Meghan Markle appeared as a guest judge on the MasterChef Australia grand finale, where a pre-recorded FaceTime call from Prince Harry interrupted her as she tasted dishes from the show’s finalists.
Meghan Markle received a surprise FaceTime call from Prince Harry during her guest appearance on the MasterChef Australia grand finale on Sunday night. The Duchess of Sussex, 44, was in the middle of taste-testing dishes from the show’s finalists when a stagehand walked onto set carrying a mobile phone to inform her she had a call waiting. The moment, though it appeared spontaneous on screen, was in fact pre-recorded as part of the programme rather than an unexpected live call during filming. It marked Meghan’s first appearance on the long-running Channel Ten series, with producers describing her guest role as one of the standout celebrity appearances of the season.
The surprise call
“Hi, my love! My husband’s here!” an excited Meghan told the studio, before turning her phone camera towards judges Sofia Levin, Poh Ling Yeow and Jean-Christophe Novelli. “I’d like you to meet the judges!” she said to Harry. “G’Day! What’s going on? Have I interrupted something important here?” Harry, 41, replied. Meghan explained she was in the middle of judging four talented cooks, prompting Harry to comment on the studio surroundings: “I can see the chandeliers in the background, they look very nice… wonderful!”
Harry then asked to see the finalists’ dishes, and Meghan panned her camera across the food. “I wish you could try this. These dishes are fantastic, really great dishes, there’s a hot sauce and it is so good!” she said, before adding cheekily: “I think it might be too much for you though.” Harry signed off warmly, telling his wife: “I will leave you to enjoy it. All is well here, see you later,” as the studio audience broke into applause.
Meghan appeared on the grand finale episode alongside judges Andy Allen, Poh Ling Yeow, Sofia Levin and Jean-Christophe Novelli.
Cooking for the family
Earlier in the episode, judge Novelli asked Meghan what she most enjoys cooking for her husband and their two children, Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five. She admitted it was a difficult question given the range of tastes within her family. “It’s a tough one because I have a lot of palates to appease. My husband, being from the UK, loves a lot of meat, potatoes, cream sauce,” she said. “As a California girl, I like a grilled fish, grilled meats, citrus. I just like using lots of really pure natural herbs and spices. I like heat in my food, anything with spices.”
She added that Harry shares her enthusiasm for spicy food: “He can handle a really good curry! We just do a lot of barbecues, whatever is seasonal. The kids are great eaters, we are very lucky on that front.” Meghan also revealed that both her children enjoy eating Brussels sprouts, drawing praise from judge Poh, who remarked, “that’s impressive.”
Meghan said family meals remain a daily priority in the Sussex household, explaining that they try to eat together whenever their schedules allow. She also said she favours cooking with seasonal, locally sourced ingredients, many of which come from the family’s garden at their home in Montecito, California. Describing how the children take part, she said: “The kids jump in a lot, especially with the garden. I think it’s really… It’s such a nice luxury to be able to have so much space and things to cook. And if they say, ‘Mama, can I have dessert?’ You say, ‘If you can pick it, you can have it.’ No, you can’t pick chocolate, which is great. So, you can go pick a nice piece of fruit or whatnot. But, no, we always have a nice, as my husband would say, pud after dinner. But I think what’s really sweet is that they all chip in. Family time, I think, is really key to connect through food. So, as many meals as we can do together, we always do. It’s beautiful.”
A “dish fit for a Duchess”
For her guest appearance, contestants were tasked with creating a “dish fit for a Duchess,” using ingredients Meghan personally selected from the show’s pantry, including honey, macadamia nuts, citrus, edible flowers and celeriac.
Reflecting on her approach to cooking, Meghan said she views food as a way of expressing care for those close to her, describing it as one of her main “love languages.” She encouraged contestants to think beyond technique and consider the personal stories behind their dishes: “The hope is that you’ll really hone in on one (item) as your hero item. These are all things that, for me, feel really nostalgic. And I love if there’s a connection that you can find when, as you’re cooking something, you ask: what is the story behind it? It almost feels like an heirloom, right? What is something from your family or from a memory, something sentimental that we can also taste as we taste your dish?”
She also offered some encouragement to the competitors, acknowledging the pressure of the environment. “I don’t like to cook that way; I like to cook in a really relaxed fashion,” she said. “So, all I can say to the competitors is to just remember to have fun, to keep a sense of humour about it, and to cook from the heart.”
A “full circle” trip to Australia
At the start of the episode, Meghan asked to be addressed simply as “Meghan” rather than by her royal title. “Welcome. Do I call you Duchess?” judge Poh Ling Yeow asked. “Oh, call me Meghan. Absolutely, yeah,” Meghan replied.
She went on to describe the trip as an emotional return to Australia, recalling that she and Harry had announced their pregnancy with their son Archie during a visit to the country eight years earlier. “Oh, we’re so excited. We love Australia. We had the most sentimental, amazing time. We were here almost eight years ago. We announced we were pregnant with Archie at the time. So, it’s full circle, here we are, but thrilled to be here with all of you and taste some really good food. I’ve heard you’ve been cooking up a storm this season,” she said.
Meghan’s MasterChef Australia appearance forms part of her continued focus on food, cooking and lifestyle projects, following the launch of her Netflix series With Love, Meghan, recently nominated for a Daytime Emmy, and her lifestyle brand As Ever.
