The Duchess of Sussex’s long-awaited lifestyle series finally dropped on Netflix on Tuesday.
Meghan shared her excitement in the run-up to With Love, Meghan‘s premiere, as she surprised fans at a special screening in New York on Monday.
A whole host of the Duchess’ closest-friends and celebrity guests joined her at a glamorous estate in California to exchange cooking, gardening and hosting tips – including fellow Suits star Abigail Spencer, her makeup artist Daniel Martin and Office actor Mindy Kaling.
Meghan’s husband, Prince Harry, also made a brief cameo during the show.
The eight-episode series was originally meant to drop on the streaming giant in January but the show was delayed until 4 March amid the LA wildfires, with Meghan saying in a statement that she wanted to “focus on the needs of those impacted”.
The Duchess shared a fascinating insight into her personal life throughout With Love, Meghan. Here are the biggest revelations from the show…
Episode one – Hello, Honey!
Meghan Markle kicks off her show with a visit from her good friend and makeup artist Daniel Martin. The pair meet to bake cakes, make beeswax candles and ‘cosy’ pasta – with the Duchess revealing several details about her life along the way.
The highlights include her love of beekeeping, something that she and her father-in-law King Charles share, as well as the main thing that she does to make every house guest feel welcome when staying at her home – homemade bath salts.
She also revealed that her friend Daniel is called “Uncle Daniel” by her children, Archie and Lilibet, and that he has been there for “before, during and after” major events of her life, alluding to her time with the royal family. However, despite their long friendship, the episode is full of revelations – including how Meghan learned that Daniel is actually left handed!
The pair met when Meghan starred in Suits, and she personally reached out looking for a makeup artist before she even had a publicist. The pair have since become very close, with Daniel even accompanying Meghan for the cake tasting ahead of her royal wedding to Prince Harry, where the pair opted for a lemon and elderflower taste.
The mum-of-two also shared that she loved making popcorn with her children, and will often make tasty, healthy pasta for their dinner which she’ll then put in their lunchboxes for the next day. Despite her love of cooking, she also revealed that baking isn’t her favourite thing to do – but made a cake anyway thanks to her friend’s love of sweet treats.
Watch here…
Episode two – Welcome to the Party
Meghan invites Office star Mindy Kaling over to share her tips and tricks to really elevate your children’s party – from colourful intricate balloon arches, to rainbow fruit platters and botanical-themed gift bags.
© NetflixChatting about the soft launch of her then-called American Riviera Orchard brand last year, the Duchess revealed the numbers on the 50 jars caused some friction: “It was not a ranking, it was just ‘let me share them’ and then people started to take it very personally.”
She added: “I did save one of 50 for my mom of course, felt like the right thing to do.
“And then I just thought, anyone who got one of those 50 jars that I was making on my stove in my actual kitchen at my house, I hope they all felt like ‘I want to share this with you’.”
Meghan shares she has happy memories of her grandmother making apple butter, and how she hopes that her own jam-making will remind Archie and Lilibet of coming home from school. “There she is, oh mom’s making some preserves again,” she jokes.
They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day and it certainly seems that way in the Sussex household.
© Netflix“I wake up every morning and take a lot of pride in making breakfast for my family,” Meghan says. “Mornings are fast. Gotta get the kids to school.”
“I find when I’m cooking bacon, my kitchen very immediately becomes full of husband and three dogs,” she quips.
© NetflixAs the Duchess puts together some children’s party bags, adding in mini-gardening tools, she reveals Archie and Lilibet’s love of gardening: “Our kids have real sets, they take it very seriously.”
Talking about her sense of style, Meghan reveals she likes “high-low,” pointing out her high street trousers from Zara, her Lora Piana knitwear and her Jenni Kayne sweater.
Episode three – Two kids from LA
In episode three, Meghan welcomed Los Angeles native, chef Roy Choi, into her kitchen to make tempura fried chicken, kimchi and pickled vegetables. As she prepared for Roy’s arrival, Meghan whipped up some donuts, which she said reminded her of her childhood, as she used to work in a donut shop as a kid.
