Meghan Markle Invites The Internet Into Her Montecito Home for a Good Cause
For her 40th birthday, the Duchess of Sussex is asking for 40 minutes of your time.
Remember when we were spending all our time picking over the Zoom backgrounds of the famous to parse their WFH set-ups and personal spaces? Well, a big one just dropped: Meghan Markle’s. For her 40th birthday, the Duchess uploaded a video giving a rare sneak peek of her new home in Montecito, California (with an even sneakier peek at Prince Harry in the background). For the clip, Markle was joined by fellow MM-initialed actress Melissa McCarthy to promote Markle’s latest initiative: the 40x40 mentorship initiative. Though, of course, we can’t help but be a bit shallow and note Markle’s interior tastes as well.
Harry and Meghan bought their home in Monetcito, a quiet beach town about three hours north of Los Angeles, nearly a year ago for a reported $14.7 million. Spread out across 7.4 acres, the home includes 9 bedrooms, 16 bathrooms, a gym, saunas, and an elevator. The understandably guarded Sussexes have shown off little of the home to the public, but it appears they’ve made an exception by using what appears to be a study for the video shoot.
The color palette is notably muted in tones of beige, off-white, and ivory with small accents of gold and bronze. Markle uses a distressed dining table as her desk. You’ll notice her beagle, Guy, curled up behind her on a pillow, and stacks of her recent children’s book The Bench displayed on the desk. An Hermès blanket drapes one of the chairs. It feels fitting of a royal, but decidedly Californian with a little hint of British pomp. Markle is dressed to match in casual white separates. Though, you can’t help but notice her necklaces. Purchased from Logan Hollowell, a sustainable L.A.-based jeweler, they’re made to look like the constellation signs for Gemini and Taurus—the Zodiac symbols of her two children Archie and Lilibet. You can watch full video on the Sussexes Archewell Foundation site here.
Of course, if you watch all the way until the end you’ll notice Prince Harry, apparently practicing his juggling through the window in the background.
Though, the main point of the skit with McCarthy is to bring attention to women who are struggling with returning to the workforce.
“In reflecting on my 40th birthday and the many things I am grateful for, I’m struck that time is among our greatest and most essential gifts: Time with our loved ones, time doing the things we love, time spent learning, laughing, growing, and the sacred time we have on this earth,” wrote Markle in an accompanying letter. “Amongst the most valuable gifts of time is also time spent in service to others knowing that it can contribute to incredible change. To that last point, and with my 40th lap around the sun in mind, it made me wonder: what would happen if we all committed 40 minutes to helping someone else or to mentoring someone in need? And then what would happen if we asked our friends to do the same?”
Markle has asked 40 friends to donate 40 minutes to mentor a woman re-entering the workplace, and is asking you to do the same. Find out more here.
