Watch: Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Kids Follow This Royally Sweet 10-Day Family Rule
Prince Harry has a reigning rule in his family.
In his new MasterClass, Redefining Grief: Building Resilience Through Loss, the Duke of Sussex revealed that he doesn’t spend more than a 10-day period away from his wife Meghan Markle and their kids Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, as family time is an essential part of his well-being.
“The biggest factor for me is the energy and the joy and happiness that I get being with my family, especially our kids,” the 42-year-old noted, “and the joy and happiness I get by being on the ground for my work. And the key to finding the joy and happiness balance is no more than 10 days away from my wife and kids.”
“This is balancing my work and the purpose behind that,” he continued, “as well as being a dad and a husband, and the sort of multi-identity elements coming together.”
But instilling rules to prioritize their time together isn’t a new idea for Harry and Meghan.
After all, when the couple—who returned to the U.K. in August with their kids, six years after stepping back from royal duties and moving to California—first began dating and were long-distance, Meghan created a guideline.
“She had a two-week rule,” Harry shared on their 2022 Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan. “We had to see each other in or around two weeks. I said ‘how is that even possible with the stuff that I’m doing? I’m not going to be able to travel to see you that much.’”
Jonathan Brady-Pool/Getty Images
And it appears the pair put their rules in place for a good reason as Meghan admitted that having to be away from her kids for a particularly long period of time in the U.K. after Queen Elizabeth’s 2022 death was very challenging.
“The longest I went without being around our kids was almost three weeks,” she explained on the August 2025 episode of her series With Love, Meghan. “I was…not well.”
For more insight into Harry and Meghan’s journey as parents, read on…
Getty Images
Alex Trautwig/MLB via Getty Images
Getty Images
REX/Shutterstock
Facundo Arrizabalaga/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP/REX/Shutterstock
Toby Melville/Pool/Samir Hussein/WireImage
Shutterstock
Chris Jackson – Pool/Getty Images
Apple TV+
Chris Jackson-Pool/Getty Images
Toby Melville – Pool/Getty Images
Gotham/WireImage
Handout/Getty Images Entertainment
Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Project Healthy Minds
KOLA SULAIMON/AFP via Getty Images
For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
