Meghan Markle insisted that she did not want to be called ‘Duchess’ as MasterChef Australia judge Poh Ling Yeow introduced her on Sunday night’s special episode of the cooking show.

The Duchess of Sussex, 44, made her much-anticipated debut on the popular program after filming a guest spot during her tour of Australia with her husband Prince Harry back in April.

Before Meghan arrived on set, Poh told the contestants she was ‘so excited’ to introduce a ‘mystery guest judge’ filling in for Andy Allen, who was on leave after his wife welcomed a baby.

Meghan then strutted into the MasterChef kitchen, much to the shock of the amateur chefs.

‘Welcome. Do I call you Duchess?’ Poh asked after giving her a warm hug.

‘Oh, call me Meghan. Absolutely, yeah,’ she said.

Meghan’s request that the cast use her first name rather than her title comes after her alleged sensitivities over claims that her Australian tour with Harry in April was cashing in on their royal links.

She was reportedly ‘frustrated’ when she was described as ‘royalty’ in a promo the  show.

Meghan and her team had ‘specifically’ made clear they did not want the word ‘royal’ used, a source said at the time the promo was released.

The report went on to claim Meghan was worried about being described as royalty, despite the fact that, through her marriage to Harry, the term is technically correct.

After introducing herself as ‘Meghan’ on  Sunday night’s show, she went on to declare her love for Australia, explaining the trip was a ‘full circle’ moment for her and her husband Harry as they had announced they were expecting their son, Prince Archie, while visiting the country eight years ago.

‘Oh, we’re so excited. We love Australia. We had the most sentimental, amazing time. We were here almost eight years ago. We announced we were pregnant with Archie at the time. So, it’s full circle, here we are, but thrilled to be here with all of you and taste some really good food. I’ve heard you’ve been cooking up a storm this season,’ she said.

She then proudly boasted that both her children – Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five –  enjoy eating Brussels sprouts.

 

For Meghan’s guest spot, contestants of the hit show were asked to create a ‘dish fit for a Duchess’ using ingredients she handpicked from the pantry.

She asked them to whip up a dish using ingredients like honey, macadamia nuts, citrus, celeriac and her favourite, edible flowers.

As she unveiled a table laden with seasonal produce, Meghan told the contestants ‘my kids eat Brussels sprouts’, as Poh could be heard saying ‘that’s impressive’.

During the program, Meghan paid the highest compliment to finalist Petro Papathomas, gushing that his celeriac ice cream dessert, which featured pickled apples and a hazelnut crumb, was of truly exceptional quality.

‘The execution is beautiful. To be that creative and courageous, to make something new, you did it! It feels very Michelin star to me,’ Meghan gushed to Pedro, who had one of the best desserts on the night, and advanced to the Semi-Finals.

Meghan was seen applauding Pedro’s hard work and then telling the fellow judges, ‘Oh my gosh, I have loved it! I can’t wait to go back to the hotel and tell Harry all about it!’

Meghan also revealed her husband Harry’s favourite meal.

When asked by judge Jean-Christophe Novelli what she preferred to cook for her famous family, Meghan admitted it was a ‘tough’ decision to make given the different taste preferences in the household.

‘It’s a tough one because I have a lot of palates to appease. My husband, being from the UK, loves a lot of meat, potatoes, cream sauce,’ Meghan began.

‘As a California girl, I like a grilled fish, grilled meats, citrus. I just like using lots of really pure natural herbs and spices. I like heat in my food, anything with spices.’

She revealed that her love of spicy food was shared by her husband.

‘He can handle a really good curry! We just do a lot of barbecues, whatever is seasonal. The kids are great eaters, we are very lucky on that front,’ Meghan added.

Meghan later squealed with delight when she received a surprise FaceTime call from Harry.

She was taste-testing the finalists’ dishes when a stagehand walked onto the set carrying a mobile phone and told her she had a call.

‘Hi, my love! My husband’s here!’ an excited Meghan told the studio, and then pointed the camera at judges Poh, Jean-Christophe and Sofia Levin, telling Harry: ‘I’d like you to meet the judges!’

‘G’Day! What’s going on? Have I interrupted something important here?’ Harry joked.

‘Well, we are actually in the middle of tasting all the dishes. We have four incredible cooks here! It’s amazing, they are so talented!’ Meghan said.

‘I can see the chandeliers in the background, they look very nice… wonderful!’ Harry said.

He then asked to see the contestants’ dishes and Meghan panned the camera over them.

‘I wish you could try this. These dishes are fantastic, really great dishes, there’s a hot sauce and it is so good!’ she said, cheekily adding: ‘I think it might be too much for you though.’

‘I will leave you to enjoy it. All is well here, see you later,’ Harry said as he waved goodbye to his wife while the studio erupted in applause.

During the show, Meghan had a few words of wisdom for the contestants as she acknowledged ‘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,’ she said.

‘So, all I can say to the competitors is to just remember to have fun, to keep a sense of humour about it, and to cook from the heart.’

Meghan added that ‘food and cooking are how I show my nurturing and love for my friends, family and my kids’ in a sweet nod to her children.

She told the contestants: ‘The hope is that you’ll really hone in on one (item) as your hero item. These are all things that, for me, feel really nostalgic. And I love if there’s a connection that you can find when, as you’re cooking something, you ask: what is the story behind it? It almost feels like an heirloom, right? What is something from your family or from a memory, something sentimental that we can also taste as we taste your dish?’

Meghan has said her love of good food and Australia were the two reasons she chose to be a guest judge on the country’s biggest cooking show.

‘What attracted me to the MasterChef Australia kitchen? Two things: my love of food and my love of Australia. It was an easy yes,’ she said in a press release announcing the broadcast date.

‘It’s such a great show. I’m just really honoured that I was asked to be here with you and to be able to judge some of these meals.’

Meghan earned a surprise Daytime Emmy nomination for her axed Netflix cooking series With Love, Meghan – eight years after she ‘politely turned down’ an invite to the glitzy awards.

She launched the first series on the streaming platform in March 2025, alongside unveiling her lifestyle brand As Ever.

A second series and Christmas special followed, with the mother-of-two offering hosting tips and cooking lessons from inside a rented multimillion-dollar mansion near her and Harry’s Montecito home.