Meghan Markle Reveals Fire Broke Out in Baby Archie’s Room While She and Prince Harry Were Away
Meghan Markle recently opened up about a horrifying moment from her, Prince Harry and their then-newborn son Archie's 2019 trip to Africa.
During the premiere episode of her podcast Archetypes, the Duchess of Sussex told tennis pro Serena Williams that a fire broke out in their baby's nursery while they were attending an event a few years ago.
When Meghan and Harry arrived in Africa for their royal trip, they instantly had to leave Archie — who was around 4 months old at the time — as they were booked to appear at an official event.
"He was going to get ready to go down for his nap. We immediately went to an official engagement in this township called Nyanga, and there was this moment where I'm standing on a tree stump and I'm giving this speech to women and girls, and we finish the engagement, we get in the car and they say, 'There's been a fire at the residence.' What? 'There's been a fire in the baby's room.' What?" Meghan shared.
Meghan explained the fire was caused by a heater in the room. Thankfully, Archie was with his nanny at the time and wasn't yet in the nursery.
"She was supposed to put Archie down for his nap. And she just said, 'You know what? Let me just go get a snack downstairs.' And she was from Zimbabwe, and we loved that she would always tie him on her, her back with a mud cloth, and her instinct was like, 'Let me just bring him with me before I put him down,'" Meghan continued.
The fire sparked while both the nanny and Archie were safely out of the room. It was detected and extinguished before either were injured.
Despite the incident, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had to continue with their royal duties shortly after making sure that Archie was safe.
"Even though we were being moved to another place afterwards, we still had to leave him and go do another official engagement," Meghan said.
Meghan and Harry welcomed Archie on May 6, 2019. Less than a year later, in early 2020 the couple announced plans to step back from their royal duties, which they officially did the following year.
The family expanded with the birth of Harry and Meghan's daughter Lilibet on June 6, 2021.