Meghan Markle has opened up about her life post-royalty, speaking about her new home in California and plans to return to social media.
In an interview with US magazine The Cut, the Duchess of Sussex discussed being a parent after stepping down from royal duties, as well as her new podcast "Archetypes", which dropped last Tuesday on Spotify.
The conversation spilled several surprising titbits, from how she and Harry came to buy their home in Montecito, to the "quirky" habits of her three year-old son Archie.
Here are 11 of the most interesting revelations Meghan shared, as reported by the Mirror.
1. Meghan and Harry were willing to go to “any” of the Commonwealth countries to get away from the UK
Discussing leaving the UK, Meghan told the magazine the couple was willing to go to another Commonwealth country and work on behalf of the Royal Family but wanted to make their own money.
“Then maybe all the noise would stop,” Meghan said of their reasoning. Anything to just … because just by existing, we were upsetting the dynamic of the hierarchy.
”So we go, ‘Okay, fine, let’s get out of here. Happy to,’ ” she then said, raising her hands in a sign of mock defeat. Meghan went on to argue that what they were asking for wasn’t “reinventing the wheel”.
She claimed there were a handful of other royals who had the very arrangement they wanted.
2. Archie calls Meghan and Harry "momma" and "papa"
The sweet relationship three-year-old Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor has with his parents is illustrated in the the conversation the Duchess had with The Cut.
In the interview, Duchess of Sussex spoke about the house she and Harry bought in Montecito, the beachside hamlet north of Los Angeles.
Meghan discussed the big palm trees on the middle of the lawn, explaining that when Harry first walked around the house he said to her: "See how they’re connected at the bottom?
"He goes, ‘My love, it’s us."
Meghan went on to say that when Archie walked near the trees, he would say: ‘Hi, Momma. Hi, Papa.’”
3. Archie has the quirky habit of speaking to trees - just like his grandfather
Prince Charles may be thousands of miles away from his young grandson Archie, but that doesn't mean they don't have a strong connection.
Meghan shared that toddler Archie has a budding fascination with nature - just like Prince Charles - and has been known to greet the trees in the family's garden when passing by.
In this quirk, Archie is following in the footsteps of Prince Charles, who is renowned for talking to plants and trees in a bid to help them grow.
In 2010, Prince Charles said: " I happily talk to plants and trees and listen to them" and more recently he revealed that he shakes hands with each tree he plants.
Despite being mocked for this habit for years, Charles has since been vindicated by Sir David Attenborough who argued "we don’t engage with plants enough" while promoting a recent BBC documentary.
4. The Duchess intends to re-join Instagram
Meghan has also revealed that she is re-joining Instagram. Leaning towards the interviewer during their conversation she asked in a hushed tone: “Do you want to know a secret? I’m getting back … on Instagram."
She said the decision was made in light of the launch of her new podcast, Archetypes, which dropped its first episode on Spotify last week.
Prince Harry and Meghan quit Facebook and Twitter in January last year saying the decision was made after they became alienated by the "hate" they experienced online.
The pair have not posted to their Sussex Royal Instagram account, which has 9.5million followers, since January 2020.
5. Meghan is committed to the practice of forgiveness
When asked if she thinks there is room for forgiveness between her and her royal in-laws, as well as with her own family, Meghan expressed how important it was to be able to move on.
“I think forgiveness is really important. It takes a lot more energy to not forgive,” she said. But it takes a lot of effort to forgive.
I’ve really made an active effort, especially knowing that I can say anything."
6. Meghan Markle donates to the family's local homeless community
A gesture made by the duchess that's described in The Cut's article demonstrates her commitment to helping those less fortunate than her in the community.
The piece describes how on the Duchess' way home from picking up Archie from preschool, she reaches into the trunk of the car when stopped at a light and pulls out a new backpack for her security detail to give to an "unhoused man" on the street corner.
Meghan describes that she and Harry were teaching Archie about how some people lived in big houses, others in small homes and some people were in between homes.
7. Meghan has tactics to instil Archie with good manners
Opening up about her family life in California after stepping down from royal duties, Meghan also explains how she and Prince Harry are currently teaching their son Archie about the importance of manners.
She says "We always tell him: 'Manners make the man. Manners, manners, manners, manners, manners'".
Meghan also explains a small lesson to do with manners which she learned as a child from her friend's mother, but now likens to the relationship she has with Prince Harry.
She tells the interviewer that "salt and pepper are always passed together," before adding "you never move one without the other".
"That’s me and Harry. We’re like salt and pepper. We always move together".
8. Meghan and Harry only toured the grounds of their Montecito home before declaring it their perfect home
Meghan shares in the interview that her and Prince Harry had only toured the grounds before declaring that they'd found their perfect home.
The couple's journey to buying their home, which Meghan said "kept popping up online in searches", sounds unconventional, with the Sussexes first "resisting" booking a viewing due to the £12.49million ($14.65million) price tag.
"It’s like when I was younger and you’re window shopping — it’s like, I don’t want to go and look at all the things that I can’t afford. That doesn’t feel good,'" Meghan explained.
But after seeing the properties' exterior for the first time, Meghan told the real-estate agent "We have to get this house", she said.
9. Tyler Perry gifted the Sussexes a grand piano and told Meghan it was where she could write the ‘soundtrack of [her] life’
Soon after their move to California, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry took up residence in a lavish £15million mansion in Los Angeles owned by Tyler Perry .
While Meghan had never met the actor/director in person at the time, he had reportedly reached out to her upon her marriage to Harry to tell her that he was praying for her “and that he understood what this meant".
He also told Meghan to call if she ever needed support or advice. It was not known whether Harry and Meghan are renting the pad from Perry of if they are staying there as a favour.
Upon their move into their own LA home, Tyler gave Meghan a grand piano as a housewarming present, on which he advised her to "write the soundtrack" for her life.
10. Meghan believes the UK's tabloid culture has torn her and Harry's families apart
When speaking of family, Meghan discusses with The Cut her belief that the tabloid culture has torn her and Harry's families apart. When asked to elaborate on this, Meghan explains that Harry had said to her that he had "lost [his] dad" in the process of Megxit.
"It doesn’t have to be the same for them as it was for me, but that’s his decision," she said.
11. Meghan has been compared to Nelson Mandela
The Duchess also recalled how during the premiere of The Lion King in 2019 in London, she was told by one well-wisher her marriage into the Royal Family was celebrated as much as the freeing of Nelson Mandela.
Meghan said: “I just had Archie. It was such a cruel chapter. I was scared to go out.” She then recalled how a cast member from South Africa pulled her aside.
She said: “He looked at me, and he’s just like light. He said, ‘I just need you to know: When you married into this family, we rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison.’ ”
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