Meghan Markle Breaks Her Silence on Being Away from Archie and Lilibet During Queen Elizabeth’s Funeral: ‘I Was Not Well’

Meghan Markle is reflecting on a difficult moment when she was away from her children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

In season 2 of her Netflix series With Love, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, 44, shared an emotional memory with Queer Eye star Tan France, recalling a time when she was “not well” apart from her kids — a remark that seemed to reference her 2022 trip to the U.K., which was extended due to Queen Elizabeth’s death.

While chatting with France in Episode 3 about the ups and downs of parenthood, Meghan reflects on how motherhood has exceeded her expectations. “It’s better than I ever expected,” she says. She and Prince Harry are parents to Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, while France and his husband Rob share two sons, Ismail, 4, and Isaac, 2.

During their conversation, France speaks about holding on tightly to his little ones. “You know what’s funny? When parents are like, ‘Oh, I just can’t wait for them to go to college and be out,’ I’m like, I never want my children to leave,” he says. “They’re not allowed to get married. Not allowed to leave my house.”

Agreeing, Meghan reflects on her own children, saying, “I’ll miss them so much. You want to be the parent who’s like yes, go do it. Go do your thing. Go live that life. But I’m going to miss you so much.”

France, 41, echoes the sentiment with a heartfelt admission, “I might die without my kids. I need my boys. If I don’t see them for a couple of days, I feel like my heart is broken.”

Meghan then reveals just how difficult time apart has been for her as a mom.

“Oh I know. The longest I went without being around our kids was almost three weeks,” she says. “I was…not well.”

In September 2022, Meghan and Prince Harry, 40, were in London from their California home for a series of charitable engagements when Queen Elizabeth died at age 96. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex had already been in Europe without their children — then 3 and 15 months old — visiting Manchester and Germany for charity events before returning to the U.K. as the Queen suddenly fell ill. In total, they were away for 17 days.

The couple remained abroad for the funeral events that followed, and Harry later reflected on the unexpected length of their separation in his 2023 memoir Spare.

“Our quick trip would now be an odyssey. Another ten days, at least. Difficult days at that,” Prince Harry wrote in the book. “More, we’d have to be away from the children for longer than we’d planned, longer than we’d ever been.” 

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The Duke of Sussex wrote that he and Meghan left the U.K. the day after the Queen’s state funeral on Sept. 19, 2022. Once back home, he said the couple kept Archie and Lilibet close and “couldn’t let them out of their sight.”

Harry and Meghan are raising Archie and Lilibet outside of the spotlight in Montecito, California. The Duchess of Sussex recently told PEOPLE that it has also given her space to rekindle her passions for cooking, creating and entertaining — pursuits she shares in her Netflix lifestyle series With Love, Meghan, now streaming its second season.

“When your children get to a certain age — when you’re not just playing in the sandbox with them but almost playing in your own sandbox again — it’s super joyful,” she said. “As a woman, a mom and a wife, to be able to find yourself again — in a way that was always present but that you maybe couldn’t put as much attention on as you now can when your kids are a little bit older — is a wonderful feeling.”