Meghan Markle’s Netflix series, "With Love, Meghan," has made it’s return, offering unprecedented access to Meghan’s personal life.. to a point. The show is filmed in a house close to the Duchess of Sussex’s Montecito home and gives a glimpse into Meghan’s family life.
However, this glimpse is notably more obscure than in the previous season, with neither Prince Harry nor their children, Archie and Lilibet, appearing at all. The show is very much an expression of what we can’t see just as much as what we can. A change that has left viewers hoping to catch Prince Harry, or as Meghan refers to him, “H,” disappointed.
Not only this, the royal family doesn’t get a mention, nor is there any indication of the rift that is currently in existence. In fact, there are no references to their former lives as working royals.
The first season featured a brief, minutes-long cameo from Prince Harry, an indication that this wasn’t a project on them but an opportunity for Meghan to shine on her own, in her own series.
The content is subsequently focused on her, allowing viewers to get to know the ‘real Meghan’. The episodes take us through her interactions with friends and celebrity guests, such as Chrissy Teigen, Tan France, and chefs Christina Tosi and José Andrés. The format itself does not call for the regular, in-person presence of her husband or children, and their inclusion would run the risk of moving too far away from the show’s premise.
Why is the family missing from the show?
This shift in on-screen family dynamics is deliberately rooted in the couple’s ongoing commitment to safeguarding their children’s privacy and a clear signal of their individual professional paths. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have consistently expressed their desire for their children to have a more normal upbringing, away from the intense media scrutiny they themselves have faced and that his mum faced when he was a child.
PR expert Rhea Freeman underlined this in an interview with The Express. She said: “I would be really surprised if Lilibet and Archie appeared in this series in any really meaningful way.
"And this isn’t a criticism, it’s based on what Harry and Meghan have shown us of the children online in recent years. If we look at Meghan’s Instagram, for example, we sometimes see the back of the children’s heads, and there have been images of them as tiny babies, but when there’s a shot shared showing the children’s faces, they are obscured with an emoji.
“With the criticism the couple have faced, and the regular mentions around security, not showing the children’s faces on TV makes perfect sense as a way to help keep them more protected and safe.”
They have made it clear that their children’s faces will not be a feature in their public projects. This is a boundary they have held firm since moving to California. We still learn a lot about them and how the family unit operates, in a setup that shows not all family members need to be on-screen for this to be conveyed.
Looking at the way the dynamic of Harry and Meghan has considerably shifted over the last couple of years paints a picture of the two of them growing as individuals together. While their initial "Harry & Meghan" documentary was a joint project that presented a unified front, their more recent projects have marked a shift, enabling them to pivot towards their own professional focuses. Prince Harry has been working on his own docuseries, "Polo," and has a separate project on the Invictus Games. On the other hand, Meghan is building her lifestyle brand, "As Ever," a project intrinsically tied to "With Love, Meghan."
The absence of Prince Harry and the children from "With Love, Meghan" is an acknowledgment that the show is a platform for Meghan's personal brand and that following their pursuits is the catalyst of what makes them stronger together. With early talks of the pair working on a feature length film, it seems as though they’re stronger than ever.
