Meghan Markle appears on Masterchef Australia as guest judge in new promo filmed during Australian tour

The Duchess of Sussex is making her return to television this weekend months after the cancellation of her cooking and lifestyle series.

Meghan filmed the guest appearance while in Australia with Prince Harry during a four-day tour in April that saw the couple blend charity engagements with paid events.

The duchess, who worked as an actress before marrying into the British royal family in 2018, has reinvented herself as a lifestyle influencer following her and Prince Harry’s decision to leave their places as senior working royals six years ago.

They now live in Montecito, in California, with their two children Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five.

“Food and cooking to me is really a love language,” the duchess says on MasterChef Australia.

Meghan, 44, will appear as a guest judge on the cooking show to air this Sunday.

“I think it’s such a great way to connect. It’s something that can feel sentimental and meaningful, and it’s how I show my nurturing and love for my friends, family, and my kids.”

The short teaser clip, released ahead of the full episode, showed the duchess standing behind a table laden with produce including lemons, honey, macadamia nuts and Brussels sprouts.

It was released on July 22 − the same day as Britain’s future king Prince George of Wales was celebrating his 13th birthday.

“My kids eat Brussels sprouts,” Meghan says, with one of the other judges commenting “that’s impressive”.

In one scene Meghan says to the camera: “There is a lot of pressure in this kitchen.

“I don’t like to cook that way. I like to cook in a really relaxed fashion, so all I could say to the competitors was to just remember to have fun, to keep a sense of humour about it and to cook from the heart.”

She added: “I’m a California girl. I like grilled fish, grilled meats, lots of citrus. I just like using really pure, natural herbs and spices, like basil and oregano.”

The duchess was also seen shopping for ingredients from a fridge on set which included fresh, edible flowers.

“Ah, edible flowers, love that,” she says.

Meghan’s range of lifestyle goods sold through her brand As ever includes dried flower sprinkles which she has used liberally, much to the amusement of some viewers, on recipes seen throughout her former Netflix series.

With Love, Meghan ran for two seasons on the streaming platform but was not renewed. A Christmas-themed special in 2025 was the duchess’ last appearance inside the Californian kitchen, filmed at a rented farmhouse near her Montecito home.

The show, which received mixed reviews from critics and had poor ratings, has since been nominated for an Emmy.

Meghan’s appearance on Masterchef came while she and Prince Harry were in Australia for their non-royal, but very royal-looking, visit.

The duchess had been absent from the official program of events on the second day of the tour, promoting many to speculate about what she was doing while Prince Harry was busy carrying out engagements in Melbourne and Canberra.

It was thought the duchess was holding private business meetings as she prepares to launch her lifestyle brand Down Under.

However, it was later announced that Meghan had filmed a guest spot on the cooking show. She was not paid for her time, her team said, but it was expected to include a hefty promotion of her brand.

So far, As ever is only available in the US but there have been rumours it will soon expand internationally with Australia expected to be included among the new market. In 2025, the brand was trademarked in Australia but there have been no updates since about a local launch.

Earlier this year, the duchess cut ties with Netflix, which had partnered with her to distribute her As Ever products in the US.

Prince Harry and Meghan are now back in the US after recently travelling to the UK where they, and their two children, reunited with King Charles.

It was the first time the monarch had seen his US-based grandchildren since June 2022, when the family of four were last in Britain, together, for the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee.

Meghan had hoped to join Prince Harry at various public events, including an Invictus Games event in Birmingham, but an ongoing security row halted those plans.

Instead, Meghan and the children secretly flew into the UK from Europe where they had been on holidays, believed to be in Portugal.

They had lunch with King Charles and Queen Camilla at the monarch’s residence Highgrove House on July 10 in what Buckingham Palace described as a “private” family event.

Meghan and the children managed to stay in the UK for several days without being seen or photographed.