saturday for a three-day trip to the north African country.  

On Monday, Kensington Palace said that Meghan's travel for the six-day trip had been 'privately funded' because it was a personal getaway - but the spokesman would not comment on any other details of her visit to New York, and declined to give any official information about her security detail, or her plans while she was staying in the city and if there was any cost to the taxpayer. 

Exclusive video and images obtained by DailyMail.com confirmed that the royal did travel on a private jet in order to return home to the UK, with several sources claiming that she used the same form of transportation in order to travel to New York at the end of last week. 

Meghan is one of many high-profile figures to fly in a $43million (£33million) Gulfstream G450, with the aircraft known for being one of the most popular plane picks among Hollywood A-listers thanks to its lavish interiors and ability to make both domestic and transatlantic flights.

The Gulfstream G450 has a 16-passenger capacity and operates with two Rolls-Royce Tay Mk 611-8C engines, each capable of producing 13,850lb of thrust.   

According to Haute Living, the G450 is also is also considered to have the most advanced flight deck in business aviation, with 14-inch liquid crystal display screens arranged in a landscape format and an Enhanced Vision System to present pilots with a clear picture of runway markings, taxiways and the surrounding landscape at night or in deteriorating weather conditions - like the snow and ice in New York on Wednesday. 

The plane also offers the Synthetic Vision – Primary Flight Display as an option to increase the level of safety, making it an incredibly secure option for anyone looking to indulge in a private jet flight. 

It also boasts a shower, a three-person divan, which would serve as the perfect place for Meghan to rest after a jam-packed trip, and a full galley with a convection oven should any of the passengers require an in-flight meal.  

The plane also had plenty of room for the many gifts that were seen being delivered to Meghan's hotel ahead of the shower; in the 24-hour lead-up to the big event, a wide variety of items were seen being brought int the hotel, including a $140 (£95) mandarin tree, a $379 (£289) travel crib, a children's bicycle believed to be worth around $610 (£460), and a batch of 17 $225 (£170) Away carry-on suitcases that were gifted to the royal and her guests by the trendy travel brand. 

Needless to say the majority of those items would likely not have fit in the hold of an average commercial plane, particularly when paired with Meghan's luggage, and that of her two royal protection officers, who are thought to have traveled with her on the private jet both to and from New York City. 

It is not known whether Meghan and Prince Harry paid for the flight themselves, or whether they were loaned the plane by one of their many A-list pals. 

The royals certainly have their fair share of high-profile pals who may have been able to secure her access to a private plane; TV mogul Oprah, who was in attendance at the royal wedding, and is said to have formed a close bond with Meghan's mother Doria, owns a private jet, and once said of the plane that it was incredibly useful for making the exact trip that the Duchess of Sussex made on Wednesday evening.

'I would say having your own airplane is the greatest luxury,' Oprah told British Vogue editor Edward Enninful during a 2018 interview, before adding: 'Because it means one minute you're in New York, and then the next minute you say, "You know Edward, I think I'll fly to London."'

Her fellow royal wedding guests David and Victoria Beckham regularly travel via private jet with their family, as does actor George Clooney, whose wife Amal was the co-host of Meghan's baby shower, which took place just hours before she boarded the private plane. 

And Prince Harry certainly doesn't seem to have any qualms about flying privately; the father-to-be actually chartered himself a jet to the tune of $26,100 (£20,000) in order to return home from Norway on February 14 so that he could spend his first Valentine's Day as a married man with his pregnant wife.

The duke made his round trip in a double-engine Cessna Citation Excel for the three-hour visit to the Bardufoss air station, 200 miles (322km) within the Arctic Circle. The state-of-the-art 18ft plane flies in and out of smaller airports while offering 'the comfort and amenities of a midsize cabin jet' according to Cessna. 

A direct chartered flight on the Citation Excel - based on a seven-hour round trip from Farnborough to Bardufoss, where Harry was traveling to and from, for seven people - would cost between $23,000 (£18,200) and $28,000 (£21,450) according to Luxaviation.

