It’s hard to believe that five years have passed since Meghan Markle and Prince Harry completed their final royal engagement before ending their time as working royals, but that milestone is finally here. And now, Meghan is reflecting on everything that has changed in her life over the past five years. Compared to her former full-time job as the Duchess of Sussex, everything about the way she now lives her life is radically different.
Harry and Meghan’s final appearance as royals took place in March 2020.
After announcing their decision to step down as working royals in January 2020, Meghan and Harry fulfilled their remaining royal obligations by attending the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey that March. It wasn’t a celebratory send-off by any means; as People pointed out, Harry called the experience “cold” in the couple’s Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan.
“I felt really distant from the rest of my family, which was interesting because so much of how they operate is about what it looks like, rather than what it feels like. And it looked cold. But it also felt cold,” Harry said at the time.
Meghan opened up about the past five years in a new interview.
While talking to People in an interview published last week, Meghan talked about the changes she’s been through since that final royal engagement. Of course, becoming a mom of two to Archie and Lili – who wasn’t born yet when Meghan and Harry left the UK – is what came to mind for her first.
“Five years ago Archie was only 8 or 9 months old, so my life has changed so much,” she said. “Anyone who has children will tell you, it’s a huge evolution as a woman during that time.”
Previously, Harry admitted that Meghan wanted to ‘go out with a bang’ at her last royal appearance.
In Harry & Meghan, she admitted that she often defaulted to wearing neutral colors so she could “blend in” with the other royals and avoid accidentally wearing the same color as Queen Elizabeth or Kate Middleton during an outing.
“I never wanted to upstage or ruffle any feathers, so I just tried to blend in. But I wore a lot of color that week. I thought: ‘Well, let’s just look like a rainbow,'” Meghan said on the show, as Harry added, “It was our opportunity to go out with a bang, to be honest.”
It certainly worked, and now, Meghan and Harry appear to be living their best lives in California. That final engagement might have been cold, but it also seems to have set them both free.
Check out our Meghan Markle page for all the latest news about Meghan, Prince Harry, and their growing family.
