.jpg)
3 hours ago
1
Why Meghan Markle Is the “Happiest” She’s Ever Been in Marriage With Prince Harry
Meghan Markle didn't love the idea of transforming her home into a TV set.
That's why the Duchess of Sussex opted not to film her Netflix show With Love, Meghan—which premiered in March and has already been renewed for a second season—in her real-life residence. Instead, she films in a nearby home in Montecito, Calif., that's owned by her neighbors.
"When people say, ‘Why didn’t you [film in] your house?’ It's like, well, my kids are coming home for their nap, and 80 people in the kitchen isn’t really the childhood memory I would love for them to have,” Meghan explained at the Time100 Summit in New York on April 23. "We were really fortunate to find something close by.”
Meghan, who shares children Archie, 5, and Lilibet, 3, with husband Prince Harry, added that while she prefers not to film in her own home, her crew of 80 people helps her to feel like she is "in conversation" with her audience when filming.
"I didn't necessarily want to do [a typical cooking show], and I didn't want a reality show," she shared of her process in ideating what the show would look like, "So the only way to feel as though you were still in conversation with me, I felt, was I had to be talking to the people in the room with me, and that was the crew."
And as Meghan told TIME CEO Jessica Sibley, she's doing better than ever, noting that the show and the creativity involved "really ignites my joy."
Jake Rosenberg/Netflix
Meghan attributed much of her happiness not just to her successful TV and business ventures, but to her loving husband and children.
“I'm the happiest I've ever been,” the As Ever founder said. "To have a husband and a partner who is so supportive and to have healthy kids that are so joyful in the freeness of their life and the safety in their life that we create for them. Of all the things that have happened in my life, I never would have imagined getting here."
For more on With Love, Meghan, read on.
Jake Rosenberg/Netflix © 2025
On How Meghan Markle Started Making Preserves
While fans know Meghan Markle loves a good jam, she revealed she really got into the preserve-making process after she and her husband Prince Harry moved into their home in Montecito, Calif.
"These vines were here actually when we moved in," she said in the second episode of With Love, Meghan while picking berries. "This is sort of what inspired my jam and preserve-making."
As for Meghan's favorite preserve?
"My grandmother used to make apple butter, so I like that because it’s connected to something sentimental," the Duchess of Sussex shared, noting her kids Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet now get to see her carry on the tradition. "But I think my kids will now connect this to coming home from school and smelling sweetness that wafts through the house when you are slow-cooking fruit. 'There she is. Oh, Mom’s making some preserves again.'"
In fact, Meghan said Lili has even tried her hand at preserve-making.
"Lili and I actually made this batch together," she said while serving strawberry preserve in episode five. "She picked all those berries with me, and then she's like, 'No no, mama. I'll do it.' And she wants to try. She's like, 'I'll stir it. I'll mash it.' Great. And then you keep the hot stuff away and go ahead and pour it in. But she's proud. That part feels good."
Courtesy of Netflix © 2025
On Prince Harry's Cooking Skills
However, it appears Harry, who makes a cameo on the show, has some culinary skills too.
"H is a great cook," Meghan shared in episode five, calling her husband by his nickname. "He makes really great breakfast."
The duchess also offered some insight into how the Duke of Sussex likes to season his food.
"I have a family, a husband, who no matter what meal is put in front of him, before he tastes it, puts salt on," Meghan revealed in the second episode, adding she will "try to under-salt" as a result.
Justin Coit/Netflix © 2025
On Her Fashion
When it comes to her fashion, Meghan said she prefers a "high-low" style that involves mixing luxurious with less expensive pieces.
The former Suits star broke down her outfit during episode two in which she hosted Mindy Kaling for a tea party, sharing she wore Zara pants, a Loro Piana top and a Jenni Kayne sweater.
Netflix
On Some of Her Favorite Things
While the series showcases Meghan's love of hosting, cooking, gardening and decorating, she also sheds light on some of her other interests.
For instance, in one episode, she hosts a game night for her friends.
"We have all started to learn mahjong together in the past few months," she said. "Mahjong started in China in the 1800s, and we play a version called American mahjong. What I’ve come to really love about mahjong, the game itself is really fun, but what was so great was the idea of learning something new with your friends together and then recognizing that the mahjong becomes the background of the expansion of friendship."
In another episode, her friend, Tatcha founder Vicky Tsai, said Meghan also likes pickleball while the duchess herself revealed some of her favorite genres of music.
"I listen to a lot of '70s soft rock and a lot of yacht rock and a lot of Soul," Meghan said in episode five, "and then French dinner party music."
And when it come to food, she said she has a "very, very high tolerance" for spice.
"Even at a young age, we didn’t have a lot, but we traveled," she said. "My mom was a travel agent. We would just try so many different flavors and different places. My mom would make gumbo, and Soul food has a lot of flavor and a lot of kick to it. I crave that, and I always gravitate to that level of heat. So I am ushering my family into my palate, but I love it."