Last October, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were caught up in a mid-air scare when their private jet was hit by lightning. The couple was travelling to an opening party in Amsterdam when their luxury Dassault Falcon 7X was reportedly struck.

A bolt of lightning struck the nose cone, narrowly avoiding the navigation equipment. Around 30 million volts surged through the plane's fuselage.

After the dramatic scare, the plane - which would have set the Duke and Duchess back around £20,000 ($26,100) for a return flight to Amsterdam - managed to land safely at Schiphol Airport.

However the extraordinary price of Meghan's round-trip on the private jet is a stark contrast from the amount she is believed to have spent when she reportedly visited her friend Jessica Mulroney in Toronto back in September; while only five months have passed since her three-trip, it seems much has changed as far as Meghan's travel priorities.

At the time, the duchess, who had not yet announced that she was pregnant, chose commercial airline Air Canada for her trip, with sources telling Royal Central that 'lovely' Meghan, who was accompanied by two royal protection officers, 'had one glass of champagne before settling down to watch the Book Club', a movie starring Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, Jane Fonda, and Mary Steenburgen.

'She seemed very relaxed and sipped on peppermint tea during the journey,' the source added. 

Even if Meghan and her two protection officers had chosen to fly in Business Class, which is the most expensive option offered by Air Canada, and which boasts 'lie-flat beds' for passengers, the round-trip tickets for all three of them would have cost a maximum of around £16,000 ($21,055.84) - which is less than a tenth of the cost of her private jet journey.

The duchess's departure from New York comes at the end of a busy five-night, six-day trip that saw her catching up with friends, enjoying several meals at some of the city's best restaurants, and, of course, being the guest of honor at her baby shower on Wednesday before flying home. 

Despite her seemingly hectic schedule over the last few days - which saw her spending time with friends at hotspots like The Surrey hotel, The Polo Bar, and the Met Breuer - Meghan looked fresh-faced and glowing as she was pictured leaving The Mark a few hours after her baby shower ended. 

Meghan appeared to be ready to settle down in the comfort of her private plane, and was far more dressed down than we have seen her recently, eschewing her heeled boots and chic nude pumps in favor of figure-hugging black leggings and a matching sports top that accentuated her large bump. 

She also wore a black cap with the word 'Rectify' written across it, which appears to have been a gift from her friend and former Suits co-star Abigail Spencer, who actually arrived at the hotel for the baby shower earlier in the day wearing the exact same design. Rectify was the name of a SundanceTV series that Abigail starred in between 2013 and 2016. 

The duchess finished off her dressed-down look with a pair of black Adidas sneakers, and she was seen carrying a large £300 ($395) Cuyana Le Sud Leather Weekender tote; the brand is known to be one of the royal's favorites, and the label has even partnered with Meghan's makeup artist Daniel Martin in the past.

As she has been for the entirety of the trip, Meghan was flanked by two plain clothes royal protection officers, as well as at least three armed officers from the State Department. 

When approached earlier this week, Kensington Palace would not comment on the details surrounding the royal's security during the trip, and it is not known whether the protection officers were being paid for privately, or whether the bill was being footed by taxpayers. 

Earlier this year it was announced that Meghan's armed Scotland Yard bodyguard, who accompanied the expectant mother on her royal tour of Australia with Prince Harry last year, was quitting her post after less than a year in the role. 

The inspector's appointment as head of protection made her the first woman to hold such a key post for the royals, and she was regularly pictured guarding Meghan on overseas trips. 

In January, it was revealed that protection officers tasked with guarding the Queen and other members of the royal family earned six-figure salaries in 2016/17, bringing in around £100,000 ($130,000) each, after winning a pay dispute with Scotland Yard over their 'special escort' allowance. 

The latest accounts for the Metropolitan Police show 47 officers from the Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) unit earned six-figures in 2016/2017. This is in addition to the large one-off payments given to officers after the dispute over the scrapping of escort allowance in 2012. 

The Met has not disclosed the exact payments, but at least £5million ($6.5 million) was paid out among the 47 officers, which works out at as an average of £106,000 ($137,512) each.  

