Exclusive: Meghan Markle’s Most Intimate Interview in Years: Harry, the Kids and Getting Real About Her ‘Learning Curve….See More

There are tons of twists and turns,” the Duchess of Sussex tells PEOPLE of her journey

Meghan Markle sits down for an intimate conversation with PEOPLE ahead of the launch of her new Netflix series, With Love, Meghan
The Duchess of Sussex opens up about life in Montecito with Prince Harry and their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, offering a rare glimpse into their world
She also gets candid about the highs and lows of launching her lifestyle brand, As ever, sharing the journey behind her latest venture

Meghan Markle is curled up in bed with her sleeping 5-year-old son, Prince Archie, on a recent winter evening in Montecito, California. With her phone in hand, she catches up on emails, finalizing details for the launch of her renamed lifestyle brand, As ever, and her new Netflix series, With Love, Meghan.

Her husband, Prince Harry, 40, is still in Vancouver, wrapping up the Invictus Games. Meghan, 43, had joined him for several days, during which she stayed in close touch with her mother, Doria, checking in on Archie and Princess Lilibet, 3 — who had both gotten sick — and making sure they were seen by the doctor and sipping bone broth.

Now she’s savoring this stillness at home with Archie as he stirs awake, sleepily telling her, “Mama, don’t work too hard.” Recalling the moment to PEOPLE a few days later, the Duchess of Sussex says, “It was the sweetest thing.”

Like any entrepreneur, Meghan has tackled the hard work of launching a new business — but unlike most, she has done so under an intense spotlight. In March 2024, her initial brand name, American Riviera Orchard, debuted online. One month later, jars of jam with the brand’s logo began circulating among pals like Chrissy Teigen and Mindy Kaling. Then came a pause. As anticipation grew, questions arose about when the products would be available, while behind the scenes, she navigated trademark issues.

There are tons of twists and turns — even with the name,” she says in her most intimate interview in years. “I was figuring it out in real time.”

And although she has faced intense public scrutiny at every step, Meghan says the experience has been defined by growth. “I appreciate everyone who gave me the grace to make mistakes and figure it out and also to be forgiving with myself through that. It’s a learning curve,” she says.

As Meghan builds her brand, she also continues to expand her life in Montecito. Five years have passed since she and Harry made the seismic decision to step back from their royal roles in the U.K. and chart their own path, but their titles remain.

Meghan says the Sussex name — bestowed upon her and Harry by Queen Elizabeth on their 2018 wedding day — holds a deeper significance than she could have imagined before motherhood.

“It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognized how meaningful that would be to me until we had children,” she says. “I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together. It means a lot to me.”

The Sussex name, she adds, “is part of our love story.”

Now with her new series, debuting March 4 on Netflix, she is sharing her personal passions— including cooking, hostessing and decorating — with her biggest audience yet.

When your children get to a certain age — when you’re not just playing in the sandbox with them but almost playing in your own sandbox again — it’s super joyful,” she says. “As a woman, a mom and a wife, to be able to find yourself again — in a way that was always present but that you maybe couldn’t put as much attention on as you now can when your kids are a little bit older — is a wonderful feeling.”

Although the couple’s 2022 Netflix docuseries, the record-breaking Harry & Meghan, famously pulled back the curtain on their struggles within the royal family, this time there’s no mention of anything royal. Harry himself makes only a fleeting appearance in the final episode, but his presence was felt behind the scenes.

“Whenever Harry visited set, he was always super polite and friendly,” a crew member tells PEOPLE, “but it was clear he wanted this to be Meghan’s moment to shine.”

Meghan’s eight-episode lifestyle show sees her cooking, crafting, and gardening with friends and chefs while sharing personal stories and recipes — a natural extension of her pre-royal life. In 2014, while filming Suits in Toronto, she launched The Tig, a blog on food, travel, and wellness, years ahead of the influencer boom. But as her relationship with Harry deepened, she shut it down in 2017 and later deleted her Instagram before joining royal life. How hard was it to let go?

Well, I loved The Tig, but I certainly love my husband more,” she says. “So that was a choice I made at the time, and I wouldn’t change that for a second.”

Harry is now loving watching Meghan step back into her creative groove. “My husband met me when I had The Tig, and I see this spark in his eye when he sees me doing the thing that I was doing when he first met me,” she says.

Even though the activities on her new show feel familiar to Meghan’s longtime followers, the filming pushed her beyond the comfort zone she knew from her seven seasons on Suits.

I was never really in front of the camera like this,” she says. Reflecting on the legal drama — which became one of Netflix’s most-streamed shows in 2023 — she adds: “It’s a time capsule for me — I still have the pencil skirt from the first episode! That’s the one thing I kept.” She remains close to costars like Abigail Spencer and is excited to see the upcoming Suits LA on Peacock: “I love that it gets a new breath of fresh air.”

Her new show isn’t a traditional “stand and stir” format — an industry term Meghan learned during filming to describe most cooking shows. “It feels as though we’re just spending time together, which is what it ended up being,” she says of the crew’s presence on the series. “I’d make a recipe and say, ‘Everyone try this,’ and there are certain dishes where you just watch everyone flock in. I’d say, ‘We’ve run out of spoons!’ It ended up feeling so communal, and that’s the spirit of the show.”