Meghan stresses importance of hugs as she appears on Drew Barrymore’s chat show

The Duchess of Sussex has told of her love of being able to “hold and touch and embrace” people after previously revealing her hugging had been “jarring” for the royal family.

Meghan appeared on Drew Barrymore’s chat show in the US on Thursday to promote her lifestyle series and brand, and at one point during a baking segment, she was spotted moving a jar of her As Ever jam into the centre of the shot.

Meghan chatted about her “funniest, sweetest, most charming” husband, the Duke of Sussex and told Barrymore their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, have “very American accents” but say the word “zebra” with a British pronunciation.

She was introduced to the audience by Barrymore as “Meghan Sussex” after having corrected comedian Mindy Kaling during her Netflix show for referring to her surname as Markle.

Meghan, who was welcomed to the stage by her Hollywood actress host with a big, long hug, joked about Barrymore’s well-known touchy-feely approach, saying: “I’ve heard you like to connect.”

The Never Been Kissed and Charlie’s Angels star asked the duchess as they sat on the sofa together: “I’m such a warm person, and I love affection. How do you feel about that?”

Meghan replied: “We missed human connection, certainly after the pandemic and everything else, we crave being able to go ‘Hi’ and like ‘My friend, are you here?” and to really be able to hold and touch and embrace someone.”

In the Sussexes’ controversial Netflix Harry & Meghan documentary about their struggles with royal life, Meghan described her first meeting with the Prince and Princess of Wales, saying she was surprised at the “formality” of the royal family behind closed doors.

“I’ve always been a hugger, I didn’t realise that that is really jarring for a lot of Brits,” she said on the 2021 series, revealing she had been dressed down in ripped jeans and barefoot.

In his memoir Spare, Harry wrote that Meghan hugging William “completely freaked him out” and his brother had “recoiled”, adding: “Willy didn’t hug many strangers. Whereas Meg hugged most strangers.”

Footage was also shared of the duchess kissing her five-year-old son Archie on the head as they baked cookies for the breakfast show’s crew beforehand with the help of her wedding dress designer, Claire Waight Keller, who had come to visit.

She talked about how Harry told her “I vow to always date you” and added: “So we have this connection. I think because we’re so committed to treating each other the same way you did before you had a ring on it… that’s I think, what keeps things really alive.”

She added: “Life is full of surprise. I did not expect to meet H and for this to be our love story. I am very lucky.”

She told Meghan that Diana was “such an incredible human being that transcended everything” and said meeting her was the “honour of my life”.

Meghan replied: “That’s beautiful. Oh my gosh. Look at your little face. Oh, that’s so sweet. That is so special that you had it here…”

The duchess’s With Love, Meghan output has faced harsh criticism since it premiered on Tuesday.

In it, Meghan corrected her friend Kaling: “You keep saying, Meghan Markle, you know, I’m Sussex now.

“You have kids, and you go, ‘now I share my name with my children’… I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me, but it just means so much to go ‘this is our family name, our little family name’.”

In Meghan’s 2021 bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview, she talked about the loss of her name as she discussed her struggles marrying into the royal family.

“I nearly lost my name, there’s the loss of identity,” she said.