© NetflixWhen Roy joined her for their day of cooking, the pair reminisced about growing up in LA and the Duchess revealed her lifelong love of gardening and growing vegetables, giving viewers a glimpse into her stunning back garden, which overlooks the city’s mountains.
Meghan’s love of fruit and vegetables is something she’s passed on to her children, Archie and Lilibet, who are both big fans of crudités platters. The Duchess also spoke about her and Harry’s shared love of fried chicken.
While it’s safe to say Meghan’s fridge was fully stocked with fresh ingredients, including fruit presumably hand-picked from her garden, the Duchess is partial to a tipple. A sneak peek into her fridge showed bottles of beer and a bottle of Domaines Ott Château Romassan Rosé wine. At the end of the episode, she and Roy celebrated their culinary creations by popping a bottle of Taittinger.
Episode four – Love Is In The Details
Episode four of the show saw Meghan with her close friend Delfina ‘Defi’ Figueras, Nacho Figueras’ wife. The pair prepare focaccia, pasta salad and a charcuterie board. Kicking off the episode Meghan revealed the sweet family ritual she has passed down to her children Archie and Lilibet, making sun tea. Meghan commented as a kid, she used to sit and wait for the water to “change colour in the sunshine, which funny enough is what Archie does.”
Meghan sent Delphi home with the hibiscus teabags she made, so she could make it with her own children.
The episode also showed a beautiful childhood photo of Meghan looking a lot like her daughter Lilibet. The photo was from Meghan’s days in the girl scouts where she first learned of her love of the outdoors, her mum Doria was her group leader.
© NetflixMeghan’s “beloved” dog Guy also features in the episode, Meghan’s love of her companion is undeniable and she prepared him special peanut butter dog biscuits, which were mainly a gift for Delphi’s dog Nina “who guy is a fan of.”
She added: “I would do anything for Guy, he knows it it. He can do whatever he wants because he will be whatever guy you need depending on the day. My sweet guy my silly guy my saucy little guy, always my spoiled guy. He’s also my old guy”
The video also saw Meghan using the yellow and green lemon squeezer she used to make Archie’s birthday cake.
Meghan appears to make a reference to her royal training, Delfi commenting “That’s a strong handshake” to which Meghan remarked: “Of course it is.” Delfi also referred to Meghan as ‘M’ like ‘H’.
Episode five – Surprise and Delight
In episode five, Meghan invited her pals Abigail Spencer and Kelly McKee Zajfen over for a “ladies lunch” but not before stopping off at a flower market close to her $29 million home for some blooms for the garden table.
The Duchess of Sussex assembled flowers impeccably, as if she had worked at a florist in a former life, but she later revealed her first ever job was, in fact, at Humphrey Yogart, a frozen yoghurt store in LA.
Tales of wholesome days with her children were peppered throughout the 35-minute episode, like how Prince Archie caught two trout on a fishing trip in summer then Meghan had “fun” salt baking the fish with her kids. And this is the same dish she whips up in the show, with the help of her friends.
Starters were crudites, which the Duchess beautifully presented, even topped with edible flowers. She then explained: “We have a veggie platter every day at our house.”
© NetflixTheir kitchen appears to be the heart of the home, with Meghan getting the kids involved.
“I want them to have great formative memories of being there with me [cooking],” she told her besties.
Princess Lilibet joins in with jam-making too and for a brief moment a family snap of Lilibet with a basket of strawberries popped up on screen.
“Lili and I actually made this batch together,” the Duchess explained as served up her strawberry preserve for dessert.
“She picked berries with me, saying: ‘No, no mama I’ll do it'”. “She’s proud,” Meghan added.
As well as cooking, the Suits actress likes to get her children involved with tidying up time, so much so that little Lili has her own song for cleaning. “Clean as you go,” Meghan sang to the camera with a big smile on her face.
