Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry already had a lot to reveal in their Netflix documentary, which was released in December 2022. Much of this stems from her painful experiences with the British press and royalty. But the Sussexes also shared positive aspects of their life as a small family. And they introduced a woman who became their mainstay after the birth of son Archie.
When Duchess Meghan, 41, and Prince Harry, 38, became parents for the first time on May 6, 2019, not only was the pressure of the new task weighing on their shoulders, but above all the media interest in it. Fortunately, their new grandmother Doria Ragland, 66, was by their side during this time. For a month after the birth of baby Archie, 3, the American stayed with her daughter and son-in-law to provide them with advice and support. But when they left, the couple suddenly found themselves alone with their newborn. A nanny was wanted – and with Lorren Khumalo, a true angel apparently came into her life.
Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry: What demands do you make on a nanny?
Lorren herself couldn’t believe her luck when one day that summer of 2019 she received a phone call. “Prince Harry and Meghan want to see you. They want to talk to you about taking care of Archie,” says the Zimbabwean nanny. “Wait a minute, I have to sit down,” was her first reaction. And think, because as she now reveals in an episode of the YouTube series “The Breakfast Club” with Zenzele Ndebele, all of a sudden the craziest thoughts went through her head: “I just thought: ‘I wonder what your nannies look like, do they wear heels?’ Because, for example, Prince William has a Norland nanny. They have a brown uniform, and given the color of my skin and the way I looked, I knew it wasn’t going to work, it just wasn’t going to work.”
A quick styling alternative was needed: “So I thought I’d wear something dark and fancy heels. I’m going to look presentable for a royal, I have to do my best.” Nevertheless, Lorren stayed true to her line: “But I didn’t use make-up. I thought if they take me, then they take me as I am. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon, I wasn’t born with blue blood born i will go as i am and trust me with my god i will get this job.”
A short time later she was on her way to Frogmore Cottage, the Sussexes’ British home. She was in a little too much of a hurry – and promptly received a ticket.
Arrived on royal soil, she only had one concern: “I asked his bodyguard: ‘Should I curtsey, do I have to?’ And he just looked at me and laughed and said, ‘You’ll see, Prince Harry is amazing.'”
The Sussexes made it easy for Nanny Lorren
Lorren already describes the first extraordinary encounter with Prince Harry in the Netflix Noku. “When I got to Frogmore Cottage, I saw this tall, red-haired guy walking towards me barefoot. And I had bought myself new shoes before that,” she smiles in retrospect. But the ice was apparently broken at that moment. “All of a sudden I noticed that there was no formality of any kind. And I felt good.”
With Nedebele, she goes into even more detail: “When I got there, he opened his arms and said: ‘Hello Lorren!’ and hugged me. I thought, ‘Wow, what a gentleman, what a gem’, I couldn’t believe it. When he hugged me, even though I really didn’t mean to, I said, ‘Look, I’m taking a bath today no, I got hugged by a prince’ and he just started laughing.”
The sight of the Duchess, on the other hand, left her speechless: “When I came in and saw Meghan, I thought, ‘My God, what a beautiful woman.'”
Meghan and Harry apparently made it easy for the nanny, as she reported in the Sussex documentary. “They were very active parents. When he woke up in the morning, mom and dad would come right in. They would be with their baby, she would feed him. After that I would take over and we would usually go for a morning walk.”
Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan have spent every free minute with baby Archie, according to nanny Lorren Khumalo.
©Netflix
Tail wind for little Archie
Lorren quickly bonded with Little Archie and her own traditional way of calming him down. “She asked, ‘Is it okay if I tie it to my back with a cloth, like in Zimbabwe,'” Meghan recalled in front of the Netflix camera. “Yes, do it,” the young mother enthusiastically agreed. The baby snuggled up close to Lorren’s back and fell asleep immediately, reports Harry, laughing and making imitative gestures. “She not only took care of Archie, but also of us, of me,” said Meghan gratefully.
Nanny Lorren Khumalo got the hang of gently rocking Archie to sleep.
©Netflix
But as harmonious and normal as the first few weeks with the Sussexes were for Lorren, the royal background of the two and the associated obligations quickly penetrated their work area. The beloved nanny had an extraordinary challenge to fulfill. “So soon I had a trip coming up and I was like, ‘How do you pack for a little prince?'”
South Africa trip put the Sussexes to the test
Meghan and Harry traveled to South Africa on behalf of the Crown, Archie and nanny with them. “It has always been normal for royal couples to travel with their child,” explains King Charles’ son, 74, of the decision to take the four-month-old boy with them. Nevertheless: “It was a strange experience,” admits the royal. And Lorren describes how busy the Duchess of Sussex was: “It was a lot of pressure for everyone. This journey was exhausting and I thought: ‘How can you do it?’ And yet she always smiled.”
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Lorren has seen the Sussexes through what is arguably their most difficult phase as senior royals who are still working. According to the Daily Mail, she now works as a pediatric nurse at Portland’s private maternity home in Westminster. Contact with the Sussexes doesn’t seem to have broken off since they moved to the United States. In Archie’s memory she will no longer play a major role, in those of Meghan and Harry she apparently still has a place of honor today.
Source used: “Harry & Meghan”, available on netflix.com, dailymail.co.uk, youtube.com