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The Duchess of Sussex joked about her husband ‘crashing the party’ as he drove her to Windsor Castle to attend a roundtable discussion on gender equality.
Meghan has joined The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust and One Young World to look at how young leaders are driving meaningful change for empowering women.
The mother-of-one, 38, donned a red Hugo Boss red leather pencil skirt – the same worn by Queen Letizia of Spain in South Korea yesterday – as she arrived at the event in Harry’s electric Audi E-Tron.
The couple are talking with young leaders running projects and ventures that support equality and inclusion in countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Iraq, Malawi and Bangladesh.
Meghan told guests: ‘In terms of gender equality, which is something I have championed for a long time, I think that conversation can’t happen without men being a part of it.
‘So for this reason it made complete sense to let him (Harry) join today so thank you for letting him crash the party.’
Prince Harry put in a surprise appearance as he joined his wife at the event this morning, driving her to Windsor in his Audi
Meghan began the discussion by telling the group that it was ‘impossible to have a discussion about gender equality without men being involved’ – and spoke about how this is a subject her husband has been working on since 2013
Meghan donned a red Hugo Boss red leather pencil skirt – the same worn by Queen Letizia of Spain in South Korea yesterday – as she arrived at the event in Harry’s electric Audi E-Tron
Meghan is speaking with young leaders who are running projects and ventures that support gender equality and inclusion in countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Iraq, Malawi and Bangladesh
Prince Harry joined his wife, Meghan, today as she attended a roundtable discussion on gender equality
Prince Harry is president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust while Meghan has been made vice-president. Pictured, Harry proudly wore a badge displaying the emblem of the QCT
Today’s meeting took place at the Queen’s Windsor home, near Frogmore Cottage where the Sussexes are raising their baby son Archie.
The QCT, of which Harry is president and which Meghan serves as vice-president, aims to champion, connect and fund young leaders from the 53 countries in the Commonwealth.
Beginning the discussion the duchess, seated next to her husband, said that a conversation on female empowerment and gender equality ‘couldn’t happen without men’.
She said: ‘I think we’re all aware that One Young World has been very important to me for several years and now being vice president of QCT, it just felt like the perfect medley.
‘What you’re all capable of doing independently is incredible but then when you work collectively, our intention today is to try to create somewhat of a task force to see what we can do within our communities and then use that knowledge to apply it to whatever is happening in all these other communities.’
The palace said: ‘The discussion will cover how these young leaders are driving meaningful change for empowering women.
‘They will share achievements and best practices that have helped empower communities to overcome complex challenges and significant obstacles.’
The roundtable was led by QCT chief executive Nicola Brentnall and moderated by One Young World counsellors, social media influencer Rossana Bee and Canada’s first openly gay Olympic gold medallist Mark Tewksbury.
Harry and Meghan heard from the founder of the south African organisation Motholung Network Against Women and Child Abuse, Lebogang Bogopane, about her personal experiences of familial domestic violence.
Ms Bogopane said: ‘I got married very young and experienced domestic violence. My mother is a survivor and I’m also a survivor. One day I said ‘I’m tired, this needs to stop’.’
She told the duchess about her project Bake for Hope, which provides locally baked bread – something that she said is still a luxury in certain parts of South Africa.
The Duchess of Sussex said a conversation about gender equality and female empowerment “can’t happen without men”
Back row (left to right): Amanda Scott (OYW Ambassador) and Mark Tewksbury (OYW Counsellor). Middle row (left to right): Nicola Brentnall (OYW CEO of The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust), Noriah Tadala Katungwe (Ambassador), Lebogang Bogopane (Ambassador), Sophie Maxwell (Ambassador), Gideon Olanrewaju (Ambassador), Donnya Piggot (Ambassador), Costase Ndayishimiye (Ambassador), Megan Iha (Ambassador) Front Row (left to right): Rosanna Burgos (Counsellor), Amir Ashour (Ambassador), The Duchess of Sussex (Counsellor), The Duke of Sussex, Gulnahar Mahbub Monika (Ambassador)
Sitting beside Meghan, on her right, is Amir Ashour, a human rights defender from Iraq. He is the founder and executive director of IraQueer – Iraq’s first and only LGBT+ organization. Amir recently completed his MA in Human Rights at Columbia University and has been nominated for several human rights awards
Listening intently: The Duke of Sussex is president of The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust
Meghan donned a red Hugo Boss red leather pencil skirt. When visiting Sussex last year, she wore the same skirt in bottle green
The roundtable is the couple’s first public engagement together since their emotional television interview with tom Bradby on ITV, in which they described the struggles of the past year.
In the documentary the pair admitted to struggling with the media attention, but faced criticism in some quarters for their controversial views on and the public scrutiny they faced.
In contrast, Prince Charles’ earned rave reviews for his show which aired on the same channel last night.
Fans applauded the Prince of Wales after watching ‘Prince Charles: Inside the Duchy of Cornwall’, for being down to earth, friendly and so invested in his land and the lives of the people who live there.
On Tuesday, Meghan attended the opening ceremony of the One Young World Summit at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
It was her first public appearance since revealing the difficulties she has faced over the past year as a royal in ITV’s Harry & Meghan: An African Journey.
The couple will discuss international inclusion projects, led by the OYW representatives, in countries including South Africa, Nigeria, Iraq, Malawi and Bangladesh
The Duke and Duchess were greeted by Nicola Brentnall, CEO of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust
The roundtable comes three days after Meghan attended the official opening of the OYW summit at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday night
Harry is also getting back to work in the wake of the ITV documentary, ahead of the couple’s plans for a six-week break from royal duties, and will attend the launch of Team UK for the Invictus Games The Hague 2020 in London next Tuesday.
In the programme, filmed during the Sussexes’ recent official overseas tour, Harry said he and his brother the Duke of Cambridge were now ‘on different paths’ and have ‘good days” and ‘bad days’ in their relationship.
Meghan admitted feeling vulnerable and spoke of the difficulty in coping with intense tabloid interest, saying: ‘It’s not enough to just survive something, that’s not the point of life. You have got to thrive.’
Harry told of the pressure he felt trying to protect his family from unwanted media attention.
A royal source told the BBC William was concerned about his brother following the documentary screening and hoped Harry and Meghan were ‘all right’.
The source added there was a view that the couple were ‘in a fragile place’.
Next week, Harry, patron of the Invictus Games Foundation, will meet the UK’s competitors and pose for the first official team photo.
He will join the 65-strong squad of wounded, injured and sick service personnel on Tuesday October 29 as they come together for the first time at the Honourable Artillery Company in London.
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