Meghan Markle tells Americans to ‘open their arms’ to welcome new people this Thanksgiving – after claiming she felt ‘lonely’ while in the royal family

Meghan Markle has urged Americans to ‘open their arms’ to new people this Thanksgiving – after claiming she felt ‘lonely’ in the Royal Family.

The Duchess of Sussex, 43, hosted a dinner in Los Angeles for Afghan women who have settled in the US earlier this month.

In an interview with Marie Claire, the mother-of-two, who lives in Montecito, California, was asked how Americans can make women in similar circumstances to her guests feel more at ease in the United States.

The former Suits actress replied: ‘It’s really easy. 

‘Just think about how you’d want someone to treat you…how would you want someone to open their arms to you?’

Since quitting their royal duties in 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have spoken out several times about how Meghan struggled to adapt to life in the Royal Family – and how being a member of the Firm is ‘nothing like what it looks like’.

In their Netflix docuseries, Meghan famously outlined her first meeting with the Prince and Princess of Wales – describing herself as a ‘hugger’, which the ‘formal’ couple may have found ‘jarring’.

During their bombshell Oprah interview, the Duchess famously alleged members of the Royal Family – who she refused to name – discussed how ‘dark Archie’s skin might be’ before he was born.

As such, the Duchess – who moved to the UK before her engagement to Prince Harry was announced in 2017 – stressed the importance of community when you’re ‘missing your country’.

Last week’s event was in collaboration with the charity Mina’s List and Archewell’s The Welcome Project, which ‘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 said during her latest public appearance: ‘You miss home, you miss your country, and also can find comfort in the new community that you have here. I’m grateful that we are able to be a part of that community.’ 

The food – which included Ashak and Mantuu, both types of dumpling – was prepared by Soho House chef Shane Fatemian. 

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

What’s more, Meghan revealed how her Thanksgiving celebrations with her husband and children are ‘always pretty low-key’.

After gushing how ‘great’ it is to have her mother Doria nearby, Meghan said: ‘I love the holidays. [Archie and Lilibet are now] three and five, so every year it gets better.

‘We’re at the age where I just can’t wait to see it through their lens every year.’

Since 2020, the Duke and Duchess have spoken about how the Firm could have done more to support Meghan during her time as a working royal.

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.”

‘[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.’ 

The couple also alleged members of the family had ‘several’ conversations with Prince Harry about how dark Archie’s skin might be.

‘All around this same time, we have in tandem the conversation of he won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title and also concerns and conversations as how dark his skin might be when he’s born,’ Meghan said. 

‘That was relayed to me from Harry from conversations that family had with him.’

Meghan refused to say who had those conversations with Harry, saying: ‘That would be really damaging to them.’

The revelation came after Meghan said she had been informed Archie wouldn’t have security protection when he was born because he wasn’t going to be given a HRH or Prince title.

The following day, Prince William hit back at Meghan and Harry’s claims – telling press outside an East London school that they were ‘very much not a racist family’.

Elsewhere in the interview, Meghan 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.’ 

What’s more, Oprah also quizzed Meghan on her Wimbledon tennis tournament trips with Kate.

She asked the Duchess: ‘Did you feel welcomed by everyone? It seemed like you and Kate… at the Wimbledon game where you were going to watch a friend play tennis…

‘Was it what it looked like? You are two sisters-in-law out there in the world, getting to know each other.

‘Was she helping you, embracing you into the family, helping you adjust?’

Meghan started off by saying: ‘I think everyone welcomed me.’

But then she said: ‘When you say, “Was it what it looked like?”, my understanding and my experience of the past four years is, it’s nothing like what it looks like.

‘It’s nothing like what it looks like. ‘

In his 2023 book Our King: Charles III, royal expert Robert Jobson claimed Meghan dismissed the Queen’s suggestion that the Duchess of Edinburgh help her adjust to life in the Royal Family.

Sophie Rhys-Jones, 58, married Prince Edward in a lavish ceremony at St George’s Chapel in 1999 and has weathered her own share of scandals – but became a ‘second daughter’ to Queen Elizabeth II and is now a trusted senior royal. 

But Meghan offered only a curt reply to the late monarch, saying: ‘I’ve got Harry.’ 

Royal expert Andrew Morton has also previously claimed the Queen told Meghan she could continue acting after she married into the Firm. 

Andrew Morton – who famously penned Princess Diana’s blockbuster biography in 1992 – said Meghan and Harry were given the opportunity ‘to go wherever they pleased’. 

The Queen told Meghan she could forge ahead with her Hollywood career – which had seen her most-famously star as paralegal Rachel Zane in drama Suits – if she did not want to ’embrace royal duties full time’, Mr Morton said.

He said there were ‘difficult conversations’ about how the Sussexes would contribute to the Firm once they were married, adding: ‘There was some real obvious signs before we even got married that this was going to be really hard.’ 

Speaking on Royally Obsessed podcast, biographer Mr Morton said: ‘[The Queen] gave them the opportunity to go wherever they please.

‘They were given a degree of latitude. They were told “here are your first class tickets, pick which country you want to go to, we’re going to make you youth ambassadors for the Commonwealth”.

‘In fairness to the royal family, in fairness to the Queen, she did give them that opportunity to go wherever they pleased.

‘And also, they did say to Meghan if you don’t want to embrace royal duties full time please be our guest and continue your acting career. 

‘Those opportunities were open to her.’