Meghan Markle Recalls Sneaking to New York in 2019: ‘I Was Still So Uncomfortable Being Out in the World’

Still a working royal five years ago, the Duchess of Sussex recently shared the place that made her feel safe while in N.Y.C.

Meghan Markle recently opened up about a place where she found “safety” in the past.

While speaking on Sept. 7 at Godmothers, a bookstore near her home in Montecito, California, Meghan reflected on the last time she popped into a bookstore — this time in New York City in 2019, while still a working royal. (Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, stepped back from their roles as working royals the next year, in 2020.) Meghan was in N.Y.C. during a covert trip from the UK to watch her friend, Serena Williams, play in the U.S. Open, she said, per Town & Country. Before anyone could figure out she was in town, she went for a walk to a bookstore.

“For me, sneaking to New York five years ago was a really big deal,” the Duchess of Sussex, 43, told a crowd, describing how she put on a cap and kept her head down. “I was still so uncomfortable being out in the world. The safety of what I was craving, I knew I could find in a bookstore.”

Related: Meghan Markle Joins Oprah Winfrey for Surprise Appearance at Bookstore Near Their California Homes

Meghan spoke at Godmothers’ opening weekend, a bookstore opened by literary agent Jennifer Rudolph Walsh and cosmetics mogul Victoria Jackson. Many other celebrities attended the festivities — Oprah Winfrey stopped by for the friends and family party on Sept. 6, which was also attended by Meghan and Harry. When asked if he had a book recommendation, the Duke of Sussex, 39, silently pointed to his memoir, Spare, on display in the store.

In fact, according to Town & Country, it was Harry who named the shop. At his book party for Spare in Beverly Hills, he thanked Winfrey, Jackson and Rudolph Walsh for their support, calling the three his “fairy godmothers.” As plans for the store began to fall into place, Winfrey told the two founders, “There’s really only one thing you can name it: Godmothers.”

Both Spare and Meghan’s 2021 children’s book, The Bench, are featured in the store’s “Our Local Authors” display. The book, which she wrote to “depict another side of masculinity — one grounded in connection, emotion and softness,” according to a blog post she wrote at the time — became a New York Times bestseller, as did Spare upon its release in 2023.

“What is Godmothers to us?” Rudolph Walsh said, according to Town & Country. “It’s somebody who roots for you, who supports you, who advocates for you. It’s somebody who is found family.” She later added, “Many times, it’s the younger person who’s teaching the older person something,” and recently joked with Harry — who will turn 40 on Sept. 15 — “Once you turn 40, I’ve got to find new people in their 30s!”

As seen in a photo shared by author Laura Lynne Jackson on her Instagram Story, Meghan took the mic on Sept. 7 for the bookstore’s grand opening. In her remarks, she thanked the bookstore’s founders “for not just creating the space, but for holding the space for so many people to feel seen through the pages, either in laughter, in grief, in feeling less alone,” she said.

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Just as Jackson and Rudolph Walsh entered into a new entrepreneurial venture, so too is Meghan, who is in the midst of launching a lifestyle brand, American Riviera Orchard. The launch is slated for later this year, a source previously told PEOPLE, and an insider previously told PEOPLE that her latest venture “will reflect everything that she loves — family, cooking, entertaining and home decor.”

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