‘SNL UK’ opened its second season with Harry and Meghan in the crosshairs, mocking the couple’s move back to Britain in a cold open that aired on Saturday, 12 September 2026.
The Season 2 premiere, hosted by Jeff Goldblum, went straight for the royals, as reported by Variety.
Larry Dean played King Charles and Emma Sidi played Queen Camilla, both lounging at Balmoral Castle in Scotland before their peace was shattered by two very familiar guests.
Jack Shep turned up as Harry and Ayoade Bamgboye as Meghan, and the pair spent most of the sketch wrapped around each other in an embrace so clingy that the King Charles character could barely look at them. The one-liners came thick and fast.
What the SNL UK cold open did to Harry and Meghan
Money came up early. The King Charles character asked whether the couple had already burned through their Netflix payday, a jab at the streaming deal that has trailed the couple for years.
In the script, the Harry character played by Jack Shep shot back:
“Daddy, it was $16 million.”
None of that came from the real Prince Harry. Every line belonged to the sketch, which kept the two characters locked in an embrace so relentless that the King Charles character spent the segment visibly repulsed. That reaction was the whole engine of the bit.
Meghan’s kitchen bit in the SNL UK sketch
The sketch did not stop at the money. The Meghan character presented Camilla with a homemade ice tray, a pointed nod to the lifestyle brand As Ever that has become shorthand for her post-royal career, and Ayoade Bamgboye delivered the punchline with complete sincerity:
“I made it myself.”
She also offered to share the recipe, on the grounds that she is “a whizz in the kitchen”. That is scripted dialogue from the sketch, not something Meghan Markle has said, and the joke lands squarely on the wellness-brand image rather than on anything she has actually claimed.
Why the Harry and Meghan UK return keeps making headlines
The couple stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and built a life in California, which is exactly what makes a move back to England a story worth a cold open.
Comedy writers do not chase people who stay put; they chase the ones who keep changing addresses in public.
Their move back to the UK has been a running story on Swisher Post since the couple landed in Birmingham in late August 2026, and the security fears around the couple’s school run followed within weeks.
The comedy writers have clearly been reading the same headlines as everyone else.
Any response from the couple to the cold open could not be verified at the time of publishing.
SNL UK has a full season still to run, though, and a royal storyline that keeps restocking the writers’ room, so Balmoral may not be done taking hits.
