Meghan Markle appears on Ellen DeGeneres show

Duchess of Sussex tells of life with Prince Harry and her recently released book

Meghan Markle, The Duchess of Sussex, appears on 'The Ellen DeGeneres Show'.  Warner Bros / AP
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Meghan Markle appeared on comedian Ellen DeGeneres's daytime TV show on Thursday, sharing details about her relationship with Prince Harry, her recent book and advocacy for paid family leave in the US.

The Duchess of Sussex said the US was “the only country in the entire world that does not have a paid federal family leave programme".

It was revealed by Politico recently that Ms Markle called US legislators in Washington to support paid family leave in President Joe Biden's sweeping Build Back Better bill.

“I will do everything I can to make sure we can implement that for people," she told DeGeneres.

She is working with the Paid Leave For All organisation and has written an open letter to Congress with the group. The bid has so far failed as paid family leave is not expected to be included in Mr Biden's agenda.

Ms Markle also talked at length about her New York Times bestseller book, The Bench, which was published in June.

“I wrote this originally just as a poem for my husband on Father’s Day and it was about my observation of him and, you know, him being a dad, which is the most beautiful thing to watch,” she said.

People close to her said the poem was "inclusive" and had "representation", making it relatable and influencing her to make it into a children's book.

“I made sure that all of those pieces of it, especially the softer side of masculinity, the softer side of fatherhood, I tried to include it in there, and made sure everyone could see themselves in these pages," Ms Markle said.

"Because I remember as a little girl, you didn’t always see someone that looked like you and I thought that was really important to have everyone reading the story feel like it was unfolding on those pages for them."

She also revealed that she and Prince Harry had a last, "normal" night out on the town with Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank in Toronto, Canada, before they officially announced their relationship.

“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,” she said.

"We had all this very bizarre costuming on and were able to just sort of have one final fun night out."

Updated: April 27, 2022, 11:51 AM