Here’s What Meghan Markle Had to Say About Her First Christmas With the Royal Family: ‘I Remember so Vividly’
Before celebrating the holiday season in Montecito, California, with Prince Harry and their two kids, Meghan Markle experienced a royal family Christmas. In her acting days, she joined her then-fiancé, the Duke Sussex, for the Firm’s traditional December activities. Think presents on Christmas Eve and church on Christmas Day. Years later, Meghan remembers it “so vividly.”
Meghan had an ‘amazing’ time at Sandringham for Christmas 2017
In Netflix’s Harry & Meghan docuseries, Meghan, now 42, revisited the first time she spent Christmas with the royal family. It was 2017, just weeks after the pair’s engagement announcement and about five months ahead of their royal wedding.
Not to mention, out of the ordinary for the British royal family as only wives, not girlfriends or fiancées, receive invites.
“I remember so vividly the first Christmas at Sandringham,” Meghan said, noting she relayed her excitement to her mother, Doria Ragland. “Calling my mom, and she’s like, ‘How’s it going?’ And I said, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s amazing.’”
Meghan continued, sharing the reason she enjoyed it so much had to do with a lifelong desire.
“It’s just like a big family like I always wanted,” she explained. “And there was just this constant movement and energy and fun.”
Indeed, Sandringham, the monarch’s country estate, is filled with royals come December. Extended family members flood the Norfolk, England, property to celebrate with gag gifts — Meghan’s contribution of a singing hamster toy reportedly went over well with the late Queen Elizabeth II — food and an annual walk to church.
Meghan had a ‘great’ chat with Prince Philip at Christmas dinner
The former Suits star continued, saying when it came to the royal family’s traditional Christmas Day dinner she sat next to the late Prince Philip.
“At dinner, I was sat next to H’s grandfather and I just thought it was so wonderful,” Meghan said. “I was like, ‘Oh, we chatted, and it was so great, and I talked about this and talked about this.’”
Then Harry told her something about his grandpa. “[He]was like, ‘You had [his] bad ear. He couldn’t hear anything you were saying,’” Meghan recalled.
Her response? To take it in stride. “I was like, ‘Oh, well, I thought it went really well.’”
After the 2017 Christmas celebration, Harry told BBC Radio 4 that Christmas with Meghan had been “fantastic,” saying that not only had his soon-to-be-wife “really enjoyed” the festivities but also that “the family loved having her there.”
Harry and Meghan went on to spend Christmas with the royal family in 2018 before celebrating elsewhere in 2019 prior to their 2020 relocation to the U.S.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2023 Christmas plans are unclear
Will they or won’t they? That’s the question surrounding Harry and Meghan’s 2023 holiday season. Will they have a California Christmas or a royal one?
Reports surfaced shortly before the 2023 holiday season got underway that the couple, as well as their children, Prince Archie, 4, and Princess Lilibet, 2, may be invited to stay with King Charles III over New Year’s.
Also in the mix were reports of a possible royal Christmas reunion with the family of four traveling to England to take part in the annual festivities. That led to speculation surrounding Harry and Meghan deciding where to spend Christmas. Meanwhile, there’s royal biography book drama.
Through it all, Harry and Meghan haven’t gone public with their plans for the 2023 holiday season.
