Meghan and Harry show Oprah rescue chickens at their $14.5m Montecito mansion

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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry gushed about their new life in Los Angeles as they shared candid footage of son Archie playing on a beach and showed off the hens they rescued from a factory farm during their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Meghan told the talk show host how their move to California was ‘greater than any fairytale you’ve ever read’ after she had been left feeling suicidal while living as a senior Royal in the UK. 

She claimed she and Harry want to ‘live authentically’ and get back ‘down to basics’ as they offered a rare glimpse into life in their $14.5 million mansion by showing Oprah around Archie’s chicken coop. 

The couple’s son, who turns two in May, made a cameo appearance at the end of the tell-all interview as they told the chat show host he loves their LA lifestyle and is always ‘chatting’, with his latest words being ‘hydrate’ and ‘drive safe’.  

This came as the couple, who announced in the show they are expecting a girl in the summer, accused the Royal Family of raising ‘concerns’ about ‘how dark’ Archie’s skin would be before he was born and said the boy was denied 24/7 security and the title of being a prince by Buckingham Palace.   

Meghan told Oprah the couple are embracing a more ‘authentic’ life since they quit the Royal Family as senior working Royals last year. 

‘I think just being able to live authentically [has been the most important thing],’ she said Meghan.

‘This kind of stuff is so basic, but it’s really fulfilling and about getting back to basics.’

This ‘back to basics’ lifestyle comes after they set up home in their sprawling nine-bedroom and 16-bathroom $14.65 million mansion in upscale Montecito back in July, where their neighbors include Winfrey, Ellen DeGeneres and Ariana Grande.   

Meghan and Harry took the talk show host around the grounds of their lavish home and introduced her to their rescued birds which live in Archie’s chicken coop.      

A plaque on the side of the hut reads ‘Archie’s Chick Inn. Established 2021’. 

In the footage, the trio are uncharacteristically dressed down with Harry sporting a pair of wellies and jeans and t-shirt as he fed one of the rescue birds.

Meanwhile, Oprah and Meghan, who were both dressed casually in jeans, appeared to be deep in conversation.    

In a separate clip, they are seen enjoying some family time on the beach with Archie running along the sand in the direction of the camera followed closely behind by his mom.

The little boy then runs between the legs of his dad who is shooting the cute outing in artful black and white footage. 

Meghan revealed their son has already developed an impressive vocabulary and is ‘on a roll’ learning new words, with his latest penchant being to tell people to ‘drive safe’ when they leave home and to stay hydrated. 

‘In the past couple weeks, it has been ‘Hydrate’, which is just hysterical,’ she said of his new favorite word.

Harry added that his son tells everyone to ‘drive safe’ whenever they leave the house, to which Meghan proudly added: ‘Drive safe. He’s not even two yet!’ 

Harry described the last year as ‘crazy’ as he spoke of his favorite times being able to spend time with his son and go on bike rides with him – something he said he was ‘never able to do’ when he was young. 

‘This year has been crazy for everybody, but to have outdoor space where I can go for walks with Archie, and we can go for walks as a family and with the dogs, and we can go on hikes,’ he said.

‘We’ll go down to the beach, which is so close – all of these things are just – I guess, the highlight for me is sticking him on the back of the bicycle in his little baby seat and take him on these bike rides, which is something I was never able to do when I was young.

‘I can see him on the back, and he’s got his arms out. And he’s like ‘whoo,’ chatting, chatting, chatting, going, ‘palm tree, house,’ and all this sort of stuff.’ 

Viewers reacted on social media to the moment with some saying they were ‘obsessed’ with the revelation.

‘I LOVE the fact that Meghan and Harry’s chicken hut is called ‘Archie’s Chick Inn’,’ one person tweeted.

‘Obsessed with the fact that Meghan and Harry own chickens that they rescued from a factory,’ added another.   

One person shared a picture of SpongeBob SquarePants smiling with the comment: ‘Meghan and Harry’s chickens have a tiny picnic table in their coop!’ 

Others cited Harry’s absence from the interview so far – but for his outing to the chicken coop.

