As we discussed on Tuesday, in the Duchess of Sussex’s Archetypes podcast, she told a story about Archie. Serena Williams had told Meghan a story about her daughter Olympia falling out of the high chair when she was just a baby and breaking her wrist. Then Meghan shared the story about Archie in South Africa, and the fire in his nursery. Archie was supposed to go down for a nap but his nanny had taken him to the kitchen for a snack when a fire broke out in the nursery. Meghan’s exact wording was, “the heater in the nursery caught on fire. There was no smoke detector. Someone happened to just smell smoke down the hallway went in, fire extinguished.” Meghan said that she and Harry were told to simply continue on to the next event, which they did. Meghan asked the team to tell people that something happened with Archie but they didn’t because the optics were too important. Well, obviously, Salt Island would like everyone to know that there was no fire. There was just…smoke.
Archie, then four months old, was not in the room in Cape Town when a heater started to smoke – but the incident left the Duchess of Sussex ‘shaken’ and ‘in tears’, she told tennis star Serena Williams in her new podcast. Others are understood to recall the incident which took place on September 23, 2019 – and while they do not remember there actually being a fire, the heater was certainly smoking and was unplugged and dealt with.
Despite the upset, Meghan said in the Spotify podcast released yesterday that she was obliged to continue with official engagements, accusing those running the tour of concentrating on ‘how it looks, instead of how it feels’.
And sources have defended the Duchess over the incident, saying it would have understandably caused concern to any parent. The Sussexes were subsequently moved to different accommodation as the tour continued. There would undoubtedly have been an expectation for Harry and Meghan to go on with their engagements after months of planning on the ground – but as senior royals, the couple would have had the final say on continuing.
And one source told the Daily Telegraph that any announcement about Archie being at risk of fire – or having to cancel an event where they spoke to people about Apartheid – would have overshadowed the couple’s work.
Palace aides were sent out to the Daily Mail to nitpick Meghan’s story. I can’t believe the palace wants to play this game, and play it so badly. Anything to discredit Meghan, even claiming that a heater was smoking but that doesn’t mean there was a FIRE! Archie was five months old, for the love of God. Keep in mind that this was the fall of 2019 – it had been one full year of the most deranged, most obvious and most vile smear campaign I’ve ever seen waged against one person. Meghan felt under siege, for good reason. She was under siege. Of course she was super-emotional about her child’s nursery catching fire. Oh, pardon me, smoking!
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on day one of a tour of Africa the listed Nyanga township, to see the Justice Desk initiative,Image: 537900638, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR SEVEN DAYS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: – / Avalon 
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** RIGHTS: WORLDWIDE EXCEPT IN NETHERLANDS ** Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA – Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex are seen during a visit to a township to learn about Youth Employment Services (YES), which aims to tackle the critical issue of youth unemployment in South Africa by creating one million new work opportunities in the next three years. Pictured: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle BACKGRID USA 2 OCTOBER 2019 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication* 
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