There is no such thing as the perfect family Christmas

The Duchess of Sussex flawlessly pulls together a picture-perfect Christmas in Montecito, California, where she lives with Prince Harry and their two children, Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, in her Netflix special, With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration.

- Charlotte Cripps, The Independent

Meghan Markle

She's dressed up on festive merriment and can't stop smiling, whether that's hosting a brunch with her friends in matchy-matchy red PJs before making festive wreaths as their “activity”, or making us all feel bad by creating homemade advent calendars with carefully placed notes (sample: “I love you because you are so kind") for her children to open every day. Nomad dash for a Cadbury’s chocvent for her, Meghan is far too busy wrapping presents with a wax seal, and telling us the things we need to do that feel “really connective and sweet”.

However, as Meghan very well knows, there is no such thing as the perfect family Christmas — and this year, the contrast with reality versus fantasy couldn't be starker. Everything looks gorgeous from the “super sweet crafts" to the special baked biscuits, but however hard she tries to sugarcoat Christmas as a family dream-fest, the truth is, there is estrangement on both sides of her and her husband's family. And as her father lies in hospital in the Philippines, we discover that she hasn't even got his phone number to get in touch with him. Small wonder then that Meghan is featured in a rogues’ gallery of ‘holiday hypocrites’ as part of a Christmas window display at LA’s boutique store Kitson. Their Holiday hypocrisy window display’ has become famous and the Duchess is pictured in a specially made ‘Montecito diva’ santa hat.