Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Find Balance This Holiday Season Amid Hollywood Challenges

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in July 2024.
Credit:

Kevin Mazur/Getty

Key Details

• Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are preparing for a California Christmas following a challenging period.
• The Duchess of Sussex’s upcoming Netflix episode, With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration, provides a glimpse into their holiday traditions.
• This episode’s release comes on the heels of Hollywood controversies, including a social media incident related to Kris Jenner’s 70th birthday party.

Meghan Markle’s latest episode of her Netflix series, With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration, offers a distinct insight into how she and Prince Harry are establishing Christmas traditions in Montecito, California. The episode is set to premiere on December 3.

In this special, Meghan, 44, focuses on creating family rituals for their children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4. The couple engages in activities such as crafting giant advent calendars, making snacks like “Reindeer Chow,” and preparing a Christmas Eve gumbo recipe passed down from Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland.

Prince Harry, 41, also makes an appearance, playfully commenting that Meghan’s gumbo is “close” to being as good as his mother-in-law’s. The couple shares lighthearted moments in the kitchen, revealing an intimate and playful dynamic not often seen by the public.

Meghan has noted that Harry takes genuine pleasure in witnessing her reconnect with her creative side. “My husband met me when I had The Tig, and I see this spark in his eye when he sees me doing the thing I was doing when he first met me,” she shared earlier this year. “It’s almost like a honeymoon period again.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in ‘With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration’.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex/Instagram

The episode airs against the backdrop of recent Hollywood controversies, including a photo incident during Kris Jenner’s 70th-birthday celebration. Harry and Meghan were pictured at the event, leading to a swift deletion of the images following a request from their team, as the event coincided with significant Remembrance Day observances in the U.K. This timing raised questions regarding the appropriateness of their attendance.

Days later, a spokesperson for Meghan labeled claims that she took a $1,700 designer dress from a 2022 photo shoot as “categorically false” and “highly defamatory.” Additionally, her profile in Harper’s Bazaar faced scrutiny after it referred to her as “Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,” which some interpreted as misleading given the content of the piece.

Meghan Markle in ‘With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration’.

Jake Rosenberg/Netflix

This series of events highlights the couple’s ongoing adjustment to life in the Hollywood spotlight since their transition to the U.S. in 2020. However, friends report that they are managing these challenges collaboratively.

According to a source, “It never creates friction between them. They’re fully aligned and always operate as a team. It never puts them at odds.” Meghan tends to dismiss external noise, while Harry remains more affected by public commentary, often expressing a desire to shield her from it.

“It’s not something to be taken for granted when you have a partner, a spouse, who is just so behind you,” Meghan remarked during a podcast in April. “I always think about it like the end of Super Mario Bros. When you get to the final, final level and they go, ‘Slay the dragon, save the princess.’ I’m like, that’s my husband. He’s constantly going to do whatever he can to make sure that our family is safe and protected.”

Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Princess Lilibet and Prince Archie join Our Big Kitchen Los Angeles on Nov. 26, 2025.

Eric Charbonneau for The Archewell Foundation

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have also been active volunteers this season, recently participating as a family at a local community kitchen, including their children, Archie and Lilibet, as they continue their charitable efforts through the Archewell Foundation.

As Meghan notes in the special, “Hopefully we have these for quite a long time. A tradition has to have a beginning.”