Meghan Markle has discreetly reflected on the time she and Prince Harry were separated from their children for nearly three weeks following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
The couple had been in the UK by coincidence when the Queen passed away at Balmoral, Scotland. They had arrived on Saturday, 3 September, for what was planned to be a short trip visiting several charities. On the 5th, they attended the One World Summit in Manchester, and a day later travelled to Germany for the Invictus Games Dusseldorf 2023 One Year To Go event. On 8 September, as they prepared to attend the WellChild Awards in London before returning to Los Angeles, news broke that the Queen had died.
Harry and Meghan remained in the UK until the state funeral on 19 September, leaving them apart from their children for 17 days.
In episode three of her lifestyle show With Love, Meghan, the Duchess spoke with British-American fashion designer Tan France about parenthood and the challenges of separation from their children.
“I might die without my kids, I need my boys. If I don’t see them for a couple of days. I feel like my heart is broken,” Tan told Meghan, who sympathised with him.
“Oh, I know,” she replied, before adding: “The longest I went without being around our kids was almost three weeks. I was…(pauses) not well.”
Whilst Meghan didn’t directly reveal the absence happened at the time of the late Queen’s funeral, Prince Harry has spoken about the separation before. The duke described in his memoir Spare that the days after the Queen’s death were “difficult”, and wrote about how he and Meghan were separated from Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet for “longer than we’d ever been”.
He then details that when they reunited in California “for days and days we couldn’t stop hugging the children, couldn’t let them out of our sight”.
Meghan also shared lighter insights into family life, happily discussing her children’s favourite colours, personalities, and morning routines.
“I make hot breakfast most mornings, for my kids and my husband,” she said. “Fried eggs, pancakes, but I like to do surprise pancakes for the kids so I always put some ground flaxseed, or some chia seeds in, and Lily will ask me, ‘can I have my chia seeds? I want it to have freckles’.”
She added: “One thing I do with my kids, that takes a bit more time, I like the presentation (of food) for them. Archie will say, ‘Oh mama, that looks beautiful’.”
