Meghan Markle and Prince Harry ‘doing well’ as royals celebrate Thanksgiving

A day after revealing their miscarriage heartbreak, Meghan Marke and Prince Harry are celebrating their first Thanksgiving in California.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are spending their first Thanksgiving in California, as news of their heartbreaking miscarriage prompted an outpouring of grief.

The royal couple and their son, Archie Harrison, are spending the US holiday in their Montecito home near Santa Barbara, with the Duchess of Sussex’s mother Doria Ragland – who is based Los Angeles – said to be joining them for a “quiet dinner”, a source told E! News.

“They are very happy,” a separate source told People magazine. “Archie is thriving and growing quickly. As a family, they spend hours outside.”

The couple is said to be “doing well” despite their recent tragedy, planning a Thanksgiving dinner with sihes made from produce grown in the couple’s garden, according to a royal source.

It cames a day after the Duchess of Sussex revealed she had suffered a miscarriage in July, writing about her and Harry’s “unbearable grief” in a deeply personal New York Times column.

Meghan Makrle is said to be ‘doing well’ after penning a deeply personal essay for the New York Times. Picture: AFP

‘UNBEARABLE GRIEF’

Buckingham Palace responded to the tragic news that Meghan and Harry suffered a miscarriage earlier this year.

The Duchess of Sussex revealed the couple had lost their second baby in July, describing the tragedy as an “unbearable grief”.

Writing in the New York Times, Markle’s deeply personal essay detailed the pain she and her husband experienced in a bid to encourage others to speak about their similar experiences.

Following the op-ed’s publication, Buckingham Palace released a statement saying it would not comment further on the matter. “It’s a deeply personal matter we would not comment on,” the palace’s statement said.

‘Unbearable grief’. Meghan Markle has revealed she suffered a miscarriage. Picture: AFP

In the essay titled “The Losses We Share”, Markle described the miscarriage as occurring on “a July morning that began as ordinarily as any other day”.

While spending the morning with the couple’s one-year-old son Archie Harrison, Markle said she suddenly felt “a sharp cramp” that saw her drop to her knees.

“I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.”

Meghan, 39, revealed she was comforted by her husband Prince Harry, 36, while in hospital and that the couple was heartbroken.

A heartbroken Prince Harry, right, comforted his wife in hospital as she recovered from a miscarriage. Picture: AFP

“Hours later, I lay in a hospital bed, holding my husband’s hand. I felt the clamminess of his palm and kissed his knuckles, wet from both our tears. Staring at the cold white walls, my eyes glazed over. I tried to imagine how we’d heal,” she said.

“Sitting in a hospital bed, watching my husband’s heart break as he tried to hold the shattered pieces of mine, I realised that the only way to begin to heal is to first ask, ‘Are you OK?’”

Meghan, who has previously been a campaigner for urging people to talk about mental health, said she was speaking out because miscarriage was so often hidden.

“Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few,” she said.

“In the pain of our loss, my husband and I discovered that in a room of 100 women, 10 to 20 of them will have suffered from miscarriage.

“Yet despite the staggering commonality of this pain, the conversation remains taboo, riddled with (unwarranted) shame, and perpetuating a cycle of solitary mourning.”

‘The pain of our loss’. Devoted mum Meghan with Archie in a picture taken by Prince Harry. Picture: Getty Images

The Duchess’ decision to go public comes after model Chrissy Teigen, who is married to singer John Legend, shared photographs of her stillbirth on Instagram in October.

Teigen was praised for her honesty, and the raw emotion of the black and white images.

There had been speculation that the Duchess was pregnant after a court case against a British newspaper was delayed in October for nine months for an unspecified personal reason.

However, there had been no official announcements.

Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of royal bible Majesty magazine, said Meghan was following a new trend of being more open about miscarriage.

“I would say it was probably very cathartic for her. I’m sure it helped her hugely and she wants to help other people,” she said.

“It’s very much a generational thing. In my generation no-one talked about it. It happens to an awful lot of women and you either talk about it or you don’t, it’s a personal thing.”

Zara Tindall, the Queen’s granddaughter, revealed she had miscarriages in 2016 and again in 2018 before the birth of her second child, daughter Lena.

Ms Tindall said that she and her retired rugby union player husband Mike were flooded with letters from other people who had endured the same thing following their first public acknowledgment.

“You don’t talk about it because it’s too raw,” she told The Sunday Times in 2018.

“But as with everything, time’s a great healer. For me, the worst bit was that we had to tell everyone, everyone knew.”

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Originally published as Meghan Markle and Prince Harry ‘doing well’ as royals celebrate Thanksgiving