‘Tis the season! Meghan Markle is in the full swing of making preparations for her second Thanksgiving in California with Prince Harry.
“I love to cook,” the Suits alum, 40, said during her Thursday, November 18, interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “We’ll be home and just sort of relax and settle in. It’s our second Thanksgiving at home in California. It’ll be nice, it’ll be really nice.”
Ellen DeGeneres, who lives near Meghan and her 37-year-old husband, joked that the host and Portia de Rossi‘s holiday invitations may have gotten lost in the mail. “What time should we show up?” she teased, to which the duchess replied, “Whatever time you want.”
The Sussexes moved to California in the summer of 2020 after briefly settling in Canada in the wake of their royal exit. They tried putting down roots in Los Angeles, but eventually decided on the quieter Montecito neighborhood in Santa Barbara.
“Meghan visited Montecito in her teens and fell in love with the picturesque scenery and stunning architecture,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in August 2020. “Moving there was always an option, but to begin with, she and Harry wanted to give Los Angeles a shot. Unfortunately, Harry absolutely hated it — the timing was so wrong amid the [coronavirus] pandemic and they lacked privacy.”
The couple, who share son Archie, 2, and daughter Lilibet, 5 months, made their step down from their senior royal roles permanent in February. One month prior, an insider revealed that the pair have been “thriving” since moving to the U.S.
“Harry doesn’t have any regrets about leaving the royal family whatsoever and is really happy in Montecito,” the source added in January. “He and Meghan are enjoying their new life in California — being a normal family and having the freedom to make their own decisions without anyone watching over them.”
At the time, a second insider noted that the past year was a “game-changer” for Meghan and Harry, but the highs and lows “brought them closer together and made them a stronger couple.”
The Bench author reiterated her love for her home state on Thursday, telling DeGeneres, 63, that the family of four are adjusting well.
“We moved here during [COVID-19] lockdown, exactly when things shut down, so we’ve just been able to spend a lot of time at home and creating our home,” Meghan said. “But I think it’s just the lifestyle and the weather is pretty great. … We’re just happy.”
