Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Are Teaching Archie That "Manners Make the Man."
In a new cover story for New York Magazine, Meghan Markle opened up about her and Prince Harry's life in California. One adorable detail buried within the nearly 6,500 word story is about their eldest child, Archie Harrison. Meghan shares that right now they are trying to teach the 3-year-old his manners.
"We always tell him: ‘Manners make the man. Manners, manners, manners, manners, manners,'" the Duchess of Sussex recounts.
As she picks Archie up from preschool alongside the profile's writer, Allison P. Davis, the importance of his manners lessons are once again on display. Here's the relevant paragraph:
"Archie, munching on a quesadilla, wants to roll the window down himself, but not until we get to a specific huge hedge he mysteriously favors. We assess if he had a good day at school via an update letter from his teacher (he did and is ready for full days) and try to find out if he ate his sandwich at lunch (he did not). We solve the question of the mid-morning shirt change (they played in the water table). 'Why are you afraid of heights like an airplane?' Archie asks, and that leads to a conversation about the importance of being brave. If he forgets to say please or thank you, Meghan reminds him of the manners that make the man."
"Manners make the man" is a concept that traces back to the 14th and 15th centuries. In 1519, William Horman, who was then-headmaster of Eton College and Winchester college, wrote a book called the Vulgaria, a Latin grammar textbook. It included the advice "manners makyth man" under the guise of "everyday sayings"—which means it was popular by then. The phase also became the motto of both Winchester College and New College at the University of Oxford, two schools founded by a man named William of Wykeham.
But back to 2022: Archie is now three years old and attending preschool in Montecito, California, and learning this very old, British advice that manners determines one's character.
In one of their manners lessons, Meghan remembers that she was taught that salt and pepper are always passed together. A friend's mom once told her, "You never move one without the other." Meghan reflects, "That’s me and Harry. We’re like salt and pepper. We always move together."
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