Meghan Markle admits she ‘didn’t know’ about the Commonwealth until she joined the Royal Family

Meghan Markle admitted she ‘didn’t know’ about the Commonwealth until she joined the Royal Family and gushed that it is an ‘honour’ to be continuing Her Majesty’s legacy during a video call with young leaders from the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.

The Duke, 35, and Duchess of Sussex, 39,  joined the discussion from their new $14 million mansion in Santa Barbara, California, on Monday, with a video of the call shared on the QCT YouTube channel today.     

Both Meghan and Prince Harry spoke adoringly of the Queen, 94, whom they referred to as ‘grandmother’ during the video call, weeks after their rift with the Royal Family was laid bare in their explosive biography Finding Freedom.

Meanwhile the couple also gushed over the Commonwealth with Meghan saying she felt ‘incredible pride’ at being able to work with the QCT, revealing: ‘[Young people from across the Commonwealth] come with a question, they always offered a solution, and that’s what I think is so inspiring and why I’m incredibly proud to be able to work with the QCT, but why it’s the continuation of the legacy of your grandmother.’ 

Their loving comments for the organisation and the Queen come after the couple faced criticism for their last conversation with the group, in which they appeared to take a swipe at the British Empire by saying the history of the Commonwealth ‘must be acknowledged’, even if it’s ‘uncomfortable’. 

The Sussexes have carried out several video calls with their charitable organisations since quitting the royal family and moving to the US in March. 

Chief executive of QCT, Nicola Brentnall chaired the meeting, which was also attended by Brighton Kaoma – founder of Agents of Change Foundation in Zambia – Hunter Johnson, founder of The Man Cave in Australia, Rosie Thomas, co-founder of Project Rockit in Australia, and, Vee Kativhu, Study and Empowerment YouTuber and founder of ‘Empowered by Vee’. 

In the video call, which was released today, Prince Harry said he felt it was vital to not just ‘come to the table with a problem without a solution’. 

‘Solutions are the most important thing, I learned in the Army, don’t come to the table with a problem unless you’ve got a solution,’ he said. 

Meghan, 39, spoke of her ‘incredible pride’ at being able to work with the organisation, which she described as a continuation of the legacy of the Queen

Prince Harry also heaped praise on his grandmother, saying the Queen has achieved everything she wanted to when she took on the ‘huge responsibility’ of the Commonwealth.

He said: ‘No one could have predicted how the world was going to change in such a short space of time, especially with the digital space.

‘But, hearing you guys, knowing the broad spectrum that the QCT engulfs, you guys are the definition of the 21st century Commonwealth and what it means to be part of it.

‘You are there standing for equality and mutual respect and fairness, and I think that is something that every single one of you should be very proud of.’

Harry, 35, stressed the importance of not ‘coming to the table with a problem without a solution’

Meanwhile Meghan admitted that she was ‘newer’ to the organisation, saying: ‘I think from my standpoint, being newer to the world of the Commonwealth, I lived in Canada for several years.

‘It wasn’t until joining The Family that I was able to meet so many young people throughout the Commonwealth.

‘They came with a question, they always offered a solution, and that’s what I think is so inspiring and why I’m incredibly proud to be able to work with the QCT, but why it’s the continuation of the legacy of your grandmother.’ 

The Queen remains head of the Commonwealth and in 2018, Harry’s father Prince Charles was announced as her successor. 

Meanwhile the Duchess also said many people’s ‘mental and emotional welbeing’ is currently ‘more fragile than ever’ during the frank discussion about mental health. 

She said: ‘Everyone’s mental and emotional wellbeing are perhaps more fragile than ever before, certainly with COVID and our dependability on devices right now in the absence of human interaction. 

‘People are going online more than ever before to feel community.

‘When that community becomes decisive and isn’t a pack for good, but is a pack of people ganging up on one another…what’s challenging about that is that people don’t feel an escape.

‘It can probably feel very lonely in that space.’ 

She added that she felt ‘sensitive’ to what ‘young girls are experiencing right now in an online space.’ 

Meghan added: ‘When we talk about what a healthy online community is like, it’s not an echo chamber.

