Harry and Meghan enjoying homegrown vegetables in first American Thanksgiving

Rebecca Taylor
·Royal Correspondent
·3-min read

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Prince Harry will be settling down to his first American Thanksgiving with vegetables grown in his Californian garden.

A source close to Harry and his wife Meghan Markle has revealed the couple will be spending the US holiday at home, with a traditional dinner.

The source said: “They are going to have a quiet dinner at home and are looking forward to celebrating their first American Thanksgiving in the States as a family.

“They plan to enjoy a homecooked meal with traditional Thanksgiving dishes, including recipes made with fresh vegetables from their garden.”

It’s the first time the trio will be in the US for Thanksgiving, having spent the holiday last year in Canada.

The holiday is significant in the US calendar and Americans usually get two days off to celebrate.

But this year is different for many because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Meghan touched on the changes to this year’s holiday in an op-ed she wrote for New York Times on Wednesday in which she shared her grief as she revealed she had suffered a miscarriage in July.

She encouraged people to reach across political divides and physical distance to ask one another “Are you OK?” over the holiday.

Undated handout video grab issued by the Evening Standard of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex being interviewed from their Californian home by the Evening Standard, the couple have joined forces with the newspaper to reveal their list of BHM next gen trailblazers Ð recognised for challenging prejudice and their positive contribution to British society.
Harry and Meghan, pictured here in their new home, are marking their first Thanksgiving as a family in the US. (Evening Standard)

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The 39-year-old, who is mother to son Archie, was a keen cook before she met Prince Harry, once sharing a picture on Instagram of her cooking a turkey on a barbecue.

And she said that Harry proposed to her when they were cooking a chicken at his apartment in Kensington Palace.

Thanksgiving dinners usually revolve around turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce with an array of sides, including green beans, sweet potato casserole and sprouts.

Squash, sweetcorn and carrots all grow well in California, and are also traditional Thanksgiving side dishes.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA - SEPTEMBER 25: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and their baby son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation during their royal tour of South Africa on September 25, 2019 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Toby Melville/Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Harry, Meghan and Archie, here in South Africa in September 2019, spent Thanksgiving that year in Canada. (Toby Melville/Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage)

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It’s not known what the couple has been growing in the garden of their new home in Santa Barbara, which they bought in the summer after securing a deal with Netflix to produce documentaries, scripted series and children’s programming.

The holiday was first marked by pilgrims who sat down with Native Americans after a successful harvest. The settlers had largely succumbed to disease, but were taught how to grow food by the original occupants of the land.

However there have been various calls over the years for the festival to come to an end because any truce between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans was short-lived, and genocide followed.

Some groups of Native Americans mark the same day as one of mourning.