 (1).png)
1 week ago
5
Meghan Markle Shares Rare Video of Princess Lilibet With BFF Serena Williams
Meghan Markle is royally grateful to keep learning.
The Duchess of Sussex, who officially launched her new lifestyle brand As Ever last month, revealed the lessons she has learned since beginning her new venture—including the knowledge she has gained while rebranding the company, which was originally named American Riviera Orchard when she announced it in March 2024.
“There are tons of twists and turns—even with the name,” Meghan told People in an interview published March 3. “I was figuring it out in real time.”
But while the 43-year-old was earning her business acumen—which included navigating trademark protests from similarly-named companies and refining her product line—she admits she was grateful for her fans’ support.
“I appreciate everyone who gave me the grace to make mistakes and figure it out,” she continued, “and also to be forgiving with myself through that. It’s a learning curve."
And Meghan—who shares son Archie, 5, and daughter Lilibet, 3, with husband Prince Harry, 40—has made it a habit to be open about the journey she’s taken to land on the As Ever name.
"Last year, I had thought, 'American Riviera, that sounds like such a great name,'” she shared in a Feb. 17 video to the company’s newly-launched Instagram page. “It’s my neighborhood. It’s a nickname for Santa Barbara, but it limited me to things that were just manufactured and grown in this area."
Referencing her former blog The Tig, which she discontinued in 2017 upon her engagement to Prince Harry, she added, "As Ever essentially means as it’s always been, and if you’ve followed me since 2014 with The Tig, you know I’ve always loved cooking and crafting and gardening—this is what I do."
Alberto Rodriguez/Variety via Getty Images
But while Meghan has adapted when it comes to the moniker of her business ventures, it’s not the only area of her life where she’s grown to appreciate her name. In fact, the Suits alum is extremely passionate about the Sussex family name she received after tying the knot with Harry in 2018.
“It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognized how meaningful that would be to me until we had children,” she explained to People in her rare interview. “I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together. It means a lot to me.”
Of the family name, she cherishes that it is “part of our love story."
Read on to see what else Meghan and Harry have said about their family and parenthood.
Getty Images
Uncle Harry
"I don't think you can force these things. It will happen when it's gonna happen," he told Sky News back in 2015 when asked if the birth of his niece Princess Charlotte made him think about settling down. "Of course, I would love to have kids right now, but there's a process that one has to go through."
Alex Trautwig/MLB via Getty Images
Planning for Her Little One
Years ago, Meghan even made a purchase with her future daughter in mind. "I've always coveted the Cartier French Tank watch. When I found out Suits had been picked up for our third season—which, at the time, felt like such a milestone—I totally splurged and bought the two-tone version," she recalled to Hello! in 2015. "I had it engraved on the back, 'To M.M. From M.M.' and I plan to give it to my daughter one day."
Getty Images
Waiting for That Special Someone
Fatherhood is a subject that—along with marriage—has long trailed Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana's younger son. "There have been moments through life, especially when we do a tour abroad, when I think, 'I'd love to have kids now'... And then there are other times when I bury my head in the sand going, 'All right, don't need kids!' There's no rush. I tell you what: There's been times I've been put off having children," he admitted to People back in May 2016, shortly before meeting his future wife.
REX/Shutterstock
Looking Towards the Future
In 2017, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed their engagement and sat for their first joint interview. Naturally, the topic of future kids came up. "Of course. You know, I think you know one step at a time, and hopefully, we'll start a family in the near future," Prince Harry said at the time with Meghan smiling beside him.
Facundo Arrizabalaga/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Joys of Motherhood
"It's magic," Meghan said about becoming a mum following Archie's birth. "It's pretty amazing and, I mean, I have the two best guys in the world, so I'm really happy."
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Proud Pops
Following Archie's birth in May 2019, Harry gushed, "It's been the most amazing experience I can ever possibly imagine. How any woman does what they do is beyond comprehension but we're both absolutely thrilled and so grateful for all the love and support from everybody out there. It's been amazing so we just wanted to share this with everybody."
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Changed for Good
Harry reflected on the lessons he's learned since becoming a parent during a speech at the National Youth Mentoring Summit in 2019. He shared, "I'm struck by a few things today, most of which is the power of the invisible role model. The person who may be sitting here today that doesn't realize that someone looks up to them that—for that person—you inspire them to be kinder, better, greater, more successful, more impactful. Perhaps it's the newfound clarity I have as a father knowing that my son will always be watching what I do, mimicking my behavior, one day maybe even following in my footsteps."
Toby Melville/Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage
Doting on Archie
"Our little man is our No. 1 priority but then our work after that is the second
priority," Prince Harry shared during a speaking engagement in 2020, "and we're just doing everything we can to try and play our part in trying to make the world a better place."
