When the Duchess of Sussex met Beyonce over the summer, I commented that Meghan probably felt like collapsing in Beyonce’s arms at the sound of an American accent. I keep thinking about that, just like I keep thinking about how Meghan came to the US Open Women’s Final and when they put her on the big-screen, everyone in Arthur Ashe Stadium clapped and cheered for her. There’s just such a huge difference in how Americans see Meghan and how British people see her. It’s almost as if Americans see Meghan as a point of patriotic pride, like “yay, we’ve got an American girl in that stuffy British family!” Add to that, the British media goes into a full-on meltdown mode whenever Meghan does come to America. Remember the hysteria about Meghan’s baby shower in New York? Yeah. That’s what we’re going to deal with when Meghan and Harry come to America for Thanksgiving.
As Meghan Markle and Prince Harry prepare for their upcoming six-week break with son Archie, spending time together as a family will be top priority. Although the palace is not commenting on how the young family will spend the break, they will likely visit Meghan’s hometown of Los Angeles, where her mom Doria Ragland, a yoga instructor and social worker, lives.
“This is Archie’s first Thanksgiving,” a source tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue, “and family is going to be very important for Meghan for the holidays.”
“This would also be Harry’s first Thanksgiving in the States,” adds the source. “It will be nice for them to be around people that love them and have him understand her traditions too.”
Several insiders say the couple are eager to escape the intense tabloid scrutiny in the U.K.—maybe even by establishing a second “base” in the U.S., Canada or Africa. “It’s not possible for them to be [in the U.K.] like this,” says a source. “There’s more pressure now. There’s a shift that is happening.”
I can’t wait for all of the Daily Mail commentary on “what is this terrible American holiday ‘Thanksgiving’” and “how Meghan has pissed off Native Americans by eating a vegan tofurkey” or whatever else they’ll say. It’s going to be the WORST. So just FYI for all of the British Celebitches: Americans celebrate Thanksgiving by eating turkey and mashed potatoes and then watching football. It’s just a nice holiday where we all gather together with friends and family. It’s not a huge conspiracy. It’s just a nice American holiday. Of course Meghan wants to celebrate Thanksgiving with her mom and her son and her husband. Of course Archie is going to be raised in a household which celebrates Thanksgiving. It will not be the end of the monarchy.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid and Avalon Red.
Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite holidays. Some of my best memories is waking up early, cooking (learning to! lol) with my mom and grandmother, making all the family favorites while Macy’s Parade was on in the background. The best were when it was gray and/or rainy outside, making it so cozy in the kitchen. Then the whole family being together, groaning over how much we ate.
I’m sure Meghan has memories of that, too, and that’s what she wants to share with Archie and Harry, that sense of family *belonging* together. They sure don’t get that warmth at BP/KP.
Saw my first Christmas commercial this morning….the countdown is on to the holidays!! 😊
Your Thanksgiving sounds perfect! 😊
These are my memories of Thanksgiving, too. It’s a nice holiday. My husband and I are changing things up this year because we both came to the realization that neither of us really like turkey all the much. LOL!!! After 35+ years together. 😀
So bloody weird how this site makes up things that have never happened to be angry at. It’s like reading Trump supporters or something.
Really. You think that Meghan never learned to/cooked with her mother on holidays? Or her grandmother, whom she was very close to? What kind of home did you grow up in?
I suppose they will be awful to her about that too. It is a really nice holiday though and I’m glad she gets to spend it in America given that it’s an American holiday. Welcome home, Megs!
I like your breakdown of the two most essential foods. I know differences get hugely regional (creamed onions, lefse, and I seem to have a memory of chorizo stuffing in New Mexico one year) but turkey and taters are the big girls on the table.
Believe or not: DM or Express were talking about this holiday several months ago. I don’t remember the narrative but in general lines was that her baby would have american holidays, Of course, not said so nicely.
I don’t know a mother in her right mind that isn’t excited to celebrate and share her traditions with her family and children. That’s what moms do, ding dongs
I completely agree. It would be strange if she didn’t want to share that with her child.
One thing that I am curious about though is this talk of “American pride” in having an American as part of the Royals. As a Brit, the Royals don’t feel to me like something to be proud of. I know there is a divide and some British people love them but I feel that they’re scroungers who don’t do nearly enough to warrant the lifestyle they lead and that seems to be the overall feeling on here, from what I read. If there was a Brit working for Trump, should British feel proud? It seems nonsensical.
My goodness.