Taking into account the average annual salary of a royal protection officer, and the cost of their room and board throughout the trip it is estimated that the cost of the two men would have been close to £11,000 ($15,000) for the five nights. 

Meghan was joined at her baby shower by a host of high-profile guests, including Gayle King, and Jessica Mulroney, who were all seen making their way home on Wednesday evening after enjoying the intimate five-hour celebration. 

And it seems as though the no-expenses-spared event went off without a hitch - at least if Amal's beaming smile as she left the party was anything to go by. 

The 41-year-old human rights lawyer, who is reported to have co-hosted the extravagant event alongside tennis pro Serena, 37, was pictured grinning from ear-to-ear as she made her way out of The Mark hotel on New York's Upper East Side, after spending several hours celebrating Meghan's unborn baby alongside the likes of TV anchor Gayle, stylist Jessica, and designer Misha Nonoo.  

Amal lead the charge of departures, which began around five hours after Meghan's high-profile guests were seen arriving at the hotel for the event, which is believed to have been the main reason for the duchess's surprise five-night trip to the Big Apple - her first since she wed Prince Harry in May 2018. 

The glamorous fashion star brought some bold color to a snowy and gray New York day by wearing a scarlet Sergio Hudson jumpsuit, which she paired with trendy £570 ($745) PVC and gold heels from Gianvito Rossi, before slinging a vintage Chanel jacket around her shoulders in a style favored by fashion editors the world over. 

Co-host Amal finished off the ensemble with a pair of doorknocker-style earrings, glamorous makeup, and loose waves in her long brunette locks, which she had tucked over one shoulder as she made her way out of the venue, before heading to The Carlyle, another luxury five-star hotel located less than a block away from The Mark.

And she was not the only one who pulled out all the stops style-wise; the lucky guests invited to attend the event turned the city sidewalk into a fascinating spectator sport, when they began both arriving at and departing from the swanky venue where the event was being held - battling through snow and sleet in the process. 

Human rights lawyer Amal, who is married to actor George, was joined at the venue by a host of Meghan's nearest and dearest, including designer TV anchor Gayle King, designer Misha Nonoo, stylist Jessica Mulroney, Suits star Abigail Spencer, and makeup artist Daniel Martin. Her co-host Serena, 37, was already at The Mark, having chosen to stay at the hotel with Meghan the night before.

Interestingly, Meghan's mother Doria Ragland, 62, who is arguably her closest and most beloved family member, was not present, and was actually pictured at home in Los Angeles at the same time the shower was taking place in New York City. 

There were however plenty of other guests on hand to ensure that Meghan had a wonderful afternoon, with many of them strutting their stuff for the cameras on their way into The Mark, which has turned into something of a tourist hotspot in the days since Meghan's arrival in Manhattan. 

Meghan and Amal are thought to have been friends for several years now, having been brought together by their respective husbands, actor George and Prince Harry, who have been close pals for many years. 

The foursome are said to have spent a lot of time together, thanks in large part to the fact that they are all based in the UK, with George, 57, and Amal residing in a stunning property in Oxfordshire, which Meghan and Harry are believed to have visited on a number of occasions. 

Earlier this month, George actually spoke out to defend Meghan, insisting she has been 'pursued and vilified' in the same way that Prince Harry's late mother Diana was. 

There were also reports that the Hollywood star would be asked by Prince Harry and Meghan to serve as the godfather to their firstborn child, although he was quick to shut down those rumors, explaining that has his hands full with his own twins.

But Amal clearly still wanted to play a key role in the celebration of Meghan's unborn child, and by all accounts was one of the driving forces behind the shower, along with tennis pro Serena. 

Amal was one of the earlier arrivals at the baby shower venue, turning up at around the same time as Meghan's close friend and unofficial stylist Jessica Mulroney, who was also stylishly dressed in a long black $750 Mackage overcoat, black pants and a £40 ($58) orange turtleneck from Aritzia. 

