Meghan Markle reveals how her and Harry tried to stay out of the limelight when first dating

Meghan Markle has revealed she tried to stay out of the limelight when she first started dating Prince Harry as the couple enjoyed a Halloween night out disguised in fancy dress, before their romance was revealed to the world.

In her televised interview with Ellen DeGeneres, the Duchess of Sussex revealed how she and Harry once went to a post-apocalypse themed party in costume to have “one final night on the town” before news broke of their relationship.

They were joined by Harry’s cousin, Princess Eugenie, and her now husband, Jack Brooksbank, who were visiting them in Toronto, Canada.

Meghan describes “one final night on the town” before news of their relationship broke

“The four of us snuck out in Halloween costumes to just have one fun night on the town before it was out in the world that we were a couple,” Meghan said.

She added: “It was a post-apocalypse theme. So we had all this very bizarre costuming on and we were able to just sort of have one, final, fun night out.”

The news broke that they were a couple at the end of October in 2016.

The duchess also showed off her acting chops - and her sense of humour - as part of a prank for the show, with the talk show host feeding her instructions via a hidden earpiece, including pretending to be cat while while buying a cookie, much to the confusion of the vendor.

The skit was part of an hour long programme with her friend and celebrity Californian neighbour - and came eight months after her bombshell interview about the Royal Family with Oprah Winfrey. The Duchess of Sussex spoke of the difficulties of having two children, telling DeGeneres: “Someone told H (Harry) and I that when you have one kid it’s a hobby, and two children is parenting.

“Suddenly we realised, ‘oh right’, everyone talks about what it’s like for the second child but no-one talks about the adjustment for the first child when the second one comes along.

“I think they have that moment of, ‘oh, this is fun, oh, this is how it is now’.”

Meghan told of how Archie “loves being a big brother” to his baby sister Lili.

The Royal Rota: Listen to our royal podcast

After sharing a picture of the two-year-old feeding chickens while wearing yellow wellies in their home in Montecito, California, Meghan said Archie “loves to dance”.

She also revealed that he dressed as a dinosaur for Halloween, while Lili was a “little skunk like Flower from Bambi”.

Meghan and Harry have until now remained private about Lili, who was born in June and was named Lilibet after the royal family’s nickname for the Queen.

They are yet to share a photo publicly of their daughter.

She also said that Harry “loves” the weather and lifestyle in California.

The duchess said Archie “loves to dance” and added she will do the cooking on Thanksgiving.

She told the audience: “I love to cook, we’ll be (at) home and just relax and sort of settle in. It’s our second Thanksgiving (at) home (in) California, so it will be nice.”

DeGeneres then brought up that Meghan is a “great dancer”, to which the duchess replied: “I love to dance, Archie loves to dance now, too.”

The pair quit as senior working royals in 2020 in a bid for personal and financial freedom, and have since signed multi-million pound deals with Netflix and Spotify.

The duchess also promoted her children’s book, The Bench, which she said she wrote as a poem for Harry on Father’s Day.

“It was about my observation of him and him being a dad, which was the most beautiful thing to watch,” she said.

DeGeneres asked: “Does Archie know he’s in here? Does he know that’s him and what does he think of the book?”

Meghan replied: “He does. On that first page that you open and you see our dogs, he goes, ‘That’s Pula. That’s Guy’.”

The Sussexes have a black Labrador named Pula and a beagle called Guy.

Meghan also spoke out about paid parental leave, after doing the same earlier this month.

She said the US “is the only country in the world that does not have a paid federal family leave programme”.

The duchess added: “I will do everything I can to make sure we can implement that for people.”

Meghan also told how she made hair scrunchies with fabric and elastic bands and sold them at school when she was a youngster.