Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had to continue royal engagement in South Africa after son Archie’s bedroom caught fire

Meghan Markle has used the first episode of her podcast to share some insight into her life in the royal family.

The Duchess of Sussex and her husband Prince Harry stood down from royal duties in January 2020 due to the effects it was having on his mental health.

In episode one of her new podcast Archetypes, Meghan spoke to her close friend Serena Williams about the ‘misconceptions of ambition’.

She left listeners shocked as she recounted how during a royal engagement in South Africa, her son Archie’s room caught fire.

Meghan claimed that she was still expected to continue with royal duties despite the scary incident.

The Duchess of Sussex spoke openly about how women are expected to continue without “anyone having any sense of what was happening behind the scenes”.

Meghan said: “When we went on our tour to South Africa, we landed with Archie. Archie was what, four and a half months old and 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 this township called Nyanga.

“And there’s this moment where I was standing on a tree stump and I’m giving this speech to women and girls and we finished the engagement and we get in the car and they say ‘there’s been a fire at the residence.’

“‘What?’ ‘There’s been a fire in the baby’s room.’”

Meghan explained that the family had only been in the country a matter of hours, when she and Harry had to race back to ensure Archie was safe.

Meghan told Serena that their “amazing nanny” Lauren had taken Archie to grab a snack before his nap, which meant the baby was not in the room when the fire started.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex found Lauren in “floods of tears”, as she described how she was supposed to put the baby down for his nap but fortunately took him with her.

Meghan said: “In that amount of time that she went downstairs, the heater in the nursery caught on fire.

“There was no smoke detector, someone just happened to smell smoke down the hallway, went in, fire extinguished.

“He was supposed to be sleeping in there.”

Meghan claimed “everyone was in tears” and “shaken” over what could have happened.

The 41-year-old explained that after the incident she and her husband Prince Harry, were expected to leave Archie again and go off for another official engagement.

“‘This just doesn’t make any sense, can you just tell people what happened?’,”Meghan added.

The new podcast by Meghan Markle is set to feature themes of feminism and the ‘labels that try to hold women back’.

‘Archetypes’ is a Spotify original and will feature a dozen episodes from The Duchess of Sussex.