Meghan Markle shares behind-the-scenes look at her Harper’s Bazaar cover as she reclines barefoot on an armchair and shows off her designer wardrobe – as it’s revealed the shoot was FIVE YEARS in the making

Meghan Markle has shared a behind-the-scenes glimpse at her Harper’s Bazaar cover shoot – as it’s revealed it was five years in the making. 

Last night, the Duchess of Sussex, 44, was unveiled as the cover star of the magazine’s December 2025/January 2026 edition, wearing Dior and apparently without any make-up on. 

To coincide with the release, she shared an entirely black-and-white video to her Instagram account, @meghan, posing for the cameras and looking thoughtfully into the distance. 

Expressing her gratitude to the team and Editor-in-Chief, Samira Nasr, she wrote: ‘Thank you @harpersbazaarus @samiranasr and this extraordinary team for a special and unforgettable experience.’ 

Samira added: ‘@meghan is our Winter cover star. This cover is the culmination of a conversation that began 5 years ago. I am eternally grateful to Meghan and her wonderful team for their collaboration and trust.’

In the video, Meghan was seen lying on an armchair with her feet up, barefoot, wearing a silk dress from Ferragamo. At one point, she chatted to the crew and gave them a round of applause at the end, gushing: ‘Yay, thank you everybody!’

With classical music playing in the background, a row of Gucci shoes was filmed, followed by a series of clothes hangers from Balenciaga. 

Indeed, Meghan wore a striking red dress from the Spanish fashion house for the shoot, after appearing in the front row to watch their show at Paris Fashion Week in September. 

Meghan Markle has shared a behind-the-scenes glimpse at her Harper’s Bazaar cover shoot

In the interview, Meghan finally spoke about the event, the first with her friend Pierpaolo Piccioli at the helm as creative director. However, he later said that The Duchess had essentially invited herself. 

‘I was excited for him,’ Meghan told Harper’s Bazaar about the Balenciaga show. 

‘I reached out and I said, “Happy to come and support you.” We kept it a secret, and it was really fun,’ she said. 

The As Ever founder added that she likes being able to ‘do both’ – balance motherhood and her career. 

Elsewhere in the interview, Meghan revealed how she was drawn to Prince Harry‘s ‘childlike wonder and playfulness’ when they first met in 2016. 

The writer Kaitlyn Greenidge revealed how Meghan clutches her chest as she says of her British husband that ‘no one in the world loves me more than him’ and how he will always ‘have her back’.

Part of the Harper’s Bazaar interview was conducted at the Beverly Hills Hotel – the other section was in New York at a friend’s home.

‘When I enter, the house manager announces, “Meghan, Duchess of Sussex,” even though we appear to be the only other two people in the house,’ the article’s writer Ms Greenidge revealed with clear bemusement of their New York meeting.

The Duchess of Sussex , 44, last night appeared on the front of the magazine’s December 2025/January 2026

Kaitlyn also revealed that during their wide-ranging interview Meghan was brought an ‘unsolicited’ cappuccino over by a waiter at the Beverly Hills Hotel with her face in the milky foam.

The article said: ‘“Oh,” she [Meghan] says, smiling down at it. “I recognise this picture. That’s from our trip to South Africa”. (Prince Harry and Meghan toured the country in 2019.) It’s a lovely and absurd perk of celebrity, and Meghan is tickled enough to take a photo of it’. 

In the cover photo, Meghan appeared to be wearing no makeup and had her hair tied back, showing off a pair of dangling diamond earrings from Tiffany & Co. 

The mother-of-two wore a low-cut, black silk blazer with a tie at the waist, as the magazine’s cover was titled, ‘Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Meets her Moment.’ 

In another photo for the magazine, Meghan posed in a sleeveless red dress with a dramatic cape draping over one shoulder. 

She said of Harry, whom she married in 2018: ‘He loves me so boldly, fully, and he also has a different perspective because he sees media that I wouldn’t.’

‘No one in the world loves me more than him, so I know he’s always going to make sure that he has my back,’ she continued.

The Duchess of Sussex also shared that her husband brought out a ‘childlike wonder’ and ‘playfulness’ in her.  

Meghan said she was drawn to her husband’s ‘childlike wonder’ when they first met

The As Ever founder added that she likes being able to ‘do both’ – balance motherhood and her career

‘That’s translated into every part of our life. Even in business, I want us to play and have fun and explore and be creative,’ she shared. 

The couple share two children together – son Archie Harrison, six, and daughter Lilibet Diana, four. 

Meghan’s appearance on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar comes after she was featured on the digital cover of New York Magazine’s The Cut in 2022.

In the story, she posed for multiple photos from her home in Montecito, California, where she lives with Prince Harry and their two children.

However, in December last year, The Cut appeared to turn against her with an article saying her projects ‘keep flopping’. 

It was published shortly after Meghan and Harry’s series, Polo, was released on Netflix and was panned by critics. 

In April, The Cut’s sister publication, The Intelligencer, another offshoot of New York Magazine, poked fun at her Netflix series, With Love, Meghan, and her lifestyle brand, As ever. 

The article mocked Meghan’s ‘big idea’ of ‘rinsing and reusing jam jars’ and ‘selling factory-made food to plebs’.