{"id":112129,"date":"2026-01-25T20:18:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T20:18:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/112129\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T20:18:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T20:18:30","slug":"meghan-markle-explains-why-she-and-prince-harry-backed-cookie-queens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/112129\/","title":{"rendered":"Meghan Markle Explains Why She and Prince Harry Backed \u2018Cookie Queens\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tMeghan Markle<\/a> and Prince Harry<\/a> are making the most of their time at the Sundance Film Festival<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter the royal couple made a surprise appearance Saturday night at the Salt Lake City world premiere<\/a> of the Alysa Nahmias-directed documentary, which they executive produced, they turned up at an early Sunday morning showing of the film at the Eccles Theatre in Park City, Utah. They arrived to the red carpet shortly before 8:30 a.m. for a 9 a.m. screening. Prince Harry hung in the doorway while Markle posed for photos with Nahmias, and he joined them moments later as they excitedly greeted the entire Cookie Queens<\/a> team, including the four young Girl Scouts, the doc\u2019s main subjects as they battle it out to sell the most cookies.<\/p>\n

\n\tMarkle joined Nahmias for select press interviews on the line, and she even had a surprise showing at the podium to help introduce the film. It\u2019s rare if not unprecedented for an executive producer to speak before a filmmaker at Sundance, but officials made the most of having the Duchess in the building. She was welcomed to the stage by director of programming Kim Yutani, who described Cookie Queens as \u201cperhaps the cutest film at the festival,\u201d adding, \u201cthis is an earnest portrait of girls and their family of ambition, love, and tenacity, and I don\u2019t want to say too much because before we welcome our director, I want to invite a very special guest on stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOut walked Markle, who offered, \u201cGood morning everybody. Thank you guys so much for being here bright and early. I know some of you probably had late nights last night, so extra thanks for the effort. Nothing that little cookies and coffee can\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe then gave her take on the film and the four girls featured in it. \u201cLook, my husband and I and our Archewell Productions, we are so proud and privileged to be able to support and uplift Cookie Queens. This film, yes, is probably the cutest at the festival, but I\u2019m also going to go out on a limb and say it is one of the most powerful and meaningful depictions of something that is an American tradition and rooted in nostalgia, but is now put through this lens from the incredible creative vision of Alysa to show something modernized about the girlhood experience and all the layers and complexity that come with that,\u201d she said. \u201cSo yes, it\u2019s cute and yes, these young ladies are fantastic and adorable, but they are also layered beautiful girls who are about to become very strong leaders and young women. So thank you for supporting that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMeghan, Duchess of Sussex, introduces the film and its director from the Eccles podium.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Photo by Cindy Ord\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\n\tMarkle then thanked her team at Archewell and shouted out the producers for getting the project across the finish line. She and Prince Harry are executive producers alongside Tegan Acton, Hallee Adelman, Trevor Burgess, James Costa, Geralyn Dreyfous, Stephen G. Hall, Ruth Ann Harnisch, Melony Lewis, Adam Lewis, Ann Lewnes, Ann Lovell, Emma Pompetti, Chanel Pysnik and Regina K. Scully. Nahmias produced the film with Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw and Jennifer Sims.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis film is such a labor of love they have worked on for a couple years, and with all of the hundreds of hours of trusted fly on the wall material that they were able to capture with these families that let them in and allowed them to show and share their lives and their loves, I think the editorial in this that you\u2019ll see is also something pretty outstanding,\u201d Markle continued. \u201cThat is all testament to the talent and expertise of the director, Alysa Nahmias, who is here today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Hollywood Reporter caught up with both Markle and Nahmias on the red carpet during a brief interview as Nahmias revealed how she\u2019s feeling with having a world premiere the festival, which supported her film in its early days \u2014\u00a0especially during these challenging times. (The film was made independently and is currently looking for a distributor.)<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe film started at Sundance Catalyst, the development financing lab, and the labs have meant so much to me as an artist over the years,\u201d Nahmias told THR. \u201cTo premiere here feels, well, first of all, it\u2019s cookie season right now and and then also it feels like coming home, and it feels like coming to a place where there\u2019s so many diverse storytellers. I get so excited to see all of the other films and to really understand how storytelling can help us find unity and in divisive times.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMarkle told THR that she and Prince Harry felt \u201cprivileged\u201d being able to board the project as executive producers. \u201cIt could have been very easy to just make a sweet story about the girl\u2019s house, and it is sweet, but it is so layered with a human story and a girlhood story. I\u2019m just privileged that they gave me an opportunity and said yes to us and our Archewell Productions to come on. And for the past two years, my enthusiasm for this has finally come to light.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tMeghan, Duchess of Sussex, center, and Prince Harry, back left, pose with the cast and creative team of Alysia Nahmais\u2019 film Cookie Queens at the Eccles Theatre on Jan. 25, 2026.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Photo by Cindy Ord\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

\n\tNahmias said the four youngsters featured in the film were \u201csuper excited\u201d by Markle\u2019s participation as she\u2019s a fellow Girl Scout. Asked what traits she saw in the girls that she recognized in herself, Markle said, \u201cI think there\u2019s so many layers of that. What\u2019s so special about the film is whether you were a Girl Scout or not, there is so much you can connect to and relate to, that is the beauty of how Alysa put this film together to tell a story of family, community, parenting and also just the complexities of girlhood. There are pieces of it that aren\u2019t easy and there are pressures on young girls, and I think all of us can see that. [I recognize it] both from my experience of being a young girl, but also now as a mom. This is very universal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe couple\u2019s Archwell Productions has backed other nonfiction projects, most recently Moses Bwayo and David Vieira Lopez\u2019s Masaka Kids: A Rhythm Within. Asked what the future holds for her Hollywood ambitions, Markle told THR, \u201cFinding more projects like this with creators like this that have really strong points of view, and finding ways that we\u2019re able to support as best we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tNahmias and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Photo by Cindy Ord\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Big Sunday at Sundance! Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan are here in Park City to support Cookie Queens this morning at Eccles. They executive produced the documentary and will sit through the screening. Here they pose with the filmmaker Alysa Nahmias who told me the couple has\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/2YzVrGErv8<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Chris Gardner (@chrissgardner) January 25, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n