This is one of the saddest stories I’ve ever seen published in the Daily Mail: “All the signs Prince Harry and Meghan Markle want to come back to the UK as the Duchess reveals the surprising ways she channels British life.” This is a treasury of delusion and hilarious obsession from the Mail, and from Abandonment Issues Island. You see, the Duchess of Sussex featured some British guests on With Love, Meghan, and she spoke about how much she liked one radio station in the UK. That is basically all of the evidence they’ve compiled that Meghan “wants to come back to the UK.”
Thousands of miles away from where they once lived in Frogmore cottage, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle would seem, on the face of it, to have forgotten all about what life in the UK is like. Now based in Montecito, California, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex lead a different life compared to what they used to enjoy in Prince Harry’s native England after they fled in 2020 to escape royal life. The Duchess, who last week released the second season of her lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan, hasn’t visited the UK since the late Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in 2022.
But during the eight-episode series, which features celebrity guests including US model and TV personality Chrissy Teigen and Queer Eye’s Tan France, Meghan surprised many when she revealed there are parts of UK life she misses. Meghan, an American native, had planned to apply for British citizenship but pressed pause on the plan after the couple decided to set sail for the States instead after stepping down from their role as working royals. The Duchess only spent a short period living in the UK between the years of 2017 to 2020, including raising her first child, Prince Archie, six, for the first few months of his life at Frogmore Cottage.
Despite only spending a short stint in the UK, many fans of the show were struck by the strong English undertones of many of Meghan’s recipes – as well as her claim that she misses British radio. In an episode of the new show, Meghan spoke tenderly of the UK, telling Doncaster-born Tan France that what she misses most about the UK is it’s radio. ‘One of the things I miss most about the UK is the radio stations,’ she said, specifically pointing out that Magic FM was her favourite of them. When teased that it is a ‘grandma’ station, she insisted that her new favourite station to listen to in the car is called Mom Jeans and plays vintage soft rock.
Elsewhere, in episode six, she told Clare Smyth, the Northern Irish-born Michelin-starred chef who cooked at the couple’s wedding, that their children mix British and American pronunciations. ‘My kids, they’ll say a little bit of both, but never cooking terms because I guess Papa’s not cooking as much. They both say ‘Zebra’ though instead of ‘Zeebra’.’
In episode four of the new season of the show, the Duchess showed chef Samin Nosrat her signature roast chicken recipe, taking the moment to share the tale of how she first prepared the dish for Harry on the night they got engaged.
‘This is a by-heart recipe. It’s a classic and it’s nourishing, and I have done it so many times that now I can do it with my eyes closed,’ the Duchess of Sussex said about the roast chicken. A classic Sunday roast choice that is loved by many across the British Isles, it is possible that Meghan, who admitted she now makes it at least once a week, first picked up the recipe from her time in the UK.
“Roast chicken” is not a solely British recipe. Trust me when I say that “roast chicken” is a recipe found in most cultures across Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East and Asia. Everyone loves roast chicken. As for the larger argument that “Meghan misses the UK” or “Meghan wants to come back,” I think the message of WLM is actually a lot more nuanced than that. Meghan is actually showcasing how well she would have fit in with British culture if only they had given her a chance. She’s showing that she was and is a natural princess who would have been a huge asset to the UK and to the royal family. THAT is what they don’t want to be reminded of. That they fumbled the bag on a global stage.
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
