Meghan Markle Opens Up About Archie and Lilibet's Special Bond With Friend Daniel Martin: 'Uncle Daniel'

Mar. 15, 2025

Daniel Martin and Meghan Markle as seen in Netflix’s ‘Harry & Meghan’.Photo: Netflix

Meghan Markle’s longtime makeup artist and friendDaniel Martinis part of the family.

Martin appears in the debut episode of the Duchess of Sussex’s new Netflix series,With Love, Meghan,and Meghan even reveals that her kids call him “Uncle Daniel.”

“I’ve got good vibes,” she said, adding as she pulled honey out of the beehive. “It’s, like, also that little reminder to do something that scares you a little bit. I think that’s part of it, but I’m trying to stay in the calm of it because it’s beautiful to be this connected.”

Meghan Markle in the trailer for her new Netflix series ‘With Love, Meghan’.Netflix

Netflix

Martin, who Meghan shared in the episode she’s been friends with for 15 years, plays prominently in the series premiere.

“When I first had my job onSuitsand I started going to events, he was doing my makeup for that, and we far transcended makeup and just became friends,” she said.

“He has just been in my life for the before, during and after, shall we say, and he’s very much a mainstay,” she added.

The Duchess of Sussex, 43, revealed that toPrince ArchieandPrincess Lilibet, he’s “Uncle Daniel, the kids call him.”

“I know Daniel very well, and I love him to pieces,” she added.

Key makeup artist Daniel Martin backstage at the Tracy Reese fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Spring 2015 at Art Beam on Sept. 7, 2014 in New York City.Vivien Killilea/Getty

Even before Martin comes to stay with her, she makes him a welcome basket.

“The joy of hostessing for me is surprising people with moments that let them know I was really thinking of their whole experience from morning ‘til evening,” she said.

When Martin does arrive, the two make a single skillet spaghetti, which Meghan calls a “family favorite.”

“You’ve always shown your love through food,” Martin said, to which Meghan replied, “It’s a big love language.”

The conversation then turns to The Tig, Meghan’s former lifestyle blog that she ran from 2014 to 2017, shutting it down before she wedPrince Harry. At one point, Martin came on as a beauty editor.

“I started this lifestyle website,” Meghan said on the show. “I was doing it in between scenes in my trailer. We were both creating and figuring it out. It was all in the spirit of just sharing things that I loved.”

Meghan Markle in the trailer for Netflix’s ‘With Love, Meghan’.Courtesy of Netflix

Courtesy of Netflix

In the first episode, Meghan explained that she’s “always loved to cook…I used to watch a lot of cooking shows.” Also in the debut, the two friends make candles and joke about opening up a store together before making a lemon honey cake. Martin was famously Meghan’s makeup artist at her May 2018 royal wedding to Harry, now 40, and Meghan said onWith Love, Meghanafter Martin brought up her wedding cake flavor that the two of them did the cake tasting together for the big day.

Meghan calls the cake they’re making the “Beautiful on the Inside” cake: “The cake is bare on the outside but beautiful on the inside,” she said. “You just don’t know how good she is until you go deep and you get to know her better.”

As the episode closes, the two cheers “to love.”

Martin’s fame was accentuated after he did Meghan’s wedding makeup nearly seven years ago, and of permanently being associated with Meghan, he said in 2021, “I’m always going to be Meghan Markle’s makeup artist for the rest of my life. Which is totally fine because we’re friends. I think if we didn’t have a personal connection, it would definitely be different.”

Meghan Markle on her wedding day, May 19, 2018.JONATHAN BRADY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

JONATHAN BRADY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

“I’m just really fortunate that I was part of that celebration of my friend’s wedding,” he continued. “I’m just grateful that there’s still a personal tie to the person at the end of the day.”

About her wedding day, “You literally felt the energy and the happiness and the love,” he told PEOPLE in 2018. He added that same year, “It was so moving and so perfect andthe day couldn’t have been better.”

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Meghan Markle on her May 19, 2018 wedding day to Prince Harry.REX/Shutterstock

REX/Shutterstock

Just days after the wedding, Martin told PEOPLE, “She didn’t seem nervous. She was very cool, she was regular Meghan. I think we were nervous, but we didn’t want to make her nervous so it was very chilled. Of course, brides have nerves, but if we didn’t put so much expectation on it, it wouldn’t have made her nervous. It was very even, very easy.”

After marrying Harry, Martin said, “She’s still the same person,” and after theWith Love, Meghantrailer debuted on Jan. 2, he took toInstagramto write, “My culinary confidence is due to @meghan, and I’m so excited for you all to watch this.”

Meghan Markle.

Meghan shares her excitement about her children seeing her at work during set visits in anexclusive interview with PEOPLEfor this week’s cover story.

“Archie did the [filming clapboard]! Sweet moments,” she says. “They would also come with my husband and visit me on-set, and I loved that my children were able to watch me working and see the balance of that and understand what Mama does and is working to create and share. It was really special because up until then, they hadn’t seen me at work.”

A crew member recalls how Archie and Lili would run up to Meghan on-set: “She was super attentive and doting on them. We would give them headphones so they could listen to audio.”

Adds Meghan: “I hope that when they get old enough, they feel really proud that they were part of the beginning of this with me.”

source: people.com