Meghan Markle reveals how she and Prince Harry spend Christmas since leaving the UK for California – and says it’s much like ‘any other family’

Meghan Markle has revealed how the Sussexes celebrate the holidays at their home in California since she and Prince Harry stepped down from the royal family in 2020. 

The Duchess of Sussex recently hosted a Thanksgiving dinner in Los Angeles for Afghan women who have resettled in the US, and opened up about the festive traditions close to her family’s heart. 

Meghan, 43, said the holidays get better ‘every year’ as her and Prince Harry’s children – Archie, five, and Lilibet, three – get older.

She told Marie Claire that their Thanksgiving festivities are ‘always low-key’ and how much she appreciates being able to spend the holidays with her mother Doria Ragland. 

Doria, 68, lives in California like Harry and Meghan, who relocated to Montecito after stepping down as senior members of the Royal Family. 

Meghan stressed the importance of making ‘room at your table for your friends who don’t have family’  such as feminist icon Gloria Steinem, who once joined the Sussexes’ Thanksgiving party.

‘We’re always making sure we have something to do,’ the Duchess told the magazine. ‘Like any other family, you spend time having a great meal and then what do you do? Play games, all the same stuff, someone brings a guitar – fun.’

The former Suits actress, who married Harry in 2018, added it is important to the couple that Archie and Lilibet experience the ‘magic’ of festive traditions such as putting out ‘carrots for the reindeer’ at Christmas. 

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex attend the Christmas Day service at the Church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham estate on December 25, 2018 

The first picture of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s daughter Lilibet was released in a Christmas card on December 23, 2021

Meghan and Harry joined the Royal Family for the annual Christmas Day service at Sandringham for two years – 2018 and 2019 – before they announced they were quitting the Firm and moving stateside. 

The Sussexes released the first picture of their daughter Lilibet, who turned three this year, in a family Christmas card that was released on December 23, 2021. 

The photo features Lilibet’s older brother Archie seated on the Duke’s lap, with Meghan holding the smiling toddler.

Elsewhere in the interview, Meghan urged Americans to ‘open their arms’ to new people this Thanksgiving, reminding them to think about ‘how you’d want someone to treat you’. 

The mother-of-two recently organised a special Thanksgiving meal for Afghan women who have resettled in the US in collaboration with the Mina’s List charity and the Welcome Project – an initiative launched by the Duke and Duchess’ Archewell Foundation. 

Founded in 2023, The Welcome Project ‘supports the creation of programming for women who have recently resettled from Afghanistan’. These include art, photography, cooking, sewing, hiking and swimming projects.

Speaking about her programme’s benefits, Meghan expressed her hope for the women to find a sense of community in the US. 

‘You miss home, you miss your country, and also can find comfort in the new community that you have here,’ she said. I’m grateful that we are able to be a part of that community.’ 

Meghan Markle cooking with displaced Afghan women, supported by the charity Mina’s List, in February this year

The dinner was held in the garden at the Venice Beach headquarters of Our Place – a trendy cookware company that was founded by a female immigrant and has previously collaborated with Selena Gomez. 

Since she and Prince Harry resigned from the Royal Family, the couple have spoken about how the Firm could have done more to support Meghan during her time in the UK. 

In their Netflix series, Meghan detailed her first meeting with the Prince and Princess of Wales – and how she was ‘surprised’ to learn the Royal Family’s formality continued behind closed doors.

She said: ‘Even when Will and Kate came over and I was meeting her for the first time I remember I was in ripped jeans, I was barefoot. Like I was a hugger, I have always been a hugger I didn’t realise that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.

‘I started to understand that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside, that there is a forward facing way of being and then you close the door and think “OK we can relax now”. But that formality carries over on both sides and that was surprising to me.’

In Prince Harry’s biography Spare, the Duke claimed the Princess of Wales was ‘put on edge’ by Meghan’s arrival and how she would be ‘forced to compete’ with the actress. 

In their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan revealed she began experiencing suicidal thoughts while she was pregnant with Archie in 2019 and was not given the support she needed.

She recalled: ‘I said: “I need help.”

Harry and Meghan spoke out about their life together as senior members of the Royal Family in a six-part Netlix docuseries

‘[Human resources] said: ”My heart goes out to you because I see how bad it is, but there’s nothing we can do to protect you because you’re not a paid employee of the institution.’

‘This wasn’t a choice, this was emails and begging for help saying very specifically: ‘I am concerned for my mental welfare.'”

Meghan added: ‘Nothing was ever done. So we had to find a solution.’

Meghan also opened up about how ‘lonely’ she felt while she was still a working Royal Family.

She explained: ‘There were moments that [Harry] had to work or he had to go away, there’s moments in the middle of the night. And so, there was very little that I was allowed to do.

‘And so, yeah, of course that breeds loneliness when you’ve come from such a full life or when you’ve come from freedom.

‘I think the easiest way that now people can understand it is what we’ve all gone through in lockdown.’