Meghan Markle has given yet another eyebrow-raising interview, in a chat with Harper’s Bazaar released today where the interviewer notes how she is announced like royalty to a room with one person in it and discusses her ‘brave’ decision to make jam.
In one apparently unscripted moment, a waiter at the Beverly Hills Hotel surprises her with a cappuccino with a ‘photorealistic image’ of her face from a royal tour of South Africa in the foam.
Writer Kaitlyn Greenidge adds that she believes that the decision to meet at the luxury hotel is a ‘calculated choice’ because they sat at a ‘prime’ table where diners can see them.
They later met again in New York, at the home of one of Meghan’s unnamed friends.
‘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,’ Ms Greenidge reveals with clear bemusement.
Meghan’s interview also contains quotes effusively praising her from friends, including Serena Williams, who tells the magazine: ‘She’s just so smart’.
The Duchess of Sussex is the new Harper’s Bazaar cover star with a ‘bareface’ portrait and an article where she hails the ‘childlike wonder and playfulness’ of Prince Harry and his ‘bold’ love for her.
It came as Meghan shared a glitzy new trailer for her festive Netflix show, featuring her kissing her husband. It was released as the Prince and Princess of Wales turned up to support the the Royal Variety Performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London last night.
The Harper’s Bazaar feature is entitled ‘Meghan’s Moment’, with the strap-line: ‘After years of being subsumed by other people’s narratives, the Duchess of Sussex is ready to author her own next chapter’.
Asked what inspiration she hopes Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four, will draw from her working life, Meghan talks about making homemade pots of jam in the kitchen of their $15million Montecito mansion that she would later sell through her lifestyle business, As Ever.
‘I hope they see the value of being brave’, she says of her children, adding: ‘They saw it when the jam was just a pot on the stove, bubbling’.
Its writer reveals how Meghan puts her hand on her heart when she talks about her husband. ‘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,’ the Duchess declares.
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.
Kaitlyn also reveals that during their wide-ranging interview Meghan is brought an ‘unsolicited’ cappuccino over by a waiter at the Beverly Hills Hotel with her face in the milky foam.
The article says: ‘“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’.
Ms Greenidge adds that the decision meet at the Beverly Hills Hotel is a ‘calculated choice’.
Calling the £1,000-a-night establishment the see-and-be-seen spot for Hollywood dealmaking and politicking’, the journalist writes: ‘We are ushered to a circular table in the corner of the garden, a prime seat where we can see the other diners and they can see the three of us. (The Sussexes’ chief communications officer sits between us.)’.
Friends are also called upon for quotes, as well as Serena’s praise for her ‘smart friend.
She adds: ‘I feel like no matter what, I can always learn from her’.
Former model Kelly Zajfen says: ‘There’s not a day that goes by that she hasn’t checked in or I haven’t checked in.
‘Someone can show up in a time of need or grief. And oftentimes they don’t stay or they’re only here for a short amount of time. But Meghan just always made herself available to all of us’.
Terry Wood, who exec-produced the infamous Oprah interview, adds: ‘Meghan understands her voice better than you, better than any producer could put it out there’.
The executive at Harpo Productions, Oprah Winfrey’s production company, adds: ‘She knows how she comes across, and she knows how she wants to connect. She understands that so much has been written about her that when she does something, she wants to break through that noise so people see that she is authentically trying to be herself’.
And amid pressure on her As Ever brand he adds: ‘Not everyone who starts a business is under the microscope that she’s under.
‘What she is learning to weather and ride out is the judgment that happens as a businesswoman when you are that famous.
A large section of the interview is dedicated to Harry, and his love for his wife.
Speaking with her hand held to her heart when describing the prince, Meghan said: ‘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. You have someone who just has this childlike wonder and playfulness. I was so drawn to that, and he brought that out in me’.
Meghan also admits to making ‘mistakes’ and there is ‘not a lot of fun’ in trying to be ‘perfect’ – so she tries to be ‘brave’ and see the fun in things for her children instead.
‘When you’re young. I think you are a little bit more fearless. As we get older, we lose some of that’, she said of her As Ever brand, which sells her so-called ‘fruit spreads’, honey and marmalade.
And in a message for her critics she said: ‘I think the moment that you start making all of your personal decisions based on external judgment, then you lose your authenticity’.
Meghan admits her parenting style is ‘very different’ to her mother Doria’s – calling Ms Ragland a ‘free spirit’ – and that Archie and Lilibet sit on her lap during business meeting because her office is next to the kitchen of their Montecito mansion.
She said: ‘I hope they see the value of being brave. They saw it when the jam was just a pot on the stove, bubbling. When you’re young. I think you are a little bit more fearless. As we get older, we lose some of that’.
She added that she has applied this to her work: ‘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.’
The Duchess of Sussex, 44, appeared on the front of the magazine’s December 2025/January 2026 edition, which was labeled as the art issue.
She appeared to be wearing no makeup in the photo, as she had her hair tied back, showing off a pair of dangling diamond earrings he brought back from Ukraine last month.
In another photo for the magazine, Meghan posed in a sleeveless red dress with a dramatic cape draping over one shoulder.
Meghan speaks about the battle of being a mother and a businesswoman.
Discussing learning from imperfect moments, she shared: ‘You learn not to do it again.
‘If it all goes swimmingly, you don’t learn from it. If you don’t learn anything, you’re not going to grow.’
‘I’m a mom with kids at that age where they are constantly learning something new. I watch them face things that feel completely insurmountable every day.
‘But you can remember and say, “I know it seems really hard right now, but trust me, that’s going to come so easily soon”. I can give myself the same grace as a founder. There’s no such thing as perfect. I, too, get to make mistakes.’
Elsewhere in the interview, Meghan also spoke about her relationship with Prince Harry, who she married in 2018. The couple share two children together.
Meghan also spoke about her viral moment at Paris Fashion Week in September, when she attended the Balenciaga show.
The Daily Mail revealed how the designer Pierpaolo Piccioli had said she invited herself via text.
‘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.
‘I think the moment that you start making all of your personal decisions based on external judgment, then you lose your authenticity,’ she said.
Meghan added that her boundaries became ‘stronger’ once she was in the ‘public eye.’
‘You find different ways to protect yourself, whether that’s self-preservation or it’s just growing up,’ she told the outlet.
Elsewhere in the story, the writer, Kaitlyn Greenidge, also interviewed two of Meghan’s famous friends – tennis player Serena Williams and entrepreneur Kelly Zajfen.
Williams gushed about how easy it is to talk to Meghan.
‘We love a good mimosa,’ Williams told the outlet. ‘We could talk for a hundred hours, and it feels like 10 minutes go by, and it’s like we never stop smiling.’
Zajfen added about the former Suits star, ‘She’s funny. I think maybe that’s surprising to people.’
Zajfen also shared how supportive Meghan had been of her and her family after her nine-year-old son had passed away from Covid-19 and viral meningitis in 2022.
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.
