Meghan’s love of her Sussex name among Netflix revelations

The Duchess of Sussex loves her surname, purposely under-salts the Duke of Sussex’s food, and was the unofficial “head of morale” on the set of Suits.

Meghan gives a rare insight into her life in Montecito, offering up a number of revelations.

But there is no direct mention of the royal family in the eight-episode output, with Meghan steering clear of bringing up any controversies.

Here is what we learned:

When the actress Mindy Kaling uses Meghan’s maiden name, the duchess speaks with pride about being a Sussex: “You keep saying, Meghan Markle, you know, I’m Sussex now.

“You have kids, and you go, ‘now I share my name with my children’ … I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me, but it just means so much to go ‘this is our family name, our little family name’.”

The Sussex title was given to Harry on the morning of his wedding by his grandmother, the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Harry and Meghan stopped using their HRH styles when they stepped away from the monarchy.

There were calls at the time for them to lose their Sussex titles, but this can only be actioned through legislation.

Meghan says: “H is a great cook. He makes a really great breakfast.”

Her former Suits co-star Abigail Spencer remarks: “Is he really?” with friend Kelly McKee Zajfen praising his “scrambled eggs”.

But Meghan under-salts his food in return.

“I have a family, a husband, who no matter what meal is put in front of him before he tastes it puts salt on, so I try to under-salt,” she says.

The Sussexes also enjoy a daily veg platter, Meghan reveals.

“We have a veggie platter, crudites, every day in our house,” she says.

Meghan reveals how Prince Archie caught two trout while fishing on holiday.

“I have two kids, and then we had two trout. It’s like: ‘We’re going to salt bake a fish’, because it would be fun for them.”

Princess Lilibet helped make a batch of strawberry jam, which Meghan serves in a dessert to Spencer and Zajfen.

Meghan says: “This is a strawberry preserve. Lili and I actually made this batch together. She picked all those berries, with then she’s like: ‘No, no Mama I’ll do it’ and she wants to try.

“She’s like: ‘I’ll stir it. I’ll mash it’, it’s like, great, and then you keep the hot stuff away and go: ‘I’ll pour it in’, but she’s proud. That part feels good.”

Her chickens came from factory farms and it took six months to rehabilitate them.

“Most of these girls were rescues,” she says.

But she also has two silkies which were gifts and have been named Phil and Jill by Archie and Lilibet.

“It changes on the day. This is either Phil or Jill. Depends on how the kids are feeling,” she says.

Meghan’s elderly rescue beagle Guy, who has since died, is described by Meghan as “my shadow”.

As she talks about the years he has spent with her moving to the UK and back to the US, she says: “So yeah, Guy has a lot of stories to tell.”

“I was a latch-key kid so I grew up with a lot of fast food and also a lot of TV tray dinners,” she says.

“It feels like such a different time but that was so normal with the microwavable kids meals…”

Meghan reveals how her numbered homemade jam caused some friction with her celebrity friends when she soft-launched her lifestyle brand.

“It was not a ranking, it was just ‘let me share them’ and then people started to take it very personally,” she says.

But she then adds her mother was given jar number one because that felt like the right thing to do.

The duchess reveals she listens to 70s soft rock, yacht rock, and lot of soul, and also French dinner party music.

Meghan tells how Lili was given a doll called “Stella al Fresco” which comes with a little pretend baguette and some cheese.

The fabric doll by Manhattan Toy costs around £38, wears dungarees and has a magnetic pacifier, fabric picnic basket, baguette, and a wheel of artisan cheese.

“I felt like you were head of morale on the show,” Spencer says, as they talk about their time on Suits.

Meghan responds: “I liked to plan fun for everyone… or to have people at the house.”

The duchess tells how her grandmother worked in an ice cream shop and so did she for her first job, at the age of 13, at Humphrey Yogurt.

Meghan chats to close friend Daniel Martin about her lemon and elderflower wedding cake, saying: “We did the tasting together.”

At the time, baker Claire Ptak said Harry and Meghan loved the lemon and elderflower cake after trying a number of different samples.

The duchess has taken to playing mahjong with three Montecito friends and getting together for game nights.

– “Good night sweetheart” as Meghan puts a cake in the oven

– “I feel like you’re watching me falling in love,” she says as she eats a raw turnip.

– “I love feeding people. I think it’s probably my love language,” on the joy of cooking for guests.

– “Well, it’s just adding that extra bit of decor to the things that we eat because we eat with our eyes first,” as she cuts up fruit to dehydrate the slices for drinks.

– “She’s so beautiful on the inside and you just don’t know how good she is until you go deep and you get to know her better,” about her cake.

– “Baking is not my favourite thing but I will do it for one of my favourite people,” to make up artist Daniel Martin.

– “So I hope she and I can become friends. I can’t wait. I’m like: ‘Do you want to come over to my house for Thanksgiving?’” as she prepares to meet chef Alice Waters for the first time.

– “Has anyone in the world ever been so tickled by the sight of lettuces?” watching Waters put lettuce leaves in a bowl.

– “I have a lazy Susan at home. It’s great and by the way there is nothing lazy about that Susan — she works hard,” about the kitchen gadget.

– “I find when I’m cooking bacon my kitchen very immediately becomes full of husband and three dogs. It’s not my perfume that brings them all in. ‘My bacon brings all the boys to the yard’” on cooking bacon.

– “We’re not in the pursuit of perfection. We’re in the pursuit of joy.”