“What didn’t you do to bury me?,” the Duchess of Sussex has asked as she signed off the final episode of her podcast series with a pointed quote.
She finished the twelfth episode of her Spotify podcast, Archetypes, by reading out the quote by Greek poet Dinos Christianopoulos: “What didn’t you do to bury me? But you forgot that I was a seed.”
It brings an end to her series, during which she has interviewed dozens of guests about the archetypes - or “limiting beliefs'” - that women hold, saying she has “learned so much about them and also myself”.
The Duchess concluded the episode by saying: “I feel seen, I had never considered that in using my voice, that I would feel seen, but I do.
“Many moons ago I heard a quote that I will share with you today because as we talk about labels, tropes and boxes that some may try to squeeze you into and roles and stereotypes that are attributed to you that don't quite fit the full person that you are, this [quote] is what I wanted to leave you with.”
She added: “To that point my friend, keep growing and I’ll see you on the flip side. As ever, I’m Meghan.”
Meanwhile, she also revealed that Prince Harry advised her men should appear on the last episode of the Archetypes podcast to “broaden the conversation” about gender.
Until now, her Spotify podcast has exclusively featured interviews with women, something she said was “by design” so that women could be “heard and understood”.
However, she admitted that “at the suggestion of my husband,” the conversation and effort had to “actively include men” to challenge the “labels, tropes and limiting beliefs” that women hold.
Meghan invited Trevor Noah, Andy Cohen and Judd Appatow to feature on the final episode of the series, calling them “thoughtful men” who are behind “some of the most successful movies and TV shows”.
She said: “Until now, outside of a quick pop-in from my husband in the first episode, this show has featured exclusively women’s voices - and that’s by design.
“It’s important to us that women have space to share their authentic, complicated, complex and dynamic experiences…But through that process it also occurred to me, and truth be told at the suggestion of my husband, that if you really want to shift how we think about gender…that we had to broaden the conversation and we have to actively include men in that conversation and certainly in that effort.”
The Duchess added that to tackle the archetypes - or “limiting beliefs” - she has discussed in the series, that “it has to be larger than just conversations with women”.
“I thought for this final episode, wouldn’t it be interesting to sit with some men, hear their thoughts, and see what they think of Archetypes.”
Speaking to Andy Cohen, the American TV host and executive producer of Bravo's late night talk show Watch What Happens Live, the Duchess revealed that while filming Suits, she had asked to be on his show but was turned down.
“I was such a huge fan and…I was so eager to be on your show because I was such a [Real] Housewives fan at the time, and I just couldn’t get booked, Andy. So thanks for being here with me,” she told him.
Cohen responded he “had that feeling,” saying: “Oh my god, if it turns out that Meghan Markle actually expressed an interest to be on Watch What Happens Live - it is now the biggest blunder in 13 years of the show.”
She then said she “didn’t want to embarrass him” by bringing the incident up, but “thought it was funny to try to remember how things were”.
“Though I couldn’t at the time get on the couch to talk to Andy on his late night show - I was certainly well aware of his other big creation. The Real Housewives franchise,” she added.
Cohen asked: “The million dollar question is do you still watch the Housewives?”
The Duchess said that she “stopped watching the Housewives when my life had its own level of drama that I stopped craving [other peoples’]”.