Meghan Markle's Spotify podcast Archetypes has returned after being put on "pause" following the death of the Queen last month.
Only three episodes had been released before the sad news about the Queen emerged and the whole of the Royal Family went into mourning. The official royal mourning period ended last Tuesday - and a brand new episode of the podcast was expected last week. However, the podcast took an extended four week break that until today when a brand new episode dropped, which features Meghan in conversation with comedian Margaret Cho talking about navigating the entertainment industry as an Asian American woman.
However, Meghan does not reference the Queen's death in the latest episode and dives straight in to exploring the "Dragon Lady" stereotype with journalist Lisa Ling and comedian Margaret Cho.
The duchess begins by talking about her experience of growing up in Los Angeles which was "full of culture that you could see, feel, hear and taste on a daily basis” and said she had a “real love” of getting to know other cultures.
She spoke of going to a Korean spa with her mother as a teenager, adding: "It's a very humbling experience for a girl going through puberty because you enter a room with women from ages nine to maybe 90, all walking around naked and waiting to get a body scrub on one of these tables that are all lined up in a row. All I wanted was a bathing suit."
"Once I was over that adolescent embarrassment, my mom and I, we would go upstairs we would sit in a room and we would have a steaming bowl of the most delicious noodles," she said.
Meghan said she was not aware of the stigmas faced by women of Asian descent until many years later.
The duchess said: “The Dragon Lady, the East Asian temptress whose mysterious foreign allure is scripted as both tantalising and deadly.
“This has seeped into a lot of our entertainment. But this toxic stereotyping of women of Asian descent, it doesn’t just end once the credits roll."
After the death of the Queen, the message on the podcast's Spotify page said: "New episodes of Archetypes will be paused during the official mourning period for Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II."
Meghan and Prince Harry signed a lucrative deal with the audio streaming giant Spotify to host and produce podcasts, estimated to be worth around £18 million, in late 2020.
Archetypes was launched with the aim of investigating "labels that try to hold women back" through conversations between Meghan and historians, experts and women who have experienced being typecast.
In the first episode with tennis star Serena Williams, Meghan revealed how her and Harry’s son Archie narrowly escaped a fire in his bedroom when he was meant to be sleeping, during the Sussexes' tour of South Africa in 2019 - and how she had to go out after to do another official engagement.
Guests in the other two episodes of the podcast so far have also included pop singer Mariah Carey and comedian and actress Mindy Kaling.
Both Meghan and Harry returned to California in the days after the Queen's state funeral, where they would have been reunited with their children Archie and Lilibet.
The couple were in the UK by chance at the time of the Queen's death and took part in several services and processions in the days after she passed away.
Despite a turbulent relationship over the past few years, the couple and other members of the royal family had been united in grief.
This had prompted questions over the possibility of a reconciliation between Harry, his brother the Prince of Wales and their father King Charles III.
Despite reports of a rift between the two brothers, William and Harry remained cordial to each other and were seen speaking regularly during the visit.
It came after the King acknowledged the couple in his address to the nation the day after his mother died, saying: "I want also to express my love for Harry and Meghan as they continue to build their lives overseas."
Prior to the Queen’s funeral, Harry and Meghan attended her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June but kept out of the limelight for the majority of the weekend.
It is as yet unclear whether they will attend the coronation of Charles and it remains to be seen whether differences will be put aside in a bid to heal the rift for good and if this would signal a return to them becoming a more permanent fixture once more in future royal events.
