The first time Princess Lilibet’s cute American accent was captured was when the three-year-old shared her thoughts on her mother Meghan Markle’s jam.
Over the weekend, Meghan Markle, who is 43 years old and holds the title of the Duchess of Sussex, uploaded a video on her Instagram. In the video, she can be heard asking Lilibet about her opinion on the strawberry jam while getting ready to make a fresh batch of the delicious treat.
‘It’s beautiful,’ the toddler gushed, as her Californian accent shone through.
Since she reopened her Instagram account on the first day of the year, Meghan has been regularly offering glimpses into her life in Montecito, California. This includes sharing photos and videos of her two children with Prince Harry, Lilibet and Prince Archie.
The first time royal fans heard Lilibet’s voice was in January 2025, when the Duchess posted an emotional tribute in memory of the Sussexes’ late beagle, Guy, on social media.
Meghan’s video included a tender moment of the royal children singing to the beloved pooch as well as a clip of Prince Archie and Guy that was taken during a car journey.
It appears that both Lilibet and Archie, five, have developed strong American accents since moving stateside; at one point, viewers can hear Archie say ‘he might fall’ with a pronounced twang while referring to the family’s beloved dog.
Meghan’s latest Instagram video comes after she attended the Time100 Summit on Thursday.
During a conversation with Time CEO Jessica Sibley, Meghan confessed she had ‘always’ loved to ‘make things in my kitchen, do small flower arrangements, make a lot of jam‘, she added with a laugh.
When she began sending those items as gifts, Bela Bajaria, chief content officer of Netflix suggested ‘there’s a show here’, the actress-turned-entrepreneur claimed.
Explaining how her lifestyle series As Ever came to be, Meghan then revealed: ‘I hadn’t at the onset thought that was something I wanted to share in that way.’
With a final thrust of enthusiasm for her latest project, she added: ‘Creatively we worked as partners to really find a way for it to land and for me to be able to share it and just have fun, which I think is really the goal in this chapter.’
The Duchess’ suggestion that she was initially bashful about the project will raise eyebrows in the face of the fact the show was several months in the making.
It was also inexorably tied to the launch of her lifestyle brand, As Ever – which she has also confessed to spending ‘so many years working on’ – and a line of merchandise ‘inspired’ by the show.
‘With Love, Meghan’ finally aired on Netflix in March after it was initially postponed due to the wildfires in Los Angeles.
But for all the hype and build-up to the show’s release, it was slated by reviewers as ‘gormless lifestyle filler’ with a ‘tangible desperation’.
Others said it shows the Duchess is ‘attempting to cling to fame by any means possible’, while another described how she was ‘joylessly filling kids’ party bags with seeds’.
Marina Hyde in The Guardian described the show as ‘sensationally absurd and trite’, adding: ‘The mildest way to describe this show is as a ghastly artefact of a particular cultural era that recently met its apocalypse.’
Meanwhile, The Telegraph gave the show just two stars. In a review, they said the series was an ‘exercise in narcissism, filled with extravagant brunches, celebrity pals and business plugs’.
Criticism was also levelled at the show for being about Meghan’s ‘intimate glimpse’ of life at home – yet it was revealed that it was not filmed in the Montecito-based mansion she shares with Prince Harry and their two children.
The Duchess’ Instagram account, on the other hand, now routinely features Archie and Lilibet.
In February, Meghan shared a Valentine’s Day post that included a video of the former Suits actress making themed bagels with Archie and Lilibet – much to the delight of her fans.
One person wrote: ‘Harry and Meghan are blessed with a beautiful family. Archie is so tall now and Lili seems so comfortable in the kitchen. She is wielding that butter knife like a pro.’
Another added: ‘OMG a little Glimpse of Prince Archie & Princess Lilibet. What a beautiful day.’
Ahead of the premiere of her Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, last month, Meghan shared a photo of her and Lilibet being joined by ‘Auntie’ Serena Williams for a game of Candy Land.
A separate video Meghan shared featured Archie’s voice, as he helped her to water some plants.
Royal experts have suggested Harry and Meghan appear to have very different views when it comes to sharing photographs of their children with the public.
During a recent appearance on Hello!’s Right Royal podcast, the magazine’s royal editor Emily Nash joined The Sun’s royal editor Matt Wilkinson for a conversation about the topic.
‘My understanding of this is that, up to a certain stage, Harry would much rather his children were not seen,’ Matt said.
He added: ‘Whereas Meghan grew up in California, she once said she would like to have a more California style lifestyle, take them down the beach, go out, do stuff. She doesn’t want to hide them away.’
He noted that the Duchess does not share her children’s faces in images and videos she posts – something the panel said Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie also do when it comes to images of their children.
While the panel discussed the possibility of Archie and Lilibet getting snapped when they are older, Matt said: ‘I think Harry’s living in [like things are] the way they were when he was a child […] the media landscape has shifted.’
Many of the posts Meghan shared on Instagram featuring glimpses of the children were in the run-up to the release of With Love, Meghan. The video Meghan shared featuring Lilibet (alongside Serena Williams) was tagged with the caption: ‘3 days until the party begins. All are invited @Netflix.’
Archie and Lilibet were also featured briefly in a short clip played when Meghan appeared on the Drew Barrymore show at the beginning of March.
During the episode, the Duchess revealed she had enlisted her children to help in the kitchen as she baked hundreds of cookies for guests attending the Drew Barrymore Show.
While appearing on the episode, Meghan revealed that she made treats for the entire cast and crew, as well as all the lucky people who snagged tickets to the show. A clip of her working on the desserts then flashed across the screen, and it showed her and Prince Harry’s two young children lending a hand.
