Meghan Markle Pauses Podcast Episodes After Death of Queen Elizabeth

Meghan Markle’s podcast Archetypes debuted last month, but after Queen Elizabeth’s death on Thursday, September 8, new episodes are being held until further notice. Meghan and Prince Harry announced their partnership with Spotify in late 2020, which would be working with their recently established production company Archewell Audio, named after their first born, Archie.

When Archetypes was announced in a press release, it was planned as a podcast that investigates “the labels that try to hold women back.”

The Duchess of Sussex would host guests to “uncover the origin of these stereotypes and have uncensored conversations with women who know all too well how these typecasts shape narratives.”

Her first guest was tennis great Serena Williams, who had recently announced her imminent retirement from the sport. It was titled “The Misconceptions of Ambition” and was released August 23. Two days later it was the number one podcast in United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Canada on Spotify.

The second and third episodes featured Mariah Carey and Mindy Kaling. It is unclear when future episodes will return to Spotify, but the Queen’s funeral is scheduled for September 19. The Sussexes are currently staying at Frogmore Cottage, their U.K. home on the Windsor estate.

The couple were seen at a surprise tour of tributes to the Queen that had been laid out at Windsor Castle, accompanying Prince William and Kate Middleton, who are newly ascended to the title of Prince and Princess of Wales. They were invited last minute by William in what was seemingly a show of solidarity after several years of a strained family relationship. Meghan and Harry had stepped down from their positions as working members of the royal family and moved to California, which caused internal strife for the royal family at large.

A royal source told People that it was “an important show of unity at an incredibly difficult time for the family.”

They added, “It’s such an extraordinary historical moment and also a deeply personal one for the family that you’d hope and think that all members of the family would unite and support [the King] especially. And perhaps some of those wounds can be healed in the process.”