Harry & Meghan are the first ‘new age’ Royal couple (Image: Getty)
Harry and Meghan were recently spotted visiting an ‘energy healing’ shop while enjoying their ‘babymoon’ at a health-conscious hotel. Marriage to clean living Meghan has inspired Harry to make a change from booze loving party animal to a health fiend who apparently enjoys spiritual practices, alternative medicine, and vegan paint. The royal couple’s mini-break involved a three-night stay in the Hampshire-based Heckfield Place hotel with its 400 acres of natural landscape and Little Bothy spa that has an “emphasis on wellness and a deep connection to our natural surroundings”. The super-plush room costs £10,000 a night, although it has not been confirmed how much Harry and Meghan paid. As the couple prepare for their first baby, which is expected at the end of April or beginning of May, Meghan is following the advice she wrote on her now discontinued blog, The Tig, that almost anything can be solved with “yoga, the beach or a few avocados”.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s drive for a healthy mind and body is clear from their recent visit to the Notting Hill health shop, Ilapothecary.
Situated just a short walk away from Kensington Palace, which until this week was the couple’s home, the shop promises a “cutting-edge synergy of naturopathy, homeopathy, herbology and photo-activities.”
It describes its products as “infused with powerful remedial ingredients to counteract the stresses of modern living, environmental and digital pollution, mental stress and body fatigue”. The shop also hosts wellbeing talks and workshops, including sound healing and meditation on Mondays.
Now offering singing crystal bowls and gongs, the year-old shop was founded by Denise Leicester, an ex-nurse who started an organic skincare range which has been publicly supported by actresses Natalie Portman and Gwyneth Paltrow.
Harry and Meghan visited Notting Hill health shop, Ilapothecary (Image: YouTube)
Harry and Meghan’s hippy journey doesn’t stop there. They also spent three nights away in Heckfield Place in Hampshire for their ‘babymoon’.
The couple stayed in the Long Room, one of the hotel’s six signature rooms. It is described as the hotel’s “most magnificent living space”, coming complete with a Virginia Woolf painting, a selection of literature, and a personal butler.
Visitors can spend their time relaxing in the gardens which are described as “both tamed and gently wild” and enjoying the “self-sustaining relationship between the house and the land”.
They could also catch a film at the cinema or go to The Little Bothy spa with its multiple treatment rooms and training studios, yoga and pilates sessions, and a movement studio by Bodyism.
Yoga is a particular favourite of the royal couple’s. Meghan, whose mum Doria Ragland is a yoga instructor, has unsurprisingly been a long-standing advocate for the practice and has now inspired her husband to get involved too. It is rumoured that their new home at Frogmore Cottage in Windsor has a yoga studio, according to The Daily Mail.
Meghan’s wellness pursuits seem to have been largely inspired by her mum, who she once described on her blog as “Dreadlocks. Nose ring. Yoga instructor. Social worker. Free spirit.”
The royal couple’s health drive is not just physical. Both Harry and Meghan practice meditation, Harry once telling Buddhist monk Kelsang Sonar that he practices meditation every day. The spiritual practice helped Meghan during her acting career and back then she used to practice it twice a day for 20 minutes.
She spoke of its impact on her: “I am happier. Meditation has much to do with that.”
The couple spent three nights at the luxurious Heckfield Place in Hampshire (Image: Twitter)
Mental health is an important issue for the couple. Harry recently said in a speech for sustainable impact-focused WE Day last month that young people needed to have “less screen time, and more face-to-face time, exceed expectations, and take risks” if they want to make a difference in the world.
He added: “Social media is more addictive than alcohol or drugs.”
As the soon-to-be parents prepare for their new arrival, they continue on this health and hippy streak, including painting their baby’s room in neutral grey and white colours using vegan paint from the German brand Auro.
They are also huge supporters of alternative medicines, which may see them practice hypnobirthing when the time comes, a practice which involves both people in the couple and is meant to prevent the need for pain relief during labour.
It is rumoured that Harry and Meghan’s new home, Frogmore Cottage, will include a yoga studio (Image: Getty)
Vanity Fair reported that Meghan has also had acupuncture treatment while she has been pregnant, having visited the celebrity acupuncturist Ross Barr based in Marylebone in London.
Barr’s 45 minute sessions cost between £90 and £120 depending on the treatment.
Harry’s mum, Princess Diana, was also a huge supporter of alternative wellbeing techniques and had acupuncture regularly to help her with the stress of royal responsibilities.