Meghan Markle’s Netflix Christmas revelations – savage Harry comment and ‘cheat’ claim
Meghan Markle’s panned Netflix show With Love, Meghan has returned to the streaming platform with a Christmas special – and here we look at some of the biggest moments from it
Meghan Markle has returned to Netflix with another edition of her panned lifestyle show in time for Christmas – and it’s set to raise eyebrows again. With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration landed on the streaming platform this morning and shows the Duchess of Sussex create a range of festive-themed crafts and dishes – as well as give a sneak peek into her life in California with Prince Harry.
In fact, Harry makes what appearst to be his longest-ever appearance in any of the With Love, Meghan episodes, featuring for a whole two minutes near the end of the episode as she whips up a Christmas-themed salad with Top Chef judge Tom Colicchio.
Meghan Markle’s Christmas special has dropped on Netflix (Image: PA)
The show comes on the back of Meghan and Harry previously announcing a new watered-down deal with the streaming giant, in contrast to their reported 100 million dollar (£74million) contract five years ago. And with the hour-long Christmas special here, we look at some of the bombshell moments….
Harry PDA and brutal joke
Near the end of the episode, Harry appears as Meghan prepares festive-themed dishes with Top Chef judge Tom. He tells the Duchess how it has become a tradition in his family on Christmas Eve to make a special salad containing beetroot, black olives and fennel.
Meghan chuckles as she reveals they are all flavours she loves but rarely eats, as all of those foods are a turn-off for Harry. And just as they put the finishing touches to the dish, which also contains anchovies and pickled vegetables, Harry turns up in the kitchen, greeting her with a kiss.
Harry and Meghan share a kiss in the show (Image: Netflix)
When she tell him what the salad contains, he says: “Oh wow, that’s like the anti-salad.” She laughs and tells him, it’s “everything he hates”. And Harry tells his wife and the chef: “You must have known I was coming.”
Meghan also cooks up gumbo, which she reveals has become a tradition for her mum Doria, to cook for the family on Christmas Eve. Harry reveals he prefers it with the chicken and sausage before the fish goes on, and as a pot of it boils on the cooker, he says: “This is my favourite.”
As Meghan serves him up a bowl of gumbo without fish, he tells her: “I can feel it puncturing through the top of my head right now.”
He follows up: “It is delicious, I’m not so sure it’s as good as your mum’s, but it’s certainly close.” To which, Meghan shouts: “What!” as Harry giggles. Meghan says: “My mom will love you for that. What a good thing to say about your mother-in-law.” And at the end of the scene, Meghan hugs Tom and says “thank you for coming” before turning to Harry and giving him another kiss.
Crafting ‘cheat’ claim
Earlier in the episode, Meghan invites over four-time tennis Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka to take part in Christmas crafting. They get down to decorating plates for their children, which they plan to use to leave snacks and drinks on for Santa Claus and the reindeer on Christmas Eve.
Meghan makes crafts with tennis champion Naomi Osaka (Image: PA)
Both women bemoan the lack of their drawing skills as they attempt to decorate their plates. Meghan starts of attempting to draw holly before giving up saying it looked like bats.
In the end, she decides to resort to her signature calligraphy, writing a message on the crockery. Naomi notices but Meghan says: “You’ve got to stick to what you know.” However, the tennis player teases her by saying: “It is kind of like cheating though.”
Christmas with the royals
Although her days in the Royal Family are well behind her, Meghan does draw on her experiences of spending the festive season in the UK.
She spent two Christmases at Sandringham in 2017 and 2018 – and as she welcomes restaurateur Will Guidara, she tells him they are going to make their own personalised Christmas crackers.
Meghan with the Royal Family on Christmas Day in 2018(Image: UK Press via Getty Images)
Will, who is more unfamiliar with crackers, asks Meghan about their significance. And she reflects: “Living in the UK, it’s a big part of the culture for sure. Typically, people cross their arms and do it. So they sit around the table and they all pull at the same time.
“The way that I started to know them was, they’d always have some sort of fortune cookie-size joke or riddle. And something sweet.”
