Archie's Bedroom Caught Fire During South Africa Tour, Says Meghan, Duchess Of Sussex

Prince Harry and Meghan's son narrowly escaped a fire in his bedroom during the couple's royal tour of South Africa, the Duchess of Sussex has revealed.

The former senior royal recounted the incident in her newly released Archetypes podcast on Spotify.

Entitled The Misconception of Ambition with Serena Williams, Meghan talks to her close friend and tennis superstar Williams about the double standards women face when they are labelled "ambitious".

The duchess and the sports champion shared personal stories about the struggles they felt as new mothers.

In one, Meghan recounts how Archie narrowly escaped a fire in his bedroom when he was supposed to be sleeping during the Sussexes' first royal tour.

Archie's then-nanny, named only as Lauren, had taken the four-month-old with her downstairs instead while she went to get a snack.

Meghan said:

"In that amount of time that she went downstairs, 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. He was supposed to be sleeping in there."

The former Suits star told how they had dropped their young son at the housing unit they were staying in for a sleep straight after arriving on their official tour, with Meghan and the Duke of Sussex leaving to carry out a visit to the Nyanga township, where the duchess delivered a speech.

"There was this moment where I'm standing on a tree stump and I'm giving this speech to women and girls, and we finish the engagement, we get in the car and they say there's been a fire at the residence. What? There's been a fire in the baby's room," she said.

Meghan added: "We came back. And, of course, as a mother, you go, 'Oh, my God, what?' Everyone's in tears, everyone's shaken. And what do we have to do? Go out and do another official engagement? I said, 'This doesn't make any sense'."

Harry helped Williams quit tennis

Harry also made an appearance in the episode, with Meghan saying: "You wanna come say hi? Look who just popped in."

Meghan and Williams greet Harry with "Hello" in British accents, with Harry telling Williams: "I like what you've done with your hair. That's a great vibe."

The duchess also talks about how her experience of the way ambition is perceived changed after embarking on her relationship with Harry.

"I don't remember ever personally feeling the negative connotation behind the word ambitious until I started dating my now-husband," she said.

Serena Williams reveals Harry helped her with the decision to retire from tennis long before it was announced, spending around an hour discussing the issue with her.

Meghan, who quit the monarchy as a senior working royal, says: "I think, you know, I think both of us, or the three of us, really know that sometimes the right decision isn't the easiest decision."

She tells Williams: "It takes a lot of courage, I think, too, to stop something in many ways than to keep going sometimes."

(c) Sky News 2022: Archie's bedroom caught fire during South Africa tour, says Meghan, Duchess of Sussex