has said that motherhood is not how she "envisioned it", just weeks after praising with the Sussex family for five years. The Duchess of Sussex , Confessions of a Female Founder, today by welcoming the founder of sustainable hair and beauty brand Kitsch, Cassandra Thurswell.

In the episode, Meghan admitted that she had a "lot of external things happening" during both pregnancies and when her children were newborns, adding that she planned to give speeches "with a baby on my hip". The Duchess in early 2020 and moved to the US when her eldest child, Prince Archie, was just 10 months old.

She said in the new episode of her podcast: "I will say, for myself - especially when they are baby babies and, yes, the crying, before I was mum, I've always wanted to be a mum.

"I was like 'Oh gosh, I'm going to give a speech with a baby on my hip'. I had a whole vision - and then you fast forward... granted I had a lot of external things happening by the time I had both pregnancies and both babies. But it was not the way I envisioned it."

The closest Meghan has come to delivering a speech with one of her children in her arms was taking then five-month-old baby Archie on an official tour to South Africa in 2019, when Meghan held him as he met Archbishop Desmond Tutu in front of the cameras.

The trip schedule was planned around Archie's feeding times, with the duchess saying then: "We're doing well. I think the schedule - they have been very kind to me, because everything is based around Archie's feed times. So it's a full plate, but we're making it work. It's worth it."

But behind the scenes, Meghan and Harry were struggling with their life as part of the Royal Family amid fall-outs with the royals and intense media scrutiny.

The duchess gave an emotional interview to ITV at the end of the tour, revealing she was finding it difficult and adding: "Thank you for asking. Not many people have asked if I'm OK ... it's a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes."

In the latest episode of her Confessions Of A Female Founder series, Meghan, who this year launched her As Ever brand and lifestyle Netflix series, said: "It's so important my kids see me as a working mom."

She previously said, during an appearance on The Jamie Kern Lima Show, that juggling work can be "incredibly overwhelming", and revealed who has been with the family for five years.