Meghan Markle podcast: Duchess of Sussex releases first new episode of Archetypes podcast after Queen’s death

Meghan Markle has released a new episode of her podcast Archetypes after taking a four week break due to being in mourning following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

It is expected that new episodes of the Duchess of Sussex’s podcast will now continue to be released in the coming weeks, as the world adjusts to life with King Charles III.

In the first episode since Tuesday 6 September, Meghan spoke to comedian Margaret Cho, sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen and journalist Lisa Ling about the ways that they believe society limits and defines Asian women, including the “dragon lady” stereotype.

The first episodes of the Spotify series, which Markle said will examine stereotypes about women, have also already caused stir because The Duchess opened up further about what life was like in the royal family.

The former actress spoke to iconic singer Mariah Carey about the impact of being biracial on her experiences and also told tennis ace Serena Williams about an incident involving her son Archie that left her “shaken”.

So, what did Meghan Markle say on the most recent episode of Archetypes, what did she say previously and how can you listen to all the episodes?

This is everything you need to know.

What is Meghan Markle’s podcast about?

Meghan Markle’s podcast investigates the labels that try to hold women back and how females are usually typecast, according to its Spotify synopsis.

Listeners will hear ‘uncensored’ experts and historians uncover where stereotypes originate from and speak to women who have had their lives affected by such stereotypes.

In a teaser for the show, various male and female voices can be heard making derogatory comments about women.

Markle’s voiceover then begins. She says “this is how we talk about women; the words that raise our girls, and how the media reflects women back to us.

“But where do these stereotypes come from? And how do they keep showing up and defining our lives?

“I’m Meghan, and this is Archetypes; the podcast where we dissect, explore, and subvert the labels that try to hold women back.

“I’ll have conversations with women who know all too well how these typecasts shape our narratives. And, I’ll talk to historians to understand how we even got here in the first place.”

Who has appeared on the podcast?

There are a variety of big names who have already featured on the podcast including professional tennis player Serena Williams and singer Mariah Carey.

Markle also revealed to The Cut that Constance Wu, Issa Rae, and Ziwe are also set to appear on future episodes.

What did Meghan Markle say in the most recent episode of Archetypes?

Markle spoke of her experience of going to a Korean spa with her mum when she was teenager and said she suffered “adolescent embarrassment” of having to remove all of her clothing in front of other women, as per the custom in Korean spas.

She said: “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 mum and I, we would go upstairs we would sit in a room and we would have a steaming bowl of the most delicious noodles.”

What else has been revealed during the podcast?

During the debut episode of Archetypes, Markle opened up to Williams about a distressing event that happened while she was on her royal tour of Africa with Prince Harry in 2019.

The Duchess of Sussex revealed that while she and her husband were at an official engagement in Nyanga, a fire broke out in the nursery where their son, Archie, who was then only a few weeks old, was staying.

Markle credited their “amazing nanny” for protecting him.

She said: “She was supposed to put Archie down for his nap, and she just said, ‘You know what? Let me just go get a snack downstairs.’”

“In that amount of time that she went downstairs, the heater in the nursery caught on fire. There was no smoke detector. Someone happened to just smell smoke down the hallway, went in, fire extinguished.”

She added: “He was supposed to be sleeping in there.”

Markle said that she and Harry then had to leave for another scheduled engagement, even though she said everyone was “in tears” and “shaken” by the incident.

Williams, who has a young daughter named Olympia, said she could have never gone on to another engagement afterwards.

Markle and Williams also went on to discusse the double standard they believe society sets for women who chase their dreams.

Markle said that she attended an all-girls Catholic school in Los Angeles throughout her childhood, and said the school “always empowered the students to go after what they wanted.”

She then said she began to feel she was being treated negatively for chasing her dreams when she began dating Prince Harry.

“I don’t remember ever personally feeling the negative connotation behind the word ‘ambitious’ until I started dating my now-husband.

“Apparently ambition is a terrible, terrible thing, for a woman that is — according to some. So, since I’ve felt the negativity behind it, it’s really hard to un-feel it. I can’t unsee it, either, in the millions of girls and women who make themselves smaller — so much smaller — on a regular basis.”

In the second episode of the podcast, Markle discussed the effects of being biracial with singing sensation Mariah Carey.

She also said she didn’t feel any negative connotations until she began dating her now-husband.

She told Carey: “I mean, if there’s any time in my life that it’s been more focused on my race, it’s only once I started dating my husband. Then I started to understand what it was like to be treated like a Black woman.

“Because up until then, I had been treated like a mixed woman. And things really shifted.”

How did the podcast get its name?

Meghan Markle’s new podcast is called Archetypes, and there are a number of theories behind why it’s called this.

It could have been named subject matter it discusses -  typical portrayals of women throughout history.

It could also be a reference to Archewell, the nonprofit organisation that Meghan founded with her husband Prince Harry which is named after their son, Archie.

The podcast has been created by Spotify and the Sussexes’ production company, Archewell Audio.

When was the podcast released, and can you still listen to it?

The Archetypes podcast was released on Tuesday 23 August, and fans can lisen to all episodes via Spotify.

The podcast, had been toping Spotify charts around the world since it was released, had been long awaited since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex signed an exclusive multi-year partnership with Spotify two years ago.

In a joint statement at the time, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle said: “What we love about podcasting is that it reminds all of us to take a moment and to really listen, to connect to one another without distraction.”

The podcast features Harry and Meghan’s son Archie and celebrity guests such as Elton John, James Cordon, Stacey Abrams, Naomi Osaka and Tyler Perry.

What has Meghan Markle said about gender equality previously?

Before she began dating - and subsequently married - Prince Harry and joined the royal family, Meghan Markle was an actress.

She ran a blog called The Tig, which she closed in 2017, but it was on this platform thatshe spoke about the first moment she became a feminist.

She said there was a “pivotal event” in school when a few classmates “purged some of their inadvertent misogyny” on her.

She said she was told "Women belong in the kitchen," they said, and at 11 years old their words made her “turtle”.

In a 2014 column for the Irish Independent she wrote: “To be a feminist, to be a lady, to be a woman does not mean fighting against the stereotype of gender roles, but embracing the idea that one can rule a country and wear lipstick; be a breadwinner at work, and a bread baker with her kids at home.”