Get ready to sit through more episodes of flower arranging, lessons in baking and ruminations on reality: With Love, Meghan is back.
The first season of the Duchess of Sussex’s wellness-slash-reality TV venture was met with mixed reviews when it first aired last year – some praising the series’ laid-back tone, others tearing into how apparently tone-deaf it was.
Nevertheless, Netflix took a bet on the show; so much show that the first two seasons were filmed back-to-back. Now part two is out, and with it come new revelations and insights into what it is like to be a royal in Montecito.
As various guests pop in and out (and Harry and her children remain conspicuously absent), here’s what we learned.
Who said ‘I love you’ first
Along with various cooking and gardening tips, we do get some more information and hers and Prince Harry’s relationship. Apparently, the thing that sealed the deal for her was the pair’s camping trip to Botswana – which is where she says she knew she loved him.
“We met in Botswana and we camped for five days together. You really get to know each other when you're in a little tent together and it's like - what is that outside the tent?
“That's an elephant. Are we going to be safe? Yeah, you're safe. OK.”
We also find out that he said ‘I love you’ first, and that the pair eat a lot of roast chicken. Famously, he proposed while they were making a Sunday roast, and apparently, that chicken didn’t quite turn out how she expected.
“I was still having a lot of challenges with the conversion of celsius and fahrenheit. I made a horrible chicken that night. I mean, truly terrible," she said. "The point is you can make a terrible chicken and someone is still going to appreciate the thought."
Despite all that, we also find out that Harry isn’t one for lobster.
“No way,” her guest of the moment, chef José Andrés, says. "And you married him?" Indeed.
She was 'not well'… at one point
One of the most intriguing and coded things Meghan says involves a period when she was away from her children for three weeks, which she says left her “not well.” Though she didn’t say when this was, the speculation is that this is referring to when she and Harry were in the UK after the death of the Queen in 2022.
In Prince Harry’s memoir Spare, he wrote about this period in detail, saying that they were separated from the children for “longer than we’d ever been.” When they were reunited, “for days and days we couldn't stop hugging the children, couldn't let them out of our sight.”
The children were left in the care of Doria Ragland, Meghan’s mother, and had initially planned to travel to Manchester for a One World Summit on September 4. However, they ended up staying for longer after the Queen died on September 8, and stayed for the funeral on September 19.
Meghan has always wanted to be a mother
Meghan talks a lot about her children. We find out that she cooks breakfast for her kids, which is usually fried eggs and pancakes, every day – and sometimes makes them “surprise pancakes” with “ground flax seeds or some chia seeds in.”
We found out that her daughter Lilibet loves having “freckles” on her pancakes and is obsessed with the colour pink, and that both kids “really want a cat.” And that Archie is “the most tender, sweet child of all time.”
According to Meghan, she has always wanted to be a mother, too. She tells Tan France that she even bought herself a “real diaper bag” (a bag for holding nappies and baby products) as a child.
“I'd save my allowance, and I'd go to Kmart and buy a real diaper bag. I was like, I don't want the kid version of it, I don't want the pretend version. I always wanted to be a mom. I love it. It's better than I even expected.”
Her children use both American and British words
As befitting kids with parents from different countries, their vocab is a bit blended. In episode six, British chef Clare Smyth explains that she often has to think about the American names for foods like aubergine and coriander (eggplant and cilantro).
“My kids will say a little bit of both but never cooking terms, because I guess papa is not cooking as much,” Meghan replies. “They both say zebra instead of zee-bra.”
She doesn’t like baking
An odd revelation for a show that’s all about wellness and food. The Duchess does bake a few things over the course of the new season – she makes sourdough with Chrissy Teigen and McDonald’s style apple pies with Tan France.
“Let's get our puff pastry ready,” she says, while they make the pies. “We're going to use pre-made, good puff pastry as opposed to making our dough from scratch.”
Despite that, it turns out she’s not such a fan. “Usually, I don't like baking because it's so measured,” she tells chef Christina Tosi. She then adds that “I love the idea of being able to rethink baking to be just a little more spontaneous.”
Despite that, her As Ever range includes recipes for things like shortbread cookies, complete with pre-measured amounts.
She’s come a long way
One of the show’s more poignant moments involves an interaction between Meghan and her friend Chrissy Teigen, both of whom appeared on the gameshow Deal or No Deal when they were starting out.
In the episode with Chrissy Teigen, Meghan reminisces about her time working on the US version of the game show Deal Or No Deal, which she did in 2006 and 2007 before getting a role on Suits.
Teigen calls it a "really important, funny" chapter, and added "I remember being a back-up girl.”
"I remember us all standing in line to get our lashes put on,” Meghan adds. “I was just so happy to get health insurance... How far we have come."
She misses UK radio stations
An odd thing to miss about the UK, but there you go. Meghan tells Tan France that the thing she looks back on with most fondness is Magic Radio.
"Sorry to say this to you publicly, but that's such a grandma station," France replies.
"I'll be that grandma," Meghan says. Apparently, her new favourite station to listen to is called ‘Mom Jeans’ and plays soft rock.
With Love, Meghan Season 2 is streaming now on Netflix
