Meghan Markle has told of how her and Prince Harry’s son Archie narrowly escaped a fire in his bedroom when he was meant to be sleeping, during the Sussex's tour of South Africa.
The Duchess of Sussex opened up about the terrifying incident in the first episode of her new podcast 'Archetypes', which dropped on Spotify on Tuesday.
The new podcast, which was a co-production between Archewell Audio, Gimlet and Spotify, launched on the streaming service with its first episode 'The Misconception of Ambition with Serena Williams'.
The episode's highlights include Meghan's recount of how her son Archie narrowly escaped a fire in his bedroom while the family was on tour in South Africa; an incident she said left “everyone in tears”.
In the 57-minute-long podcast episode, the duchess tells of how Archie's then nanny, named only as Lauren, had taken the four and a half month old with her downstairs instead while she went to get a snack when, meanwhile, 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,” she said.
“Someone happened to just smell smoke down the hallway, went in, fire extinguished. He was supposed to be sleeping in there."
The former Suits star told how they had dropped their young son at the housing unit they were staying in for a sleep straight after arriving on their official tour, with Meghan and the Duke of Sussex leaving to carry out a visit to the Nyanga township, where the duchess delivered a speech.
"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'."
As well as Meghan’s account of Archie’s close call, the episode sees Meghan speak to Serena William about her experience as a woman in sport and even has a surprise appearance by Meghan’s husband Prince Harry .
Harry’s cameo is announced by 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."
Williams 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 remarked: "Thanks my love."
The blurb in the episode notes said: "Meghan talks to the one and only Serena Williams about the double standard women face when they are labelled 'ambitious' and the ripple effects this has on other aspects of their lives".
"This groundbreaking premiere episode also features Dr. Laura Kray, a leading expert on gender in the workplace," it read.
Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex, was listed as the Executive Producer of the podcast.
The launch of Archetypes comes close to two years after Archewell Audio's partnership was Spotify was first announced.
Meghan and Harry signed a lucrative deal with the audio streaming giant to host and produce podcasts, estimated to be worth around £18 million in late 2020.
But they had only released one show so far - a holiday special featuring their son Archie and celebrity guests.
In Archetypes, a podcast about female stereotypes, Meghan vows to investigate "labels that try to hold women back".
In a trailer of the Archewell Audio project, Meghan said: "This is how we talk about women: the words that raise our girls, and how the media reflects women back to us... but where do these stereotypes come from?
"And how do they keep showing up and defining our lives?"
