A picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes, and the Duchess of Sussex's recent picture spoke volumes about her and Prince Harry. Posting on her As Ever Instagram account on September 24, Meghan shared a new photo that not only showcased her enviable backyard, but subtly paid homage to their love story.
The dreamy photo captures a perfectly blue Montecito sky and shows the Duchess standing with her dogs, black Labrador Pula and beagle Mia, with two sloping palm trees reaching up in the backdrop.
While the post was captioned, “Crisp air, blue skies and the sweetest moments”, it’s what wasn’t said that offers the sweetest significance as the palm trees are a symbol.
The Duchess revealed in a 2022 interview with The Cut that those palm trees mean something special to her and Prince Harry, and were something they noticed immediately when they first viewed their Montecito home.
She told the outlet, "One of the first things my husband saw when we walked around the house was those two palm trees. See how they’re connected at the bottom? He goes, 'My love, it’s us.'"
She added that the palm tree metaphor has become well-known in their household, even being noted by their eldest child, Prince Archie.
"And now every day when Archie goes by, he says, ‘Hi, Momma. Hi, Papa'," Meghan explained.
"If Prince Archie has grown-up knowing the story of the two palm trees, I'd be surprised if Princess Lilibet isn't aware of it too. It's quite the Sussex family symbol," says woman&home's Royal Editor, Emma Shacklock. "They clearly find and appreciate the meaning in small things. We all know that the royals' wedding bouquets are put together with flowers that have special significance and this takes things another step further for Harry and Meghan."
The palm trees would continue to be represented in their ventures. Meghan made a palm tree a focal design of the As Ever brand's logo. In the As Ever crest, the palm tree is flanked by two hummingbirds - another symbol with special meaning.
In his 2023 memoir, Spare, Harry wrote about finding a hummingbird in his house shortly after his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, passed away.
"I had a devil of a time guiding it out, and the thought occurred that maybe we should start shutting the doors, despite those heavenly ocean breezes," he wrote. "Then a mate said: Could be a sign, you know?"
"Visitors, as it were. Aztecs thought them reincarnated warriors. Spanish explorers called them 'resurrection birds.'"