As she makes a personalised cracker for Harry, she adds: “My husband’s has a little love letter, a chocolate, a little hat”, and she labels the cracker: “My Love” rather than: “Harry”.
‘Grown up’ Lilibet and Archie’s loves
While making the crackers, Meghan decides she is going to make some for her children Archie and Lilibet, with personalised gifts inside as well as sweets and confetti.
Meghan makes Christmas crackers for Archie and Lilibet (Image: PA)
Making one for Lili, she pops a mini rollerball perfume into the cracker and explains: “Lili really likes trying to be a grown-up lady at the moment. This is like a little lavender rollerball. So I thought I thought a little bit of something like that.”
While Archie gets a toy burger and a red car in his cracker – which Meghan says reflects his two loves – burgers and the vibrant colour.
Earlier in the episode, Meghan explains the idea of advent calendars as she puts tiny gifts into Archie and Lili’s named fabric pocket calendars, saying: “I wanted to do it for my own kids… All it’s really about is having a surprise and delight every single day for 24 days until you get to Christmas.”
And she also adds in handwritten notes – which she refers to as “little findings” – for her children, saying: “I’m writing: ‘I love you because you are so kind’ and: ‘I love you because you’re so brave’.” Archie and Lili do not appear in the episode.
Tree tips and wrapping hack
In other parts of the episode, Meghan offers her advice on tree decorating, saying she strings the lights so the tree is “lit from within and on the border, right on the outside” – and “the same with ornaments, you want to find the placement for them where they’re gonna find their light”.
And in a segment named Tips and Tricks for Festive Wrapping, Meghan recommends folding “outwardly” rather “inwardly”. She explains: “One technique that’s really fun is just the different way in which you’re folding the paper. If you fold it outwardly instead of inwardly, it creates a different world there.”
Meghan with chef Tom Colichio(Image: PA)
The duchess speeds through the method, adding: “A little bow right there could be awfully darling.” Meghan also reveals how she loves to add a pre-prepared wax seal and makes sure the colour matches the wrapping paper for a “tone on tone” look. “It’s the tiniest detail that suddenly feels elevated,” she says.
Meghan adds: “Another anomaly for people at the holidays is: how on earth to wrap a wine bottle?” She suggests the Japanese furoshiki method of using a scarf.
And she makes a rectangular cracker out of paper for wrapping tricky shapes such as cuddly toys. The duchess also cracks a number of food-related jokes, saying: “Beets, beets, beets. Drop that beet,” and: “This feels like fondue. You’ve never heard anyone say fon-don’t”.
Brunch in pyjamas
Two other guests who appear in the Christmas special are Meghan’s pals Lindsay Roth and Kelly McKee Zajfen. The two women join the Duchess to make special Christmas wreaths.
But beforehand, Meghan wants to make them a special Christmas brunch and agrees to appear on camera in a pair of bright red pyjamas with the letter M on the pocket.
Meghan makes Christmas wreaths with her pals (Image: PA)
As she cooks some quiches and a cinnamon bun shaped like a star, she tells the camera: “Well, she’s wearing pyjamas gang. This is how much I love my friend. Why am I wearing pyjamas on a television show?
“Because my dear friend Lindsay, we’ve been friends since we were 17 years old. Linds has a tradition with her family of always wearing matching pyjamas for the holidays So, for the love of Linds, they forced me to wear pyjamas for this brunch to honour her tradition.”
Not-so-perfect
The episode, which begins with Meghan skipping through a Christmas tree farm, sees the duchess make gougeres with cacio e pepe – French cheese puffs made with cheese and black pepper – a festive cinnamon star, tiny quiches, and “Reindeer chow” – a sweet treat renamed from one of Meghan’s childhood recipes called “puppy chow” which mixes melted chocolate, butter, vanilla, peanut butter, two cups of powdered sugar and an unnamed cereal.
Meghan also speaks about the importance of not trying to make everything perfect, admitting: “I get so fussed about everything being perfect that you lose the magic that even happens in the mistakes.”
And she shares her love of Christmas trees, revealing: “There’s just something about it that, in one area in your house, you’re able to really encapsulate your family story, really feel the passage of time and the different chapters of your life through the ornaments.”