‘So far, all Harry’s done in this interview is feed a chicken,’ they tweeted. 

‘I love that Oprah and Meghan are having this deep discussion in Meghan’s chicken coop and Harry is in the background clucking like a chicken. I love them,’ added another.  

Later in the show, the three are seen again standing in the coop as Meghan likened herself to the Disney character The Little Mermaid since meeting her real-life prince. 

In the fairytale, mermaid Ariel meets a human prince and falls in love but, in order to be with him on land, she makes a deal with the sea witch Ursula to give up her life in the sea and her voice in exchange for three days as a human.

In the end, the sea witch is defeated, Ariel gets her voice back and is changed into a human permanently so she can live happily ever after with her prince. 

‘I was sitting in Nottingham cottage and The Little Mermaid came on,’ Meghan said. 

‘And who as an adult really watches The Little Mermaid but it came on and I was like, ‘Well I’m here all the time I might as well watch this.’ 

‘And I went, ‘Oh my God she falls in love with the prince and because of that she loses her voice.’  

‘But in the end she gets her voice back,’ Meghan said smiling as she continued her Disney princess analogy.

Oprah said: ‘And this is what happened here. You feel like you got your voice back’, to which Meghan replied: ‘Yeah.’ 

‘[Their story has been] greater than any fairytale you’ve ever read,’ she later said. 

While much of the interview honed in on the couple’s criticism of life in the UK and ‘The Firm’, they told new neighbor Oprah how they are now ‘thriving’ and have found their ‘happy ending’ since upping sticks and moving to LA.

In the bombshell two-hour special Meghan revealed she was suicidal when she was pregnant and had told Harry: ‘I don’t want to be alive anymore’.

Meanwhile Harry revealed he didn’t realize he was ‘trapped’ in his Royal life until he met Meghan and how he has ‘compassion’ for his other family members are still ‘trapped’.

‘I was trapped but I didn’t know I was trapped,’ he said. 

‘I myself was trapped as well. I didn’t see a way out. I was trapped but I didn’t know I was trapped,’ he said. 

‘Trapped within the system, like the rest of my family are. My father and my brother, they are trapped. They don’t get to leave, and I have huge compassion for that.’ 

Other shock claims about their old life included allegations that Prince Charles stopped taking Harry’s calls after they decided to quit the Royal Family and that an unnamed Royal was ‘worried’ about how ‘dark’ their son Archie’s skin would be when he was born.  

‘Now, because we’re actually on the other side, we’ve actually not just survived but are thriving,’ Meghan said. 

‘I mean, this is miracles. I think that all of those things that I was hoping for have happened, and this is in some ways just the beginning for us. 

‘You know, we’ve been through a lot. It’s felt like a lifetime. A lifetime.’

Oprah asked: ‘So, your story with the prince does have a happy ending.

Meghan replied: ‘It does.’

Oprah added: ‘It has a happy ending because you made it so.’

Meghan replied: ‘Yeah, greater than any fairy tale you’ve ever read.’    

In the bombshell interview, Meghan accused the Royal Family of having ‘concerns’ about ‘how dark’ Archie’s skin would be before he was born because she is mixed-race and Harry is white.

The Duchess of Sussex also described her ‘pain’ that officials had denied him the title of prince and accused Buckingham Palace of failing to protect their son Archie by denying him 24/7 security. 

Meghan refused to say which royal had the conversation with Harry about Archie’s skin colour, claiming it would be ‘damaging’ to the person in her husband’s family who raised it.

And in an extraordinary Meghan was on the verge of tears as she had suicidal thoughts and told Oprah: ‘I don’t want to be alive anymore’.

In the most extraordinary royal interview in decades, Meghan also revealed in her Oprah interview that the Duchess of Cambridge made her cry before she married Harry – but insists she has forgiven Kate who bought her flowers to apologise.  

The interview aired first in the US on Sunday night despite protests it should be put on hold while Prince Philip – Harry’s grandfather – recovers in hospital from heart surgery. 

The same week, Buckingham Palace launched a probe into allegations Meghan bullied Kensington Palace staff, drove out two PAs and inflicted ’emotional cruelty’ on aides.