Despite the snow, the mother-of-three followed in Amal's footsteps and wore a pair of chic high heels, opting for a dusty pink-orange shoe that complemented her figure-hugging shirt. 

Many of the guests seemed to ignore the heavy snowfall, perhaps opting for style over comfort and practicality in light of the special occasion and the hoards of photographers stationed outside waiting to snap their picture.  

CBS co-anchor Gayle King, 64, arrived at the shower in a very bright outfit, wearing a bright purple coat and a pink and purple furry scarf over a bright pink dress. She added a pair of matching pointed-toe heels to the look, and also added a brightly-colored rainbow snakeskin-print clutch bag, which actually perfectly matched the large rainbow gift bag she also had in her hand.  

Gayle was perhaps most the surprising guest at the shower; her friendship with Meghan is not something she has commented on previously, although her best friend Oprah is known to have formed a close bond with the duchess and her mother, and actually attended the royal wedding back in May. 

Her friend Gayle meanwhile was tasked with covering the event for CBS, a job she took on with great enthusiasm and energy, even revealing at the time that she was something of a royal fan, particularly when it came to Prince Harry's late mother Princess Diana.

'I’ve loved the royals for a long time,' she said of her trip to London to cover the wedding. 'I was the girl who got up to watch Princess Diana get married, because I thought she was so cool. There was just something about her that was so different, so I followed everything about her... from the courtship to the marriage and then, unfortunately, to the funeral.

'To see the video of William and Harry walking behind the casket, I remember thinking, "I hope her boys are going to be OK," Now, to see them all grown up, it’s all very exciting to me.'

She did actually get the chance to meet and spend time with Prince Harry in the summer of 2017 however, revealing that she and the royal ended up at the same retreat together, and ended up having dinner along with British TV host James Corden. 

'I’m not saying that Harry and I are great pals, but it was fun to spend even a little bit of time with him,' Gayle said of the exciting encounter.

Meghan's former Suits co-star Abigail Spencer was the first guest to arrive at the hotel, and she was followed closely by the duchess's makeup artist Daniel Martin, the man behind the royal's stunning bridal beauty look for her wedding to Prince Harry last May. 

Daniel, who is a brand ambassador for Dior Beauty, was quite literally wearing his heart on his chest when he arrived at the hotel in an all-black ensemble that included a hoodie with the message, 'Thank you for being a friend' written across it in white lettering. 

The hoodie, which is from trendy brand Ami, is by no means you're average sports store sweatshirt however, with the stylish item costing an impressive £220 ($290). That price pales in comparison to the makeup artist's Off-White x Nike sneakers, however, which retailed for a staggering £600 ($749) per pair.   

37-year-old Abigail meanwhile, was wearing a long flowing skirt and a black sweater, but concealed her face somewhat in a dark baseball cap and large sunglasses. 

She was also laden with bags when she turned up at the hotel, arriving just a few minutes before Daniel with a silver Away carry-on, a large brown paper bag - likely filled with a gift for Meghan - and two other, smaller purses, one over each shoulder. 

Interestingly, her metallic suitcase was by the same brand that donated £170 ($225) carry-on bags to each of the guests at the shower; two women were seen stacking up the luggage outside of the hotel earlier on in the day before wheeling it into the venue for the event.

The Suits star was quickly relieved of the items however, with a helpful staff member rushing to her aid in order to bring the larger bags into the hotel for her, allowing her to better showcase her boho-inspired look.  

It had been previously reported that Meghan's shower, which is said to be the main reason for the seven-months-pregnant royal's secret trip to the Big Apple, had taken place on Tuesday, however a source later revealed that it was actually scheduled for Wednesday, shortly before Meghan is set to return to London. 

Speaking to Tatler, the insider revealed that the baby shower would be held in the Grand Penthouse Suite at The Mark hotel on New York's Upper East Side, where Meghan and her friend Serena, 37, stayed on Tuesday evening, after enjoying dinner together at a swanky Manhattan restaurant. 

Although it is not known whether Meghan has been staying in the penthouse for her entire trip

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