On Christmas Day, rugby star Meg Jones will be on a plane travelling to India, where she will be maid of honour at her best friend’s wedding.

It will be a completely new festive experience for her, and while she and the bride will spend time reminiscing about their childhoods in Cardiff, she admits a “dark cloud” hangs over her home city.

It’s where she grew up, attending Ysgol Gyfun Glantaf, but it’s also where she lost both her parents in the space of four months last year – her dad to cancer and mum to addiction.

While Meg has enjoyed huge success with England’s Red Roses, winning the World Cup earlier this year, the joy has been tempered by coming to terms with the double loss.

“It’s where all the bad kind of happened I guess,” she said, speaking of the city.

“But I know the dark cloud will pass at some point.”

Meg thinks the trip to India could help her cope with her grief over the festive period, and will also give her a chance to reflect on her parents’ memory, with her childhood friend, Beth.

On the pitch, things couldn’t be better for the 29-year-old, having won the World Cup and Six Nations over the past 12 months, and being nominated for world rugby player of the year.

But the achievements still feel bittersweet, as they are special moments she wishes her parents could have experienced with her.

“They’re all key events you want to share with them, and also for them to be proud of you,” she said.

“But I’m a firm believer that they’re still here spiritually, showing us signs from time to time.”

In 2024, her Welsh father Simon was diagnosed with lung cancer – less than seven months later he died.

Her English-born mother, Paula, who had struggled with alcohol addiction for years, “couldn’t fathom the fact he’d gone”, she said.

A few months later, in December, she also died.

“My mum and dad weren’t together, so I always think it was a bit of a broken heart as well,” said Meg.

She was crying most days as she struggled to come to terms with the losses, and said it taught her how to be vulnerable and “how being open and honest actually helps people help you”.

Meg still has two siblings in Cardiff and reflecting on the most difficult aspects, added: “We went from a family of five, to a family of three.”

Christmas triggers many emotions and memories.

She remembers the “tinsel my mum had put up and it was a bit tacky but I kind of loved it”, “the colour floating around”, her mother’s “wrapping” and how her mum loved “making it special for us”.

After her parents separation, she recalled how her dad “felt bad” because “mum used to buy all the presents”.

He gifted her and her siblings a cheap “little perfume”, wrapped with “so much Sellotape, you couldn’t get into it”.

“It was just the cutest thing, because it showed he cared, and it was the thought that mattered,” she said.

“They’re those small bits that I definitely miss and I’m sure I’ll sit and reflect on and think I wish I had those times again.

“I’ll probably sit and cry, but happy tears as well, not always sad.”

Now living in London with her supportive partner Celia, Meg admits her relationship with her home city has changed, and all her wonderful memories are tinged by the sadness of the losses.

Meg has always been open about her mother’s addiction, which she battled for 16 years.

What began as parties and “casually drinking like anyone else does”, spiralled into binge drinking and alcoholism.

“As a child and a daughter, I had a lot of anger,” she said.

Meg always struggled to understand what she believed at the time, was her mum’s dissatisfaction with life.

“I always thought, ‘you’ve got beautiful children, you’ve got a beautiful home, you’ve got an amazing job, you’re a neuro nurse’,” she said.

“She could run that ward blindfolded, she was the most articulate, intelligent, caring individual I’ve ever met and I just thought, ‘what is it that you don’t have?’.”

Meg described her mum as a “deep human”, who “struggled to find purpose outside of work”.

She said it’s only recently that’s she’s understood addiction more.

She’s now a patron of The Living Room, a Cardiff-based charity and recovery centre for addiction.

It was there, while speaking to the charity’s founder, Wynford Elis Owen, she saw “a glimmer of hope in my mum’s eyes”.

Her mum Paula died three days after that initial appointment.

Meg emphasised the importance of breaking the “stigma” around addiction, and fostering greater “understanding, care and empathy”.

“From a societal point of view, I think we just look at addiction as, that’s self-inflicted, sort yourself out, that’s it, here’s your leaflet, go and fix it,” she said.

“The bottom line is, it’s an illness.”

This Christmas will mark the first festive period “since the dust has settled”.

She described the wedding in India as a “silver lining” during an incredibly difficult time, adding: “I’m sure we’ll reflect and sit in South Goa just thinking about all the good times, and all the memories she [the bride, Beth] remembers of my mum and dad too.”