Melissa McCarthy says Meghan's "whole face lit up" when Prince Harry walked into the room

Adorable.

Melissa McCarthy says Meghan's "whole face lit up" when Prince Harry walked into the room – Harry and Meghan laughing

Adorable.

Despite largely keeping a low profile since the arrival of their second child, Lilibet Diana, in June, it appears that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been plenty busy behind the scenes.

Between Harry's TV appearance in a moving documentary honouring his late grandfather, the Duke of Edinburgh, and their hot off the press TIME magazine cover, it's been a pretty eventful couple of months for Meghan and Harry – especially given the fact that they're balancing their busy work commitments with a newborn.

Which is probably why, when it came time to celebrate Meghan's 40th birthday last month, the couple chose a low-key gathering (attended by celebrity friends, naturally) at their Montecito home.

It wasn't just the rumoured A-list guest list that got everyone talking, though. To mark the milestone birthday, Meghan launched her new 40x40 initiative: a mentoring programme in which she asked 40 friends to donate 40 minutes to mentoring women who are trying to mobilise back into the workforce. And who better to help her announce it than Melissa McCarthy?

Yep, McCarthy made a (hilarious) appearance alongside the duchess in a special birthday video; with Harry also putting in a hysterical unplanned cameo. (Trust us, it's video gold.)

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CSJ19BwnE42/?utm_source=ig_embed

"Because I’m turning 40, I’m asking 40 friends to donate 40 minutes of their time to help mentor a woman who is mobilizing back into the workforce," Meghan explained in the video. "Over 2 million women in the US alone and tens of millions around the world have lost their jobs due to Covid and I think if we all do it and all commit 40 minutes to some sort of act of service, we can create a ripple effect."

So what was it really like to work with the Sussexes? Well, the pair are every bit as loved up as we suspected them to be, according to McCarthy.

Calling the couple's dynamic "so cute", the Bridesmaids actress told ITV's Lorraine that she "could tell he walked in because we were talking and then she went, 'Oh hi!' and her whole face lit up, and I was like, 'Did Prince Harry just walk in the room?'"

Not only that, but apparently, it was Harry's own idea to make a spontaneous juggling cameo in the video, with McCarthy saying, "At that point, I was like, 'That's great!' ... I love anyone that will do something weird just for weird's sake, so I was like, 'I tip my hat!'"

SO good.

At least we know that if his exciting new start-up job doesn't work out, Harry has some seriously good circus skills to fall back on.

Kate McCusker

Kate McCusker is a freelance writer at Marie Claire UK, having joined the team in 2019. She studied fashion journalism at Central Saint Martins, and her byline has also appeared in Dezeen, British Vogue, The Times and woman&home. In no particular order, her big loves are: design, good fiction, bad reality shows and the risible interiors of celebrity houses.