Shutterstock
Archie's Firsts
Harry and Meghan found a silver lining amid the coronavirus pandemic through baby Archie. "In so many ways we are fortunate to be able to have this time to watch him grow, and in the absence of COVID, we would be traveling and working more externally," Meghan shared in October 2020. "We'd miss a lot of those moments. So I think it's been a lot of really good family time."
Harry added, "We were both there for Archie's first steps, his first run, his first fall, everything."
Chris Jackson - Pool/Getty Images
Awaiting Her Baby Girl's Arrival
In May 2021, Meghan made a rare TV appearance during Global Citizen's VAX Live: The Concert to Reunite the World special. The former actress opened up about her pregnancy and shared her excitement about raising a daughter. "My husband and I are thrilled to soon be welcoming a daughter. It's a feeling of joy we share with millions of other families around the world," she said at the time. "When we think of her, we think of all the young women and girls around the globe who must be given the ability and the support to lead us forward."
She added, "Their future leadership depends on the decisions we make and the actions we take now to set them up, and set all of us up, for a successful, equitable and compassionate tomorrow."
Apple TV+
Raising the Future
Meghan makes a brief cameo in her husband's Apple TV+ series with Oprah, The Me You Can't See. During her appearance, the California native seemingly pays tribute to her growing family with a shirt that reads, "Raising the Future."
Chris Jackson-Pool/Getty Images
Party of Four!
The couple welcomed their baby girl. In a statement shared on their Archewell Foundation page, they gushed, "On June 4th, we were blessed with the arrival of our daughter, Lili. She is more than we could have ever imagined, and we remain grateful for the love and prayers we've felt from across the globe. Thank you for your continued kindness and support during this very special time for our family."
Toby Melville - Pool/Getty Images
Book Worms
On June 8, 2021, Meghan will release her first children's book, The Bench, which is a celebration of fatherhood from a mother's perspective. Of her new project, she said in a press release in May, "The Bench started as a poem I wrote for my husband on Father's Day, the month after Archie was born. That poem became this story."
Gotham/WireImage
Reflecting on Those Early Days
In an October 2021 letter to then-House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer explaining her support for mandatory paid parental leave in the U.S., Meghan wrote of being "overjoyed" but "overwhelmed" when her daughter was born when the pandemic was still preventing business as usual in hospitals, schools, etc.
"Like fewer parents, we weren't confronted with the harsh reality of either spending those first few critical months with our baby or going back to work," she wrote. "We knew we could take her home, and in that vital (and sacred) stage, devote any and everything to our kids and to our family. We knew that by doing so we wouldn't have to make impossible choices about childcare, work, and medical care that so many have to make every single day."
Meghan continued, "No family should be faced with these decisions. No family should have to choose between earning a living and having the freedom to take care of their child (or a loved one, or themselves, as we would see with a comprehensive paid leave plan)."
Handout/Getty Images Entertainment
Screen Star
On TODAY in April 2022, Harry shared that separating parenting from his work-at-home routine was pretty much a nonstarter.
"Archie spends more time interrupting our Zoom calls than anybody else," he said. "He also gets them often as well, so that's a nice thing."
Harry noted that he could already see his own sly sense of humor in his son. "I always try and keep that," he added. "I think that the cheekiness is something that keeps you alive."
Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Project Healthy Minds
Raising Kids in the Digital Age
Meghan admitted she was concerned for her—and everybody else's—kids in the age of social media.
"Being a mom is the most important thing in my entire life—outside, of course, being a wife to this one," she said, gesturing to Harry, during an October 2023 talk at the Archewell Foundation Parents' Summit: Mental Wellness in the Digital Age, part of Project Healthy Minds' World Mental Health Day
"But I will say," she added, "I feel fortunate that our children are at an age, again quite young, so this isn't in our immediate future, but I also feel frightened at how it's continuing to change and this will be in front of us."
Noting that "the days are long but the years are short" as a parent, Meghan continued, "Everyone is affected by the online world and social media. We all just want to feel safe."
KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images
My Mother, My Mirror
"Our daughter, Lili, she's much, much tinier than you guys," Meghan told a class of kindergarteners during a May 2024 visit to Lightway Academy in Abuja, Nigeria. "She's about to turn 3. And a few weeks ago, she looked at me and she would just see the reflection in my eyes. And she [goes], 'Mama, I see me in you.'"
"Now, she was talking really literally," Meghan added. "But I hung onto those words in a very different way. And I thought, 'Yes, I do see me in you, and you see me in you.'"
English (US) ·