Besides Halloween, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It’s literally the best thing. Food, family, friends & football (and/or movies). The older I get, the more I appreciate it and am glad to have so many great memories & traditions tied to it. I’m happy Meghan is sharing her traditions with Harry and the baby. It’s sweet and hope they have an amazing holiday and I hope the DM/RR seriously back off.
My first child was born 3 days before thanksgiving. It’s always been my favorite holiday because it was my mom’s biggest bash for our family and extended family. She passed away 9 years ago, but the thanksgiving before she died, she “supervised” me making everything and I surreptitiously wrote down her oral recipes. I didn’t know that was our last time to do that together. I continue to make all her traditional recipes that I love for our family.
All that to say, I hope this is a special holiday for the Sussexes, especially Meghan.
Abby – what a beautiful account of your mother passing down those traditions. We really don’t know what time we have with those we love and it must be comforting to know that she continues to be there with you via those traditions.
Abby, that’s the same with me. I learned from my mom and grandmother. They “supervised” my cooking. I remember the year when my grandmother was telling me how much salt to put in a soup:
“Here… put in a “bissell” salt.” (Bissell is Yiddish for “a little”).
“Grandma, how much is a “bissell”??” (Me, confused).
She poured some Kosher salt in her hand and showed me, “See? A bissell.”
“Yeah, but Grandma, HOW MUCH IS THAT??”
She’d shrug, “A bissell”, and poured it in my hand to feel the amount.
😊 This is how I learned. Never did measure out how much a “bissell” is; I just learned to cook by feel/sight, like my grandmother, like she taught my mother, and then me. I treasure these recipes.
Some of my very favorite memories 😊
love this! A bissell!
LOL! My brother had to follow our mom around the kitchen and measure everything himself to get her potato pancake recipe just right. You’d think potatoes, flour, and oil wouldn’t be that complicated….
THEOG, I am from Vienna and a “bisserl” means “a little bit”! I am always blown away how much Jiddish I understand (though, it makes sense, as it’s an old german dialect mixed with Hebrew)
It really is funny, how this “way” keeps passing in our family. During my sister’s first year away at college, she called me and asked how to make a potato kugel. She wanted to make a Shabbat dinner for her roommates.
After instructing her what to do with the potato and onion, s&p, (and not to forget the 2 eggs!) in the blender, I was trying to explain how much matzo meal to pour in. I found myself trying to explain that she needed to pour the blended potato into a big bowl, and then start to sprinkle the matzo meal on top of the ground up potato; then to start stirring, that the mixture shouldn’t “feel loose”, but “a bit firm”, and definitely not hard or thick lol. She kept asking (same as I did!), “But HOW MUCH is that?”. And I just kept trying to get her to go by “feel” lolol
Luckily, it came out great 😊
@ Abby + OG
What sweet stories, I’m so jealous of you guys! ❤️😍💋
After my brother and I nearly burned down the kitchen, surreptitiously trying to bake a cake (we weren’t allowed in the kitchen for previous fire violations by my wayward brother), we then got banned FORMALLY and permanently.
So I learned to cook at school and university, from friends, teachers and books. Because cooking always felt almost illicit, I started doing it allll the time and I eventually got pretty good.
Now, my mother has the nerve to try to blackmail me into cooking her favorites…..despite never having taught me a single thing about it! 🤭🙄😊.
Still….Your stories will be my template for teaching my daughters one day. 😉😊
I think how you put it was a bit disrespectful. Thanksgiving sucks and the origins of it are awful and genocidal in nature so I do understand Native Americans being offended and disgusted by this holiday. It’s not just a “nice” holiday. It might be like that now, it shows how ignorant people are about history – but lets not forget the true history behind it because that would be extremely racist towards the First People of this land.
With that being said, I do agree that this doesn’t mean it falls on one person. The British press is racist and is going to look at every details to belittle her. Like the true hypocrites they are. And I don’t agree with that at all. Hopefully she can find a little bit of peace in her familiar surroundings, with family and friends.
No, it doesn’t show how ignorant people are, it shows how things evolve over time. It’s been about 400 years since the first Thanksgiving and I agree that the intervening 400 years have been pretty soundly horrible for all the Native nations, but Thanksgiving has made it into our dwindling list of shared traditions.
Wow. Well this comment was a giant colonialist yikes. “Sorry about that genocide that happened to Native Americans but hey that was a long time ago so…🤷🏽♀️“
In my primarily non-Native American family, we begin our meal by acknowledging that our celebration is occurring on stolen land and colonial exploitation. Wherever we are we acknowledge the original people there by name. We also acknowledge that we are the descendants of enslaved Africans and thus share in the sadness of the day for so many. At the same time, we celebrate our survival and family ties despite what our people have faced in America. We sometimes (not always) volunteer to serve food for those less fortunate.
