Prince Harry’s ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas launches new podcast – and it encompasses a VERY particular royal visitor

Cressida Bonas has announced she is launching a new podcast – featuring A-listers and a very special royal guest. 

The actress, who dated Prince Harry from 2012 to 2014, took to her Instagram account on Wednesday to announce that Lessons From Our Mothers will be launching on March 30, which is Mother’s Day in the UK.

Cressida, 36, will be joined by her half sister, Isabella Branson, for a ‘series of conversations that celebrate motherhood and mothering in all its forms’. 

The series is set to feature cameos from a variety of A-listers, including the likes of Kate Winslet, Giovanna Fletcher and Mary Berry – who made the duo a tasty homemade cake and a cup of tea. 

Cressida’s close friend Princess Eugenie, who was the brains behind her match with Harry, will also speak as a guest. 

A sneak preview posted on the podcast’s new Instagram account saw Eugenie, 34, speak touchingly about her own mother, Sarah Ferguson. 

‘What is the most valuable thing you have learned from your mum?’ Cressida asks in an upcoming episode.  

Eugenie said: ‘I think for me, it’s the fire inside, you know, the strength inside of you, and how to bring that out, and to pull it in when you most need it.’

Cressida announced the podcast on her Instagram account, writing: ‘We are excited to share something that we’ve been working on for a while…our new podcast, Lessons From Our Mothers, launching on Mothering Sunday 2025!

‘Have you ever stopped to think about the maternal figures in your life and how they have shaped who you are today? Have you ever asked them about their own experiences, or thought about the lessons that you have learned from them?’

She added that she had been inspired to launch the podcast after her own mother, Lady Mary-Gaye, had fallen ill last year. 

She continued: ‘Lessons From Our Mothers is a series of conversations that celebrate motherhood and mothering in all its forms. 

‘When our own mum fell ill last year, we set out to ask her all the questions that we had never thought to ask – and now, we’re on a sisterly mission to find out the stories of some special guests (and their mothers) through this podcast.

‘There’s been some laughter, some tears and a lot of wisdom…and cake with Mary Berry, of course.

‘Catch the very first episode on Sunday 30th March, wherever you get your podcasts!’

Both Cressida and Isabella are mothers themselves: Isabella shares two children with her filmmaker husband Sam Branson, the son of business tycoon Sir Richard Branson. 

In January, Cressida revealed that she is expecting her second child, using an embryo she had frozen. 

The actress had married property investor Harry Wentworth-Stanley in 2020. 

‘I am now well into my second pregnancy,’ she said at the time, writing in an article for The Spectator. ‘Having conceived through IVF the first time, we were fortunate to have another embryo stored away in a freezer.’

Cressida, whose son Wilbur is two, revealed it had so far been a difficult pregnancy. ‘I’ve been battling morning sickness,’ she says. ‘I’ve never had it before, and now feel like I’ve been swaying on a boat for months.’

To announce the podcast, the sisters shared a sweet black and white photo together from recording it, alongside bright cover artwork. 

In a voiceover, they said: ‘In this podcast, we speak with people about the maternal figures, who shape who they are today. As mothers ourselves, we are curious to explore the valuable lessons we carry forward, the ones we choose to leave behind, and how we navigate the challenges of motherhood and encourage each other through our learnings along the way. 

‘When our own mum fell seriously ill last year, we realised there were questions we’d never asked herm stories we hadn’t heard, and things we hadn’t yet said. 

‘When she recovered, we made it a priority to sit down with her and talk about her life. We’re now on a sisterly misson to hear about the stories of others. 

Though Lessons With Our Mothers is an exciting new career venture for Cressida, it’s not the actress’s first foray into podcast hosting. 

In 2020, she launched Fear Itself, featuring guests such as Sir Richard Branson. 

Cressida encouraged her guests to share their personal stories around the nature of fear, to explore why it shows up, why people try to hide it, and what can be learned from it. 

The podcast ran for 37 episodes until 2021, with Matt Haig, Elizabeth Day, Jamie Laing and Emma Barnett among the guests featured.  

With Eugenie joining her latest venture, Cressida is once more adding to the ever-growing list of royal podcasts. 

Just last week, Meghan Markle announced she was launching ‘Confessions of a Female Founder’, her first project with Lemonada Media. 

Lemonada described the show as inviting listeners ‘to be a fly on the wall as Meghan sits down for candid conversations with female founders and friends about the success, the struggles, and the never-before-told stories of building a business’.

A trailer will be released on March 25 with the first episode on April 8, and it comes after her new lifestyle show ‘With Love, Meghan’ premiered on Netflix on March 4.

Posting a photograph of the cover work for the new podcast on her Instagram account today, the Duchess said she was ‘so excited’ to share news of the podcast, describing the experience as ‘absolutely eye-opening, inspiring…and fun!’

Meghan said: ‘I’m so excited to share with you something else I’ve been working on: ‘Confessions Of A Female Founder,’ my new podcast with @lemonadamedia!

‘I’ve been having candid conversations with amazing women who have turned dreams into realities, and scaled small ideas into massively successful businesses.

‘They’re opening up, sharing their tips, tricks (and tumbles), and letting me pick their brains as I build out my own business, As Ever. It has been absolutely eye-opening, inspiring…and fun! (Because what’s the point if we can’t have some fun on this wild adventure?)’

Meanwhile, earlier this month, King Charles became the first monarch in history to record their own podcast, nominating 17 of his favourite songs from across the Commonwealth. 

Last August, Cressida’s sister Pandora Cooper-Key tragically passed away aged 51 after two decades suffering with different cancers.

Pandora was first diagnosed with cancer 24 years ago and revealed to Femail in that March that her family had already planned her funeral ‘thousands of times’ after she was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour.

Pandora, from west London, had been told that she had a tumour on the left side of her skull that doctors could not operate on.

This resulted in rounds of immunotherapy in the hopes she would recover, after first being diagnosed with cancer aged 26 in 2000. 

Cressida has since posted numerous tributes to her beloved sister, calling her the ‘leader of our pack’.

Talking in The Times, Cressida wrote: ‘When we were adults…we became two loving friends. I could share my thoughts and she’d listen. We would often ask each other for advice, and she would always be honest, often brutally so.’

She wrote how Pandora was a guiding light in her life, explaining how her older sister’s carefree attitude and ability to find light in all situations never failed to amaze her, including when she stopped to admire flowers despite running late.

‘Now that she has gone, I wish I could talk to her about raising sons as I’m also now the mother of a baby boy,’ Cressida said.