Meghan Markle has offered an inside look into her life at home with Prince Harry and their two children, revealing how they have turned their $14.65 million Montecito mansion into a sanctuary of safety for their family.
The 44-year-old mother of two, who shares son Archie, 6, and daughter Lilibet, 4, with Harry, 41, opened up about her daily routine inside her sprawling abode during an intimate conversation with her former sorority sister, Courtney Adamo.
Meghan and Courtney—who met during their freshman year at Northwestern University—sat down together at an event entitled “Compare Notes on Creating a Home That’s Filled With Joy,” which was held at the Godmothers bookstore in Summerland, CA, on Oct. 23.
During the event, which was held to celebrate the release of Courtney’s book, “The Family Home: Inspiring Ideas For A Home Filled With Joy,” Meghan opened up about the rituals that she and Harry have implemented in their home, starting with filling the property with music first thing in the morning.
“The first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is turn the music on in the house,” she shared.
Meghan revealed that the family also shares a daily “rose and thorn,” detailing one positive and one negative experience from throughout their day, admitting that her daughter, Lilibet, is particularly fond of this routine.
“Our daughter she’s 4, and she’s a very strong personality and she’s incredible,” Meghan shared. “And now she’s in this moment where I say, ‘What’s your rose and your thorn?’ And she goes, ‘My day was just a blast.'”
When the children aren’t feeling their best, however, the Sussexes have a specific home item on hand to cheer them up: a “healing blanket” that was gifted to the family by Godmothers bookstore founder Victoria Jackson.
As for welcoming guests into her home, Meghan has several hosting traditions that she picked up in a bid to make people feel as comfortable as possible—noting that she regularly goes barefoot inside her house, even when she has people over.
“It demystifies,” she said, adding that she will also usually open the door with an apron on. “People walk in and go, ‘Oh, she’s in this with me.’ And what are they drawn to? Your kitchen. They come right in, and suddenly everyone’s a little bit softened.”
Rather than offering to brew guests a cup of tea or coffee, Meghan noted that she usually has a hot cider or a hot toddy warming on the stove, which she invites people to serve themselves.
“I love people being able to serve themselves, and having things on the stove that everyone can help themselves to,” she explained.
The final feature of Meghan’s at-home hosting lineup is, of course, music, which she says she “always has on in the background.”
All of these rituals have made the family so comfortable at home that the As Ever founder admitted she rarely leaves the house without taking a small piece of it with her.
“I always travel with a candle,” she explained. “I am so conscious and sensitive to fragrance, and I associate that with home.”
Meghan has previously opened up about the importance of her home serving as a “safe haven” for her children while revealing why she declined to film her Netflix show, “With Love, Meghan,” at the property.
“I wanted to protect that safe haven,” she told People. “We’re a close-knit family, and I love those moments—putting Lili down for a nap, having lunch together, having sacred time together at the end of the day.
“Our kitchen is where Mama just cooks for the family, and with a crew of 80-plus people, that’s a lot of people to have in your house!”
Meghan’s latest glimpse into her home life comes just days after she and Harry candidly revealed their greatest parenting fears while warning about the dangers of social media usage among young people.
The couple traveled to Manhattan from their home in Montecito to attend the third annual World Mental Health Day Gala, hosted by Project Healthy Minds, earlier this month, when they were honored as “humanitarians of the year.”
Taking to the stage to accept their award, Harry and Meghan openly revealed their growing concerns about how to protect their children in an increasingly digital age, with the mother of two admitting that she is afraid about how she can “safeguard” the kids, while also allowing them to “embrace” the positive aspects of technology.
“Our children, Archie and Lili, are just 6 and 4 years old. Luckily, still too young for social media, but we know that day is coming,” she said.
“Like so many parents, we think constantly about how to embrace technology’s benefits while safeguarding against its dangers. That hopeful intention of separation is rapidly becoming impossible.”
Harry, meanwhile, shed some light on the thousands of families who have been devastated by the fallout from social media use among children, who have been driven to suicide or suffered severe mental health issues as a result of online bullying and toxicity.
“Tonight, we are all here together to focus on what remains one of the most pressing issues of our time,” he said. “Let me share a number with you: 4,000. That’s how many families the Social Media Victims Law Centre is currently representing—families whose children have been harmed or lost forever to social media.
“4,000 cases at just one firm. And that number represents only those parents who have been able to link their child’s circumstance to social media use.”
Harry added that, while some parents have realized that they have legal power to “fight back against some of the wealthiest, most powerful corporations in the world,” doing so cannot help to provide “closure” for those who continue to grieve over the loss of their children.
“This is a pivotal moment in our collective mission to protect children and support families in the digital age,” he noted.
Harry and Meghan have long been outspoken about the dangers of social media and unregulated AI, and vowed to continue raising awareness through initiatives launched by their non-profit, the Archewell Foundation.
The couple has also taken steps to protect their own children online, although Meghan has been more open about sharing glimpses into their lives on her personal Instagram account, which she relaunched on New Year’s Day after going several years without a public social media presence.
Since then, the Duchess of Sussex has shared multiple photos and videos of both of her children, including snapshots of Archie and Lilibet in and around the family’s $14.65 million Montecito mansion and clips from a trip to Disneyland, although she ensures that their faces are always concealed from view.
Harry and Meghan moved into their sprawling Montecito abode in 2020, soon after they quit their roles as senior working royals, having stumbled across the Mediterranean-style dwelling online.
“We were looking in this area and this house kept popping up online in searches,” she told The Cut, of their house-hunting process during a 2022 interview.
Interestingly, Meghan admitted that she and Harry were initially concerned that they wouldn’t be able to afford the home, noting that—at the time—they were both unemployed.
“We didn’t have jobs, so we were just not going to come and see this house. It wasn’t possible,” she said. “It’s like when I was younger and you’re window shopping—it’s like, ‘I don’t want to go and look at all the things that I can’t afford—that doesn’t feel good.'”
However, her fascination with the nine-bedroom, 16-bathroom estate won out and they went to view the home in person—with Meghan revealing that they fell in love with it before even setting foot inside.
“One of the first things my husband saw when we walked around the house was those two palm trees,” she recalled. “We did everything we could to get this house.”
