Meghan Markle Made 'Spare' Ghostwriter Feel at Home in Montecito

Meghan Markle holds son Prince Archie while Prince Harry looks on — (Image credit: Getty)

While J. R. Moehringer was ghostwriting Prince Harry's memoir, Spare, he sometimes stayed in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex' guesthouse in Montecito.

In a new essay for The New Yorker, the writer revealed that when he came to stay alone, without his wife and two kids, Meghan Markle would help him feel at home by bringing him snacks—a heartwarming gesture that clearly left a mark on Moehringer.

"Harry put me up in his guesthouse, where Meghan and Archie would visit me on their afternoon walks," he wrote. "Meghan, knowing I was missing my family, was forever bringing trays of food and sweets."

Meanwhile, on the occasions Moehringer did bring his family, he revealed that Prince Harry won his daughter's friendship by talking to her about Moana.

The ghostwriter said, "Harry won the heart of my daughter, Gracie, with his vast Moana scholarship; his favorite scene, he told her, is when Heihei, the silly chicken, finds himself lost at sea."

Elsewhere in the essay, Moehringer said that he and Prince Harry got along well because of their many commonalities—including the loss of their respective moms. He explained one of the reasons he accepted to write the memoir as follows: "I think I selfishly welcomed the idea of being able to speak with someone, an expert, about that never-ending feeling of wishing you could call your mom."

Thankfully, the two men had more than tragic losses in common. For example, they each have two children: As you likely know, Harry and Meghan are parents to Prince Archie, who just turned 4, and Princess Lilibet, who will turn 2 years old in June.

Clearly, the prince and his ghostwriter had a lot to talk about during their time together.

TOPICS

Iris Goldsztajn is a London-based journalist, editor and author. She is the morning editor at Marie Claire, and her work has appeared in the likes of British Vogue, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Refinery29 and SELF. Iris writes about everything from celebrity news and relationship advice to the pitfalls of diet culture and the joys of exercise. She has many opinions on Harry Styles, and can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.