Meghan Markle's Most Intimate Interview in Years: Harry, the Kids and Getting Real About Her 'Learning Curve' (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex photographed in Montecito, CA, in March 2024 (left) and Nov. 2024 (right).Photo:Jake Rosenberg/Courtesy Netflix

Jake Rosenberg/Courtesy Netflix

Meghan Markleis curled up in bed with her sleeping 5-year-old son,Prince Archie, on a recent winter evening in Montecito, California. With her phone in hand, she catches up on emails, finalizing details for the launch of herrenamed lifestyle brand, As ever, and her newNetflix series,With Love, Meghan.

Now she’s savoring this stillness at home with Archie as he stirs awake, sleepily telling her, “Mama, don’t work too hard.” Recalling the moment to PEOPLE a few days later, the Duchess of Sussex says, “It was the sweetest thing.”

Like any entrepreneur, Meghan has tackled the hard work of launching a new business — but unlike most, she has done so under an intense spotlight. In March 2024, herinitial brand name, American Riviera Orchard, debuted online. One month later,jars of jam with the brand’s logobegan circulating among pals likeChrissy TeigenandMindy Kaling. Then came a pause. As anticipation grew, questions arose about when the products would be available, while behind the scenes, she navigated trademark issues.

“There are tons of twists and turns — even with the name,” she says in her most intimate interview in years. “I was figuring it out in real time.”

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (in June 2024) with late dog Guy in the kitchen set of With Love, Meghan.Jake Rosenberg/Courtesy Netflix

As Meghan builds her brand, she also continues to expand her life in Montecito. Five years have passed since she and Harry made the seismic decision tostep back from their royal rolesin the U.K. and chart their own path, but their titles remain.

“It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognized how meaningful that would be to me until we had children,” she says. “I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together. It means a lot to me.”

The Sussex name, she adds, “is part of our love story."

Now with her new series, debuting March 4 on Netflix, she is sharing her personal passions— including cooking, hostessing and decorating — with her biggest audience yet.

“When your children get to a certain age — when you’re not just playing in the sandbox with them but almost playing in your own sandbox again — it’s super joyful,” she says. “As a woman, a mom and a wife, to be able to find yourself again — in a way that was always present but that you maybe couldn’t put as much attention on as you now can when your kids are a little bit older — is a wonderful feeling.”

Although the couple’s 2022 Netflix docuseries, therecord-breakingHarry & Meghan, famously pulled back the curtain on their struggles within the royal family, this time there’s no mention of anything royal. Harry himself makes only a fleeting appearance in the final episode, but his presence was felt behind the scenes.

“Whenever Harry visited set, he was always super polite and friendly,” a crew member tells PEOPLE, “but it was clear he wanted this to be Meghan’s moment to shine.”

For more from Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, including why she’s back in a “honeymoon period” with Harry, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex photographed in Montecito, California, in March 2024.

Returning to her roots

Meghan’s eight-episode lifestyle show sees her cooking, crafting, and gardening with friends and chefs while sharing personal stories and recipes — a natural extension of her pre-royal life. In 2014, while filmingSuitsin Toronto, she launched The Tig, a blog on food, travel, and wellness, years ahead of the influencer boom. But as her relationship with Harry deepened, sheshut it down in 2017and later deleted her Instagram before joining royal life. How hard was it to let go?

“Well, I loved The Tig, but I certainly love my husband more,” she says. “So that was a choice I made at the time, and I wouldn’t change that for a second.”

Harry is now loving watching Meghan step back into her creative groove. “My husband met me when I had The Tig, and I see this spark in his eye when he sees me doing the thing that I was doing when he first met me,” she says.

Even though the activities on her new show feel familiar to Meghan’s longtime followers, the filming pushed her beyond the comfort zone she knew from her seven seasons onSuits.

