Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex has revealed in a podcast series released on Spotify that Archie narrowly avoided a fire in his nursery while the couple were on an official tour in South Africa.
In the opening episode of the series, called Archetypes, Meghan talked to friend and tennis star Serena Williams about the struggles they have felt as new mothers.
Among the anecdotes, the former Suits star told how they had dropped their young son at the housing unit they were staying before leaving to visit the Nyanga township, where the duchess delivered a speech.
Archie’s then nanny, named only as Lauren, had taken the four-and-a-half month old with her downstairs while she went to get a snack when the heater in the nursery caught fire.
Meghan said: “In that amount of time that she went downstairs, the heater in the nursery caught on fire. There was no smoke detector. Someone happened to just smell smoke down the hallway, went in, fire extinguished. He was supposed to be sleeping in there.
“There was this moment where I’m standing on a tree stump and I’m giving this speech to women and girls, and we finish the engagement, we get in the car and they say there’s been a fire at the residence. What? There’s been a fire in the baby’s room,” she said.
Meghan added: “We came back. And, of course, as a mother, you go, ‘Oh, my God, what?’ Everyone’s in tears, everyone’s shaken. And what do we have to do? Go out and do another official engagement? I said, ‘This doesn’t make any sense’.”
The podcast series, called Archetypes, promises to examine the labels that “try to hold women back” and hold “intimate and candid conversations” with guests from around the world on the origin of words such as ‘diva’, ‘slut’ and ‘hysterical’.
In the series trailer, the Duchess says: “These are words you hear a lot. They’re thrown around casually.
“It’s time to cut through the noise. We’re going to get to the roots of these words, and understand why they persist.”
In the first episode, entitled The Misconception of Ambition with Serena Williams, Meghan talks to her close friend and tennis champion about the double standards women face when they are labelled “ambitious”.
Harry also makes an appearance in the episode, with Meghan saying: “You wanna come say hi? Look who just popped in.”
Meghan and Williams greet Harry with “hello” in British accents, with Harry telling Williams: “I like what you’ve done with your hair. That’s a great vibe.”
The tennis ace replies: “Thank you. Good to see you too as always, I miss you guys.”
The duke responds “Well come and see us”, with Meghan saying they will make a plan.
As Harry leaves, Meghan remarks: “Thanks my love.”
The Duchess also talks about how her experience of the way ambition is perceived changed after embarking on her relationship with Harry.
“I don’t remember ever personally feeling the negative connotation behind the word ‘ambitious’ until I started dating my now-husband,” she said.
Williams reveals Harry helped her with the decision to retire from tennis long before it was announced, spending around an hour discussing the issue with her.
Meghan, who quit the monarchy as a senior working royal, says: “I think, you know, I think both of us, or the three of us, really know that sometimes the right decision isn’t the easiest decision.”
She tells Williams: “It takes a lot of courage, I think, too, to stop something in many ways than to keep going sometimes.”
