Skip to main contentSkip to footer
Meghan Markle opens up about first Christmas with the royals© Getty Images

Meghan Markle opens up about her first Christmas with the royal family

The Duchess of Sussex celebrated her first Christmas at Sandringham in 2017


DECEMBER 9, 2022 5:11 PM EST

 Meghan Markle  has fond memories of her first Christmas at Sandringham. The Duchess of Sussex reflected on her first Christmas with her then-future in-laws in Netflix’s new documentary series Harry & Meghan.

“I remember so vividly the first Christmas at Sandringham. Calling my mom, and she’s like, ‘How’s it going?’ and I said, ‘Oh my gosh, it’s amazing. It’s just like a big family like I always wanted,’” Meghan recalled. “There was just this constant movement and energy and fun.”

Meghan celebrated her first Christmas at Sandringham in 2017© Getty Images
Meghan celebrated her first Christmas at Sandringham in 2017

The Duchess revealed in the docuseries that she was seated next to Prince Harry’s grandfather, Prince Philip, at dinner. “I just thought it was so wonderful. I was like, ‘Oh, we chatted and it was so great and I talked about this and talked about this.’ [Harry] was like, ‘You had his bad ear. He couldn’t hear anything you were saying,’” she shared. “I was like, ‘Oh, well I thought it went really well.’”

Meghan and Harry were engaged at the time. The Duke of Sussex later revealed on BBC Radio 4’s Today program that Meghan’s first Christmas at Sandringham was “fantastic.”

“She really enjoyed it. The family loved having her there and, you know, there’s always that family part of Christmas, there’s always that work element as well, and I think together we had an amazing time,” he said. “We had great fun staying with my brother and sister-in-law and running around with the kids. Christmas was fantastic.”

View post on X

Harry also revealed that there were “plenty” of family traditions that he had to explain to Meghan. He said, “She’s done an absolutely amazing job. She’s getting in there and it’s the family that I suppose she’s never had.”