Meghan Markle launched her brand new podcast on Tuesday (August 23), with tennis legend Serena Williams as her first guest on the ‘Archetypes’ show.
To coincide with the debut of her new venture (which was announced back in 2020), the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s official Archewell website has been remodelled to promote the release. The words “The podcast where we explore and subvert the labels that try to hold women back” feature prominently, with a black and white picture of Markle.
Williams is a friend of the Duchess and the the pair discussed topics on the Spotify-hosted podcast ranging from motherhood, to the implications of ambition in women, compared with men. The episode is entitled: “The Misconception of Ambition”.
The podcast is the first product of the audio branch of the couple’s Archewell brand. And in the debut instalment, Markle told a story of a trip she and Prince Harry took to South Africa in 2019.
Their son Archie had only recently been born and went along with his parents. However, while they were on a royal engagement nearby, his bedroom caught fire.
She recounted: “The moment we landed, we had to drop him off at this housing unit that they had had us staying in. He was going to get ready to go down for his nap.
“We immediately went to an official engagement in a township called Nyanga, and there was this moment where I’m standing on a tree stump and I’m giving this speech to women and girls. We finish the engagement, we get in the car and they say, ‘There’s been a fire at the residence, there’s been a fire in the baby’s room’.”
She then revealed that their nanny, Lauren, was beside herself in tears. After nipping downstairs for a snack, with Archie, the heater in the nursery caught on fire.
“Someone happened to just smell smoke down the hallway, went in, fire extinguished,” Markle added. “He was supposed to be sleeping in there.”
The podcast, which also featured UC Berkley professor Laura Kay, received mixed reviews on social media, with one Twitter user writing: “Brilliant podcast! Loved every minute”, while another wrote: “So in other words, privileged and elite has a conversation with privileged and elite, and together they complain about what it's like to be privileged and elite.”
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