Prince Harry, Meghan's son Archie featured in their holiday podcast special on Spotify
Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, released their first holiday podcast special Tuesday, and it features an adorable cameo by the couple's nearly 2-year-old son Archie.
At the end of the podcast, after Harry and Meghan replayed their wedding song, "This Little Light of Mine," the couple brings Archie to the microphone, with Harry telling his son, "You can speak into it."
When Meghan asks her son, "Archie, is it fun?," he replies, "Fun?," prompting Meghan to then say again, "Fun!"
Archie, who will turn 2 in May, even gave a special 2021 message to listeners, saying, with help from his parents, "Happy New Year," followed by lots of laughs from both Archie and his parents.
The podcast marks the first time the public has heard Archie speak.
The toddler was featured on his family's Christmas card this year in an illustration of a photo that was taken by his maternal grandmother, Doria Ragland. The photo shows Archie, Harry and Meghan and their two dogs playing in a playhouse outside of the family's California home.
Harry and Meghan's holiday special podcast, their first in a multi-year deal with Spotify, features nearly one dozen celebrities, athletes, activists and intellectuals reflecting on the year 2020 and looking ahead to 2021.
Among those included in the podcast are Deepak Chopra, voting rights activist Stacey Abrams, author Rachel Cargle, TV host and actor James Corden, tennis star Naomi Osaka, author Brene Brown, Hollywood mogul Tyler Perry and and Prince Harry's friend, Sir Elton John.
"We thought what if we could bring together some people that inspire us, people that we admire and get their thoughts on what they learned from 2020," Meghan said. "So we asked a few friends and a lot of other folks ... people from all walks of life."
"We asked them to record audio diaries and send them back to us," added Harry. "We were curious to hear what they'd reflect on when they had a moment to themselves, without navigating the sometimes awkward dance of a video chat, meaning, no one having to say, 'Wait, you're on mute,' over and over again, which is probably one of the defining phrases of 2020."
Meghan noted the messages they received from the influencers they reached out to all focused on one central theme, "the power of connection."
"As we come to the end of this year and look to the future, let's hold onto the lessons we have learned about how important it is to take care of one another and how meaningful our connections are, even when they are physically impossible," Harry said.
Harry and Meghan have signed a multi-year partnership with Spotify that will see the Sussexes both hosting and producing podcasts with the goal of building "community through shared experience, narratives and values," according to Spotify.
The partnership with Spotify will fall under the Sussexes' new production company, Archewell Audio, described by Spotify as an "audio-first production company."
Archewell is the name of Harry and Meghan's nonprofit venture, they announced in April, and which has a connection to their son Archie.
"Before SussexRoyal, came the idea of 'Arche' -- the Greek word meaning 'source of action,'" Harry and Meghan said in a statement to ABC News in April. "We connected to this concept for the charitable organization we hoped to build one day, and it became the inspiration for our son's name."
The first complete series from Archewell Audio and Spotify will debut next year.
The podcast deal is the second recent, high-profile media venture for Harry and Meghan.
In September it was announced the Sussexes had inked a deal with Netflix to produce films and series, including docu-series, documentaries, features and children's programming, with a priority on creating programs that resonate with their values and highlighting issues on which their Archewell nonprofit will also focus.
Currently there are several projects in development, including a nature docu-series and an animated series that celebrates inspiring women, according to a source close to the couple.
Harry, 35, and Meghan, 39, stepped back as "senior members" of the royal family in March and relocated with Archie from the United Kingdom to California, where Meghan was born and raised.
