The Duchess of Sussex has unveiled her latest Netflix offering, a Christmas special titled With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration, where she shares festive traditions, including the "sweet" British custom of pulling crackers, and reveals a personal touch: a love letter tucked inside the cracker she crafts for the Duke of Sussex.
In the 56-minute one-off episode, Meghan encourages viewers to make "every day" of December "special" as the year draws to a close, while also advising: "But don’t feel like you have to do it all." Her festive tips range from elevating wrapped presents with wax seals to allowing tree ornaments to "find their light."
The special premiered on the same day the King and Queen hosted a German state visit and just hours after the Princess of Wales released a personal letter ahead of her annual carol concert.
Kate’s letter highlighted how the Christmas season "invites us to remember the power of reaching out to one another with generosity of heart." This new programme follows the first two "critically-savaged" seasons of With Love, Meghan and comes after the Sussexes signed a new "watered down, first look deal" with the streaming giant in August.
Meghan, who has been estranged from her own father and has made various accusations against the Royal Family since stepping back from the monarchy, expresses her fondness for Christmas trees, advent calendars, and Yuletide wreaths. She believes trees allow one to "really encapsulate your family story, really feel the passage of time and the different chapters of your life through the ornaments."
The duchess is seen in matching festive red pyjamas with friends, creating handmade personalised crackers. For her four-year-old daughter, Princess Lilibet, she includes a lavender roll-on scent, while six-year-old Prince Archie receives a tiny toy burger and fries.
Harry's cracker, labelled "My Love" rather than "Harry," contains "a little love letter, a chocolate, a little hat." Meghan notes, "Lili really likes trying to be a grown-up lady at the moment," and of Archie, "Now I’m on to Archie and I’m doing burgers and he loves the colour red."
She reiterates her advice to "try to really embrace and lean into making every day of that month special as you’re wrapping up a year. But don’t feel like you have to do it all. Just embrace the special touches that bring you joy."
Recalling her first royal Christmas with the late Queen and the Royal Family at Sandringham in 2017, when she was engaged to Harry, Meghan shares her discovery of the "connected and sweet" tradition of crossing arms to pull Christmas crackers. "Living in the UK, it’s just such a part of … Christmas holidays, for sure," she tells American restaurateur Will Guidara.
She describes how the crackers typically contain "almost a fortune cookie-size joke or riddle, and something sweet." The Christmas cracker, invented by London confectioner Tom Smith in the 1840s, still holds a Royal Warrant for supplying the King.
The Sussexes joined the Windsors for Christmas in 2017 and 2018 but spent 2019 in Canada before their departure from senior royal duties in early 2020, and have not spent Christmas at Sandringham since.
The duchess also explains the concept of advent calendars as she places tiny gifts into Archie and Lili’s fabric pocket calendars. "All it’s really about is having a surprise and delight every single day for 24 days until you get to Christmas," she says, adding handwritten notes – "little findings" – for her children, such as "I love you because you are so kind" and "I love you because you’re so brave." Archie and Lili do not appear in the episode.
Harry makes a brief cameo near the end, walking into the kitchen where Meghan and visiting restaurateur Tom Colicchio are cooking. He greets Meghan with a kiss and remarks, "Hi guys. I smelled gumbo."
Meghan explains her mother, Doria Ragland, makes gumbo on Christmas Eve, always saving a fish-free portion for Harry. After tasting Meghan's version, Harry cheekily tells her it's "not so sure it’s as good as your mom’s, but it’s certainly close," eliciting a shocked, smiling reaction from Meghan.
Harry also encounters a dish made of ingredients he dislikes: Colicchio’s grandfather’s beet salad, featuring beets, black olives, fennel, anchovies, and pickled vegetables. As Meghan lists the ingredients, Harry’s eyes widen, and he declares, "Oh wow. That’s like the anti-salad."
He later adds, "That is amazing how there’s not many things in the world that I don’t like. They’re all in one bowl. I don’t know what would happen to me." The segment concludes with Meghan kissing Harry and thanking him for coming.
In the final scene, Harry briefly appears in a zip-top jumper as Meghan, dressed in an emerald green silk Galvan gown, welcomes the film crew for evening drinks in a festively decorated room, celebrating the wrap of filming.
Throughout the episode, Meghan offers further advice, including stringing lights so a tree is "lit from within and on the border, right on the outside," and ensuring ornaments "find their light." In a segment on festive wrapping, she recommends folding "outwardly" rather than "inwardly" and adding pre-prepared wax seals that match the wrapping paper for an "elevated" look.
For wrapping tricky items like wine bottles, she suggests the Japanese furoshiki method using a scarf, and for cuddly toys, she creates a rectangular paper cracker.
Meghan also shares food-related jokes, such as "Beets, beets, beets. Drop that beet," and "This feels like fondue. You’ve never heard anyone say fon-don’t." Guests include tennis player Naomi Osaka, for whom Meghan serves a green crudite platter and warmed cider.
In a craft barn, they decorate Santa cookie plates and mugs, where Meghan admits she is "painfully bad" at tennis, throwing, and catching.
For a visit from her best friends, Lindsay Jill Roth and Kelly Zajfen, Meghan wears red pyjamas embroidered with her name, as she cooks and serves a festive brunch. "I love the tradition of a Christmas morning brunch. I do it every year with my family," she says. While making Christmas wreaths, Roth compliments Meghan’s "loose" style, to which Meghan replies, "Well it’s just the beginning."
The episode, which opens with Meghan skipping through a Christmas tree farm, features her making gougeres with cacio e pepe, a festive cinnamon star, tiny quiches, and "Reindeer chow" – a sweet treat adapted from a childhood recipe. Meghan also stresses the importance of not striving for perfection, admitting, "I get so fussed about everything being perfect that you lose the magic that even happens in the mistakes."
She reiterates her love for Christmas trees, stating, "There’s just something about it that, in one area in your house, you’re able to really encapsulate your family story, really feel the passage of time and the different chapters of your life through the ornaments.
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