Episode six – The Juice is Worth The Squeeze
As Meghan prepared for a game night with her three close friends, she whipped up some homemade margaritas and Mexican food with help from Chef Ramon Velazquez. “I love Mexican food, I’m from LA. It’s such a huge part of our culture and our understanding of growing up in such a diverse area,” she explained.
Her menu included plantain chips, halibut ceviche and chicken tinga. Speaking of the former, which she struggled to peel, she referred to her protectiveness over her two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. “That is a protected plantain. Like a mama’s grip on a baby. Don’t you go there,” joked Meghan.
One of the key ingredients in the food was citrus, which the Duchess of Sussex admitted was abundant at her family home with Prince Harry in Montecito. The area around the Chateau of Riven Rock “has a lot of fruit trees,” she said, adding: “I grew up nothing like this.”
To help preserve the abundance of citrus fruits such as blood oranges and limes – which she uses in her recipes, gives to friends and donates to food banks – her mother Doria Ragland gifted Harry and Meghan a food dehydrator for Christmas.
Episode seven – Elevating the Everyday
Episode seven sees Meghan spending time with her close friend Vicky Tsai, founder of Tatcha Beauty – one of her favourite skincare brands that she memorably gifted to her neighbour Oprah Winfrey at Christmas.
During a conversation with Vicky, Meghan gave a rare insight into her life before she landed her first major role in Suits.
“I had a job when I was in college working in a bar in Chicago,” Meghan revealed of her university days when she was doing two majors in Theater and International Studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
“I’ll just go and make extra money and I’ll be the coat check girl,” she said of her intentions, but was actually put behind the bar making cocktails. After failing to listen to orders correctly, the Duchess was put back behind the counter checking coats.
The pair went on to make dumplings together, using Vicky’s recipe passed down from her mother.
When whipping up a chili oil to serve alongside dumplings, Meghan touched on her childhood spent with her mother, Doria. “Even at a young age, we didn’t have a lot, but we traveled. My mom was a travel agent.”
Sharing a previously unseen photograph from her childhood during a mother-daughter vacation, Meghan revealed her love of spicy food came from her early travels.
“We would just try so many different flavours in different places. My mom would make gumbo and soul food that has a lot of flavour and a lot of kick to it. I crave that. And I always gravitate to that level of heat.”
Episode eight – Feels Like Home
Prince Harry makes an appearance in his wife Meghan Markle’s Netflix series, With Love, Meghan in the eighth and final episode.
The Duke of Sussex arrives at the al fresco dinner party Meghan hosts for their family and friends, immediately putting an arm around his wife and kissing her hello. After looking at the display of food the Duchess had laid out for guests, and accepting a glass of bubbles, he says sweetly: “You did great, I love it.”
Meghan’s mother Doria also joins in on the fun and was seen saying hello to guests and tucking into the food. Meghan thanks her closest friends and family for supporting her new venture to which Harry proudly stated: “To you,” raising a glass to his wife.
© NetflixThough we don’t get to see their two children, Prince Achie and Princess Lilibet, in the show, we get an insight into their personality when Meghan jokes that the names of the chickens they look after, who roam about in Archie’s Chick-In, change from day to day.
“The chickens names change daily depending on how the kids are feeling. This is either Jill or Phil,” she said with a laugh.
Earlier in the episode, Meghan talked viewers through putting on dinner party for guests and welcomed chef Alice Waters into the kitchen to grab her extra tricks and tips.
But first, Meghan teaches a masterclass on gift wrapping, revealing: “I used to teach gift wrapping while auditioning for acting gigs, and everything you learn is going to stay with you.”
Alice and Meghan go onto discuss the importance of health and the Duchess candidly admits that, growing up on a low-income, her family would resort to fast food.
“It’s great on a budget, but it costs so much in the long run.”
The two chefs head out into the garden to grab some fresh lettuce, before whipping up a delicious looking quiche using freshly laid eggs, and some homemade cookies for the guests.
At the end of the episode, a heartfelt dedication to their late dog, Guy, is shown on the screen: “In loving memory of Guy.”
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