“I was never really in front of the camera like this,” she says. Reflecting on the legal drama — which became one of Netflix’s most-streamed shows in 2023 — she adds: “It’s a time capsule for me — I still have the pencil skirt from the first episode! That’s the one thing I kept.” She remains close to costars like Abigail Spencer and is excited to see the upcomingSuits LAon Peacock: “I love that it gets a new breath of fresh air.”

Her new show isn’t a traditional “stand and stir” format — an industry term Meghan learned during filming to describe most cooking shows. “It feels as though we’re just spending time together, which is what it ended up being,” she says of the crew’s presence on the series. “I’d make a recipe and say, ‘Everyone try this,’ and there are certain dishes where you just watch everyone flock in. I’d say, ‘We’ve run out of spoons!’ It ended up feeling so communal, and that’s the spirit of the show.”

Adds director Michael Steed, who previously worked on the Emmy-winning seriesAnthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown: “Everyone has this one version of her, but she’s just someone who is hustling and working and doing. I genuinely wanted to create an environment where she could relax, and I know the pressures of what she deals with on a daily basis. I was happy that we created scenes where she could tap into that part of her life.”

Along with featuring her domestic skills,With Love, Meghanalso highlights her own product line, which will be available onasever.com. Meghan has hinted that her signature jam will be among the offerings, set to launch this spring.

Also launching this spring: her new podcast with Lemonada Media. She’s back on Instagram too — for the first time in years. “When I was last on social media, Boomerang was the thing,” she says, laughing. “Instagram Stories didn’t even exist. So it’s been a minute.”

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex photographed at home in Montecito, California, in June 2024.Jake Rosenberg/Courtesy Netflix

Despite the intense focus of her return to Instagram — where her 2 million followers analyze everything from her outfits to the plates she uses — Meghan doesn’t identify as an influencer. “I see myself as an entrepreneur and a female founder,” she says, “and if the brand ends up influential, then that’s great.”

And although the show paints a picture of domestic bliss, with Meghan slowcooking berries from her garden, she doesn’t consider herself a “tradwife” — shorthand for “traditional wife” — either.

“I like being able to do a hybrid,” she says. Chinese food delivery is a favorite, “but even when I get takeout, I will try to plate it beautifully,” says Meghan. She encourages others to strive for balance, not perfection, despite her show’s beautiful imagery. “The series is about doing what you can do,” she says, “and doing it with love.”

Receiving that kind of feedback from her friends, who have quietly supported her through the challenges of recent years, has been meaningful for Meghan. “You have to imagine my friends’ experience through the past few years,” she says. “They spend all this time with me at home and at their houses or out at dinners. For them to see who they know to be reflected onscreen, it brought them a lot of joy.”

Her private world in Montecito

The Montecito community, who have gotten to know her from school drop-offs and playdates with Archie and Lili, have become essential.

“We hosted a little camp because winter break was long!” she says with a laugh. “We had several days with different families at our home, and we were able to get to know the parents better, and all the kids could play.” Meghan and Harry set up obstacle courses and face painting. “It’s a dream,” she says. “But I also know that being part of a community means you put effort into it.”

In the process, Meghan says, Montecito has become protective of the Sussexes: “Once you know us, I think you want us to have the same normalcy as parents and for our children as they do, despite however unique our situation is.”

For Meghan, normal looks like nights out with Harry and pals. “We go to a lot of dinners, and not just in people’s homes or private rooms; we just go into the restaurant,” she says. “I really love that we can just have fun.”

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, photographed at home in Montecito, CA, in June 2024 with late dog, Guy.Jake Rosenberg/Courtesy Netflix

Her friendships with other moms have grown beyond school ties into deeper connections. “I have a couple of girlfriends up here; these are stay-at-home moms and working women with normal jobs, not in the public eye,” she explains. “We went from just connecting through our kids to having girls’ night out or doing Pilates together.”

One confidante recalls how they first connected when Archie and her daughter became fast friends at school. Meghan reached out with a voicemail inviting her to a playdate.

