How Many Thanksgiving Holiday Dinners Did Meghan Markle Have to Skip When She Lived With the Royals in the U.K.?
While the U.S. and U.K. share in some festive periods and certain Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter, Thanksgiving, celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, is not one of those holidays.
It’s a big day for Americans as most people are off from work and many families make it a point to get together. The biggest part of the holiday is the eating. A common tradition is eating turkey with sides, and plenty of desserts while giving thanks for the blessings of the past year. But because it does not have any connection to British history or tradition, it’s not celebrated in the U.K., so it was something Meghan Markle couldn’t partake in when she lived there.
The duchess is a foodie, having shared her passion for food in her now-defunct lifestyle blog, The Tig. Moreover, as seen in her Netflix show With Love, Meghan, she enjoys cooking and entertaining, which often takes place in households across the U.S. on Thanksgiving. So just how many of those grand dinners did she miss on the holiday when she resided in England?
Here’s the answer to that, plus what Meghan did do on that day in the U.K. while other Americans were celebrating.
How Meghan spent Thanksgiving before she married Prince Harry
Before she and Prince Harry tied the knot, Meghan shared on The Tig how she celebrated the holiday.
As Hello! noted, in 2016 she showed off her culinary skills by sharing a photo of a turkey she had previously prepared and wrote, “Oh, that time I roasted a pretty perfect Thanksgiving turkey! The question is, can I do it again? The pressure is on!”
The former Suits star then posted a photo of both her mother, Doria, and her father, Thomas Markle’s hands having a Thanksgiving dinner and captioned it: “Giving thanks for so many things — including these two gems, who brought me into this world. Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours.”
Meghan also shared quite a few Thanksgiving recipes on her blog. Those included oven-roasted chicken breast with mushroom and leek gravy as well as roasted acorn squash wedge salad and almond butter bites.
How Meghan spent Thanksgivings in the U.K.
Prince Harry and Meghan announced their engagement on Nov. 27, 2017. Thanksgiving fell just four days earlier that year. It’s been reported that she saw her mother, Doria, and they celebrated the holiday together. Meghan moved to the U.K. full-time shortly after announcing her engagement to the prince.
In 2018, the Duchess of Sussex participated in a charity event one day before the Thanksgiving holiday in which she cooked with the women of the Hubb Community Kitchen in London. However, there was no formal Thanksgiving dinner with family that year since her in-laws don’t observe the day.
After missing one Thanksgiving holiday dinner, Meghan made sure not to miss another. So in 2019, she and Harry spent a six-week break in Canada, where they celebrated the holiday with friends.
Since stepping down as working royals in 2020, Meghan and her husband have celebrated Thanksgiving every year in California as a private family holiday with friends and her mother.
