Meghan, Duchess of Sussex has teamed up with old friend Ellen DeGeneres for a surprise appearance on her daytime talk show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
News of Meghan’s appearance dropped the day before the episode aired in the US, leaving royal watchers eager to hear what the duchess had to say.
With topics including her acting days, dating Prince Harry and life with their two children, Archie and Lilibet, the chat promised to be full of compelling new details.
Promo clips showed the 40-year-old royal even name drop a few other members of the monarchy; Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank.
But what did she say about them? Read on to find out all the most exciting revelations from her interview with Ellen.
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Harry and Meghan snuck into a Halloween party when they were dating
Before they ever made their relationship public, Meghan and Harry donned wild costumes to sneak into a Halloween party without being recognised.
And the royal couple weren’t alone; Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank were with them.
“He came to see me in Toronto, and our friends and his cousin Eugenie and now her husband Jack, they came as well, and the four of us snuck out in Halloween costumes, just to have one fun night on the town before it was out in the world that we were a couple,” Meghan reminisced.
“It was a post-apocalyptic theme, so we had all this bizarre costuming on, and we were able to just sort of have one final, fun night out.”
Meghan revealed that she, Harry, Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank had a night out on the town for Halloween 2017.
(The Ellen DeGeneres Show)Archie and Lilibet weren’t fans of Halloween in the US
Meghan revealed that she, Harry and their children spent Halloween 2021 at home and even saw Ellen and her wife, Portia de Rossi, on the holiday.
But the mum-of-two confessed the kids weren’t thrilled about their costumes, saying: “We wanted to do something fun for the kids, and then the kids were just not into it at all.
“Archie was a dinosaur for maybe five minutes. She [Lilibet] was a little skunk, like Flower from Bambi.”
Ellen chimed in that Harry finally talked Archie into donning his dinosaur head, but it didn’t last long.
A new photo of Archie was also shared during the chat, showing the little royal standing in gumboots with a group of chickens – presumably in the garden at Harry and Meghan’s home.
Meghan shared this new photo of Archie during the interview.
(The Ellen DeGeneres Show via The Duke and Duchess of Sussex)What her family life at home with Harry, Archie and Lilibet looks like
In a promo clip for the highly-anticipated interview, Meghan told Ellen that she and Harry are “just happy” with their new life in Montecito, California, before adding that Lilbet is currently teething and she will do “anything to relieve that”.
“Tequila, anything,” Ellen joked, to which Meghan replied: “That’s Auntie Ellen for you.”
She also revealed her plans for Thanksgiving, which is coming up soon in the US.
“I love to cook, and will be home and just sort of relax and settle in. It’s our second Thanksgiving at home in California,” Meghan says.
Meghan continues to push for important causes
During the interview, Meghan spoke about how vital it is that she continue working for paid family leave in the US.
“I will do everything I can to make sure that we can implement that for people,” she said, adding that the US is “the only country in the entire world that does not have a paid federal family leave program”.
It’s a cause close to her heart and one she’s been campaigning for over the last few months, but it’s not the only one.
During her interview, Meghan was introduced to single mum-of-two Brittany Starks, who runs a Tennessee-based non-profit.
The former hairdressed braids kids hair for free and founded the organisation A Twist of Greatness, which helps disadvantaged kids by providing books and clothes.
Inspired by Starks’ story, Meghan donated a whopping $20,000 to A Twist of Greatness to keep the incredible organisation going.
On being a best-selling author
Speaking about her New York Times bestselling children’s book The Bench, Meghan revealed that it came from very humble beginnings.
“I wrote this originally just as a poem for my husband on Father’s Day and it was about my observation of him, and him being a dad, which is the most beautiful thing to watch,” Meghan said.
“I made sure that all of those pieces of it, especially the softer side of masculinity, the softer side of fatherhood, I tried to include it in there, and made sure everyone could see themselves in these pages.
“Because I remember as a little girl, you didn’t always see someone that looked like you and I thought that was really important to have everyone story feel like it was unfolding on those pages for them.”
The mum-of-two added that Archie is a big fan of the book, and he even spotted their two family dogs illustrated on one of the first pages.
But The Bench wasn’t the only one of Meghan’s books that was mentioned – the duchess also touched on the first one she ever wrote, A Face without Freckles… Is a Night Without Stars, which she penned in the eighth grade around the age of 10 or 11 as part of a school assignment.
She submitted it to the Copyright Office at the US Library of Congress in 1996 and it even featured a self-described “terrible little drawing” of herself with her curly hair.
Meghan’s celebrity hair idol
Pre-teen Meghan grew up in the 1990s and turns out she had a love for a certain Hollywood actress’ iconic tresses.
“I was obsessed with Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral and all I wanted was that perfect little curly haircut,” the Duchess of Sussex confessed.
“So I asked my mum, went to the hairdresser and got it, and on that first day I was like ‘This is amazing, I look like Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
“And then it was as though everyone forgot to tell me ‘You have ethnic hair, you are not going to look like Andie MacDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral,’ and that’s what it ended up evolving into,” she said, speaking of her curly locks back when she was a child.
“I’d go to school and they said I looked like Krusty the Klown from The Simpsons! It was a real bummer.”
In her younger years, Meghan wanted her hair to be like Andie MacDowell’s in Four Weddings and a Funeral.
(MGM)How life has changed since her acting days
Meghan reminisced on her time as an actress, revealing that she used to drive an old car and its driver’s side door simply wouldn’t open – so she had to find another way to get in.
“I would park in the back of the parking lot and open the trunk, then climb in and pull it shut behind me and crawl over all my seats to get out,” she laughed in the promo clip.
“That’s how I would come to and fro.”
But the duchess is crearly still a great performer, as she proved when she joined in on one of Ellen’s trademark pranks.
She headed out onto the Warner Bros. lot with an earpiece in and allowed Ellen to instruct her on what to say and do as she chatted with vendors outside.
See the hilarious results in the clip below.