Jenna Peffley/Netflix © 2025Jenna Peffley/Netflix © 2025
On Her Favorite Fast Food Restaurants as a Kid
During episode two, Meghan recalled how she "grew up with a lot of fast food and and also a lot of TV tray dinners."
"It feels like such a different time," she remembered in episode two, "but that was so normal with the microwavable kids’ meals that had compartmentalized [sections]...I grew up with that, watching Jeopardy! and having a lot of fast food."
Her favorites at the time?
"I used to eat a lot of Pollo Loco, Taco Bell—extra hot sauce on the Mexican pizza," Meghan said, plus, "Jack in the Box because my mom loved their tacos."
Courtesy of Netflix © 2025
On Her Participation in the Girl Scouts
However, these weren't the only memories she shared from her childhood. Meghan also spoke about her time in the Girl Scouts.
"I was a Girl Scout for so many years," she said on episode four. "I started as a Daisy, which is when you’re 5 or 6, and I sold a lot of cookies. My mom was troop leader—Troop 949."
Courtesy of Netflix © 2025
On Her Sussex Title
After stepping back as working members of the royal family in 2020, Harry and Meghan continued to keep their Duke and Duchess of Sussex titles.
And in With Love, Meghan, she explained why the Sussex name is so meaningful to her.
"It’s so funny too that you keep saying Meghan Markle," Meghan told Mindy in episode two. "You know I’m Sussex now. You have kids and you go, 'No, I share my name with my children.' I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me, but it just means so much to say, ‘This is our family name. Our little family name.'"
Netflix
On Her Kids
Speaking of Archie and Lili, Meghan offered a few insights into their world in the series.
The mother of two revealed her kids share her love of gardening, noting they have their own tools and that "they take gardening seriously." She also spoke about her daughter's love of pink and her clean-up song.
"Clean as you go. Lili has made a song out of it," Meghan said in episode five. "'Clean as you go. Clean, clean, clean, clean, clean as you go.'"
In addition, Meghan talked about making sun tea with Archie and the time he went fishing and caught a trout. She also detailed her love of cooking with her children.
"It’s so much a part of what I want them to learn and have these great formative memories of being there with me," she said in episode five. "'Oh mama used to make this.'"
Jake Rosenberg/Netflix © 2025
On Her First Jobs
Long before she was an actress or a duchess, Meghan had her first job at an ice cream shop.
"I was 13 years old," she remembered during episode five of With Love, Meghan, "and my first job was at Humphrey Yogart."
Later on, Meghan helped make doughnuts.
"Doughnuts in general just remind me of my childhood," she said in episode three. "I once had a job at a little doughnut shop called Lil Orbits Donuts. They made tiny, tiny not doughnut holes, little tiny mini doughnuts they would sell at craft venues. I helped."
And when she was in college, Meghan worked at a bar in Chicago.
"Doing two majors and then like, ‘I’ll go to Chicago and I’ll just go and make extra money. And I’ll be the coat-check girl,'" the Northwestern University alum said in episode seven. "And they’re like, ‘Oh no, you can actually be a cocktail waitress.'"
But after she was confused by a customer's martini order, Meghan added, she said her boss told her, "'Let's have you go back to being a coat-check girl.'"
Plus, Meghan revealed in episode seven that she taught gift-wrapping classes when she was starting off as an actress.
Courtesy of Netflix © 2025
On Her Time in Argentina
In episode four—in which Meghan hosts a get-together with Nacho Figueras' wife Delfina Blaquier—she reflects on her time abroad.
"When I lived in Argentina, I think the reason I loved it so much is it reminded me of California in a lot of ways where you have the mountains, and you have just this joy of life and the joy of being outside," the duchess said. "I was only there for a few months interning at the U.S. embassy, but I loved it."
Ian Watson/USA Network/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images
On When She Moved to Toronto for Suits
Meghan played Rachel Zane on Suits from 2011 to 2018, and she'll never forget when she found out she was moving to Toronto for the role.
"You find out it gets picked up. It’s in Toronto. OK, what’s that mean?" she said on episode two. "OK, one season in Toronto. Amazing. Two seasons. OK, is my life gonna be now in this other place? Now, thankfully, I love Canada, and I always tried to invite the cast over or people you meet at the dog park with your dog."
In fact, her costar Abigail Spencer appears in one of the With Love, Meghan episodes.
On Her Beloved Dog Guy
In January, Meghan announced her beloved dog, Guy, passed away.
The adorable beagle made several appearances throughout the Netflix series, and Meghan had opened up about her love for him.
“I would do anything for Guy, and he knows it,” she said in episode four. “He can have whatever he wants because he is whatever kind of guy you need him to be depending on the day—my sweet guy, my silly guy, my saucy little guy, always my spoiled guy.”
And he was always by her side.
“Guy’s just always there,” she added in episode five. “He’s my shadow, and he’s been with me for a very, very, very long time. Guy’s been with me since I lived in Toronto. He was found in the woods in Kentucky, and he’s since moved with me to the U.K., back to Canada, to California. So yeah, Guy has a lot of stories to tell.”
Following the final episode, Meghan noted that the series is "in loving memory of Guy."
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
English (US)