Thanksgiving is not a benign holiday, so I hope more American families will figure out how to grapple with historical truths (genocide and land theft) on that day.
@Wisca I agree. I am African American and my family celebrates Thanksgiving as well. But we do so not divorcing this history of the holiday from its origins and what it means. Being black in the US gives a unique perspective as we, like Native Americans, have dealt with the history of being non-citizens or half-citizens in this country. I think one can celebrate the holiday but it cant and shouldn’t be done with a shrug and an oh well about the brutal history it represents for so many indigenous people. We have created our own traditions around the holiday for that reason.
Agreed. I always feel very uncomfortable with Thanksgiving.
Completely agree, never understood how people bragged about celebrating a time where Native Americans were slaughtered..
Thanksgiving feasts in the Americas occurred long before European settlement and were important celebrations in many indigenous cultures. Perhaps that’s why there were more Native Americans than Pilgrims at the “First Thanksgiving” in 1621. It wasn’t a November federal holiday until Abraham Lincoln made it so.
1/2 native here and i don’t do Thanksgiving. We go out for Japanese food and see a movie.
Native North American here. Nope, I don’t celebrate genocide, either. I love how people are like “but the holiday evolved” like somehow that makes it okay. Willful ignorance. No excuse.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love the food and the traditions around it, without the stress/pressure of presents and gift giving. I am sure Meghan is excited to share that with Archie, and since it doesn’t seem like he’s been to the US yet (but I guess we don’t know for sure), then that makes this (probable) visit very special.
My family teases me every year about the frozen green bean casserole I served 18 years ago! But everyone ate it and said not a word about it until I bit into it and noticed that the green beans were still frozen solid 🙂
Are Americans that invested in the RF? Hundreds of those I speak with seem to be indifferent about Meghan.
plenty are, that’s why she’s on the cover of american tabloids all the time.
I would not say Americans are invested in the Royal Family. I would say that we, like anyone else, protect our own and see her as a positive force for good and also see her being extremely disrespected and many of us believe it’s due to the color of her skin. All in all, my opinion on the majority of Brits has vastly changed. I was indifferent before. I love my Brit coworker and most I have met otherwise (though they tend to be well educated and traveled so maybe that contributes to it). But now I tend to think of the majority of Brits the way I think of Trump Republicans and undereducated people from a certain region of our country. I’m just sick of racist assholes ruining everything for everyone. I do sympathize with the idea y’all came up with for Australia… too bad we’ve run out of islands.
@Kaiser please do not conflate the Racist British Tabloid media with the British public. Our thinking and opinions are not the same…. not even close. I thought the cross party and race women MP letter has demonstrated this to you sufficiently.
W
Thank you. 🙂
+1
Adding my raised eyebrows to the statement that “Thanksgiving is just a nice holiday.” It is for many of us, but it’s also highly problematic for Native peoples and those descended from slaves. We can enjoy the togetherness, the delicious food and be grateful for what we have while understanding that it glosses over the horrible treatment of non-white peoples in north America.
Regarding royals doing Thanksgiving, it’s worth pointing out that Prince Albert of Monaco has shared his fond memories of Thanksgiving in America. As far as I know, nobody fussed about Grace taking him to Philadelphia and the Monaco royal family hasn’t crumbled because of it.
I prefer Thanksgiving to Christmas. It’s nice family time without the stress of presents.
I’ve been outside of the U.S. during Thanksgiving due to travel and living abroad and it’s a really disorienting feeling. It’s just such an American thing, and I love that she wants to share it with her British husband and son. Also, I have wonderful memories of my babies getting their hands all up in mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce so hopefully Archie will get to try some too!
I am sure they will have a blast with Doria and Archie having his first US holiday with Grandma. I am sure Meghan will be cooking up a storm too! I think these type of holidays are important for Harry and Archie too for what a normal holiday is like and not all the grandeur that the RF displays for holidays in a palace.
You forgot to mention that it’s American football, which is dumb and only involves feet connecting to the ball like 6 times in a 500 hour game.
Ugh, football. I’ve tried to watch it many times and all I can see is 22 guys mauling each other.
It’s the whole worst.
I hope the press doesn’t make a big deal of Meghan visiting her mom for Thanksgiving with her family. It’s the busiest travel time of the year, so it’s not like she’s doing anything unusual. I feel bad for Harry trying to choke down pumpkin pie. Have not yet met a European who actually likes it.