‘Being able to have a healthy discourse and being able  to disagree. That is so key.

‘It’s not trying to build a utopia, it’s about building a healthy community so that people feel safe and heard and perhaps walk away with a different perspective which they hadn’t thought at the onset.

‘But that they have that interaction…that’s what life is all about.’ 

During today’s discussion the couple praised Hunter Johnson for for quoting mental health advocates Brené Brown and Tristan Harris – two people the couple say they ‘love and absolutely adore’.  

Hunter also talked about positive role models with a focus on addressing toxic masculinity and how showing vulnerability online can help shape new narratives of manhood.

He said: ‘What we’re trying to do is expose them to cool people they want to be like who have range in their identity. 

‘To show they can be strong and stoic, but the next day they can shed a tear, they can be emotional… They don’t lose any of their masculinity doing that, but they do gain more of their humanity.’

The Duke observed: ‘If we are all able to show our vulnerability that doesn’t mean that you’re weak. 

‘If anything, I believe, that’s probably showing most of your strength.’ 

‘If you’re so in touch with your emotions and you know where you are on each day….that’s a super power. If everybody else is stuck in the old way, then the new way is surely to be able to think different and be ahead of everyone else.’ 

Prince Harry added: ‘Why not profit off compassion and empathy? It’s definitely possible, everyone we’ve spoken to says it’s possible. So maybe the time has come to be able to create the antidote, to create the alternative on a global scale.

‘Whether you’re on these platforms or not, whether you’re a user or not, you’re still plugged into this giant global nervous system of which the happiness and sadness of the world is felt universally.’

Harry observed that one factor underpinning positive digital progress is courage.

He said to the young leaders on the call: ‘It takes a huge amount of courage for you to set up communities like you have but also for other people to stand up to hate.’ 

In the latest conversation, The Duchess saying she felt ‘incredibly proud to be able to work with the QCT’ weeks after the extent of their rift from the Royal Family was laid bare in a new explosive biography 

He and Meghan finished the call by thanking participants for the work they are doing and pledged their ongoing commitment to supporting their work through QCT.

After joking that he and Meghan are ‘too old’ now to be considered young people, he went on: ‘This is the world that you guys are going to inherit, I’m saying you guys because I’m predicting most of you are in your late twenties…’ to which Meghan added: ‘And Archie.’

In his closing comments, The Duke said to young leaders on the call: ‘It’s on all of us collectively to make the world a better place – and we are.’ 

During the couple’s last conversation with the QCT, the Duke faced criticism after he appeared to take a swipe at the British Empire by saying the history of the Commonwealth ‘must be acknowledged’, even if it’s ‘uncomfortable’.

As part of the discussion on ‘justice and equal rights’, Harry said the Commonwealth – of which his grandmother is head – needs to follow others who have ‘acknowledged the past’ and are ‘trying to right their wrongs’, and also admitted to having his own ‘unconscious bias’. 

Critics were stunned by the prince’s comments, with London-based veteran royal photographer Arthur Edwards saying Harry criticising the one thing the Queen ‘cherishes above all things’ – which is preserving the Commonwealth – was an ‘insult’. 

The gushing remarks in support of the work of the Commonwealth today comes after weeks of controversy for the couple following the release of their explosive biography Finding Freedom. 

Prince Harry and Meghan’s previous comments on the Commonwealth drew heavy criticism from some, including a royal photographer

The book offers a window into Meghan and Harry’s lives during their time as senior royals, and is full of details on their shock exit from the royal family.

It addresses the rift between brothers Harry and William, 38, as well as the relationship between their wives.

The explosive biography also claimed Prince Harry and Meghan ‘hurt’ the Queen by unilaterally mapping out their future royal roles without her approval. 

The Duke and Duchess claim they were not interviewed for the book, which provides a high level of personal detail and a dramatic account of the events leading up to their departure. 

Sources told Vanity Fair that the Queen will be the person ‘most upset’ by the new bombshell book.

A family source claimed: ‘It’s going to open old wounds at a time when everyone wanted to move on. I think the person who will be most upset about it all is the Queen.’