Meghan Markle's 2020 Christmas Gift To Harry Caught Him Pleasantly By Surprise

2020 was an unusual year for everyone, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Still, while the 2020 holiday season certainly had some downsides for all of us, Meghan managed to make it one that Harry never forgot –– in a good way. The Duchess of Sussex presented her hubby with a Christmas gift that meant the world to him and gave him a good laugh, too –– a Christmas tree ornament made to look like none other than Queen Elizabeth II.

Like many families, the royal family has their own holiday traditions. In 2020, the COVID-19 Pandemic and lockdown made some of those traditions a lot more difficult to execute. One tradition that dates back years for the royal family is all about how they open their Christmas presents. The family gathers in the red Drawing Room on Christmas Eve, instead of Christmas Day. There, they exchange inexpensive gifts of the silly variety. 

While gathering in the Drawing Room wasn't possible for Harry and Meghan in 2020, since they had settled in LA, they still found ways to connect to their family on Christmas. In his memoir, "Spare, Harry wrote, "It was Christmas Eve. We FaceTimed with several friends... We watched Archie running around the tree. And we opened presents." They also kept "to the Windsor family tradition" with their gift exchange. And, the silly ornament Meghan gifted Harry with was a perfect way to make him laugh and feel close to their family from afar.

In his memoir, "Spare," Harry recalled "One present was a little Christmas ornament of... the Queen! I roared. What the—?" Harry wrote. "Meg had spotted it in a local store and thought I might like it," he continued. And, while the gift was clearly meant to be playful and silly, it seems that it also succeeded in being heartfelt. "I held it to the light. It was Granny's face to a T," Harry wrote, adding, "I hung it on an eye-level branch. It made me happy to see her there."

The gift was a success, but there's a certain risk associated with having an ornament made to look exactly like your grandmother hanging on the Christmas tree, and Harry learned about that risk firsthand. Archie was a year and a half old when his parents hung the ornament that looked like his great-grandmother on their tree. "Archie, playing around the tree, jostled the stand, shook the tree, and Granny fell. I heard a smash and turned. Pieces lay all over the floor," Harry recalled in his memoir. He added, "Archie ran and grabbed a spray bottle. For some reason he thought spraying water on the broken pieces would fix it. Meg said: No, Archie, no — do not spray Gan-Gan! I grabbed a dustpan and swept up the pieces, all the while thinking: This is weird."

Archie accidentally brought an end to his dad's Queen Elizabeth II ornament in 2020, but in 2023, he made it clear that he's definitely his great-grandmother's great-grandson. In November 2023, Meghan Markle moderated a Q&A with actor, David Oyelowo, and director, Misan Harriman, about their Netflix film, "The After." Meghan mentioned that their now-four-year-old has developed a fascination with photography –– thanks, in part, to the portraits Harriman had taken of the family. "The inspiration runs deep," Meghan explained, per People. "Misan was showing him how to do photography the last time he was with us," she recalled. "I bought Archie a camera, and he said, 'But it's not a Leica like Misan,'" Meghan laughed before insisting, "I said, 'You are not getting a Leica! Not even for Christmas.' " The proud mom then told Harriman, "So thank you for the inspiration across the board."

While Harriman may have instilled an interest in photography in Archie at an unusually young age, this does run in the family. Queen Elizabeth also loved photography and was often seen carrying her own Leica with her. Still, since the less expensive cameras from this brand are around $6,000, it's fair that Santa may not be bringing one for Harry and Meghan's four-year old. But, perhaps for now, Archie can use the camera he has to take some family photos to turn into Christmas ornaments. He may have talent for it just like his "Gan-Gan."