Meghan Markle opened up on her life in Montecito this month in a candid interview with a US magazine. The Duchess of Sussex, 43, and Prince Harry, 40, have been living on their sprawling estate in the area for five years since quitting life as senior royals in 2020.
While they have mentioned aspects of their life before, with Harry saying he is “grateful” for living in the US with his wife and two children, the couple have rarely addressed how they are when it comes to the local community. However, Meghan has now revealed that the star-studded town has embraced the family despite their “unique situation”. She told People: “Once you know us, I think you want us to have the same normalcy as parents and for our children as they do, despite however unique our situation is.”
Since moving to Montecito, Meghan also revealed to People that she has been going to local yoga classes like any other person does.
She said: “I go to [yoga] classes that sometimes have 40 to 50 people in them and just walk in like, ‘Hi!’.
“Of course, at the beginning, that felt like a lot. By the way, I think anybody walking into a yoga class with 50 people and everyone looks up, it’s going to feel a little uncomfortable!”
Despite this, the duchess revealed that she now loves these classes. She said: “I love it. It’s the best. I had missed it.”
The mum-of-two also said that she had been able to make new friends in the town, including people who are not in the public eye.
She said: “I have a couple of girlfriends up here; these are stay-at-home moms and working women with normal jobs, not in the public eye. We went from just connecting through our kids to having girls’ night out or doing Pilates together.”
While Meghan mainly spoke about her own daily life in the interview, it is believed Prince Harry also has a similar amount of normalcy as his wife in Montecito.
As well as doing the school runs, it has been previously reported that the duke enjoys dog walks on the beach and bike rides, even going as far as to admit last year that he felt he was living a life his mum the late Princess Diana would have wanted him to live.
The couple have now lived in Montecito with their children Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, since the summer of 2020.