“You can see that as a unit,” the friend says of the Sussexes, “they’re all very connected.” After her son’s recent surgery, the friend recalls, Meghan sent a bouquet of balloons and a stuffed octopus from Archie and Lili, with a handwritten note that said, “We thought you could use a hug with eight arms.”

And when Meghan was invited to her low-key birthday party at home, she showed up despite not knowing anyone else and chatted with the other women about “mom stuff and life,” says the pal. “It was just fun and natural. She was very comfortable just chilling.”

Meghan embraces life in her community, whether solo or with friends. “I go to [yoga] classes that sometimes have 40 to 50 people in them and just walk in like, ‘Hi!’ ” she says, laughing. “Of course, at the beginning, that felt like a lot. By the way, I think anybody walking into a yoga class with 50 people and everyone looks up, it’s going to feel a little uncomfortable!” But now? “I love it. It’s the best. I had missed it.”

“I wanted to protect that safe haven,” she explains. “We’re a close-knit family, and I love those moments — putting Lili down for a nap, having lunch together, having sacred time together at the end of the day. Our kitchen is where Mama just cooks for the family, and with a crew of 80-plus people, that’s a lot of people to have in your house!”

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, photographed in Montecito, California, in June 2024.Jake Rosenberg/Courtesy Netflix

The show also gives Meghan a chance to put her kid-friendly meals to the test. “I’m up before my kids are, so I’m normally up at 6:30, and then I get them up and dressed for the day, and we go downstairs," she says. “I love making breakfast for my family.”

“My husband and Archie both love fried eggs,” she says. “There’s a lot of bacon around here. And then sometimes you don’t have time for all that, and you just put a frozen waffle in the toaster and call it a day. And there’s no shame in that either.”

Not surprisingly, Meghan identifies food as one of her love languages. “Even before I was a mom, I loved being able to nurture in that way,” she says. “Some of my favorite childhood moments are the meals that my mom would make. She’d make a lot of soul food. I remember she’d taken a Thai cooking class, so every week we had Thai BBQ chicken and spring rolls. I remember those flavors so well, and I want my kids to have those same formative memories of things that I cook. We call them Mama Meals, and those are the ones that I hope they come back to when they’re older, when they’re married, and they have their own kids, and they go, ‘Oh, let’s have a Mama Meal.’ And it’s the same roast chicken I’ve been making since they were little.”

Building a legacy

While she may not have filmed inside their home, she found ways to incorporate home life into the show, filming in their chicken coop, garden and orchard. “Archie did the [filming clapboard]! Sweet moments,” she says. “They would also come with my husband and visit me on-set, and I loved that my children were able to watch me working and see the balance of that and understand what Mama does and is working to create and share. It was really special because up until then, they hadn’t seen me at work.”

The crew member recalls how Archie and Lili would run up to Meghan on-set: “She was super attentive and doting on them. We would give them headphones so they could listen to audio.”

Adds Meghan: “I hope that when they get old enough, they feel really proud that they were part of the beginning of this with me.”

“Being able to have my own little girl, as I’ve spent so much of my life championing the rights of girls and women, and to be able to see this as a multigenerational story — Archie is of course included in that, my husband is of course included in that — but I love the heritage feeling of it and knowing this is something that I can create in front of my daughter and teach her what it’s like to be a working mom,” she says. “This is something that hopefully can be part of her legacy too.”

Prince Harry, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Princess Lilibet and Prince Archie.Archewell

Archewell

Reflecting on the past five years since their move, Meghan acknowledges how much is different. “Five years ago Archie was only 8 or 9 months old, so my life has changed so much,” she says, recounting her motherhood journey: welcoming a newborn, being pregnant while raising a toddler and now raising both Archie and Lili. “Anyone who has children will tell you, it’s a huge evolution as a woman during that time.”

As she looks ahead to the next five or even 10 years, she’s open to what’s to come. “Can you imagine? This is just the beginning. Life is full of surprises,” she says. “And my gosh, in 10 years, Archie will be driving!”

source: people.com