Why Meghan Wasn't at the Emmys in Los Angeles
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex was not at the Emmy Awards at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. She did not walk that red carpet or sit in that audience. The reason is simple scheduling.
Her Netflix series, With Love, Meghan, is nominated for Outstanding Lifestyle Series. That is the Emmy category for lifestyle and how-to television. It is not decided at the Primetime Emmys, the main evening awards for dramas, comedies and limited series. It is decided at the Daytime Emmys, the separate ceremony for daytime, lifestyle, children's and related programming, as Town & Country explained.
That explains the empty seat in Los Angeles. Town & Country laid out the distinction in an article titled "Why Meghan Markle Skipped the 2026 Emmys." In short, Meghan was never set to compete that night. Her category competes elsewhere.
American television awards are split up. The Primetime ceremony gets most of the national attention. The Daytime ceremony covers morning and afternoon programming along with lifestyle, culinary, travel and similar series. A home and cooking show fits there.
At the Daytime Emmys, With Love, Meghan will face four other nominees. They are Different Breed, George to the Rescue, The Motherhood and The Wizard of Paws. All five shows are competing for the same lifestyle prize. The winner will be announced at the Daytime Emmy ceremony on Friday, Oct. 30.
With Love, Meghan launched in 2025. Netflix describes the show as Meghan Markle's home and cooking series, a cozy series set in California, according to Netflix Tudum and Netflix Tudum. It aired for two seasons in 2025 and added a holiday special, as Yahoo noted. The run earned the show its first-ever Emmy nomination, as Page Six reported in July.
Meghan was not the only British royal in this year's Emmy conversation. People reported in July that Prince William was also included among the 2026 Emmy nominations alongside Meghan.
For fans, this means the story is not over. An October win would still give Meghan an Emmy. It would just come on a different stage, weeks after Los Angeles. Until then, the nomination itself is the milestone.
