Watch William, Kate, Meghan And Harry At Their First Royal Engagement Together
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been busy since announcing their engagement. Of course, they are planning their wedding, but they are also becoming active in charity work together. Although they have been photographed attending the same events as Prince William and Kate Middleton, on Wednesday both royal couples attended their first official royal function where all four of them were together to discuss the family’s foundation.
The Royal Foundation was launched by Prince William and Prince Harry, and the organization also includes Middleton in the decision-making process. Soon it will also include Markle.
The four of them had an on-stage discussion about the foundation:
According to its mission statement, the Royal Foundation aspires to be a “leading philanthropic investor, effectively using its time and resources to create lasting change in targeted areas and geographies, based on need and on the interests of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry.”
Markle has advocated for organizations such as World Vision and the United Nations in the past and said she’s excited to get to help make a difference with more philanthropy.
“For me it’s very important to want to hit the ground running … even if it’s doing it quietly behind the scenes, which is what I’ve focused my energy on thus far,” Markle said, according to the BBC.
We can only imagine what great things she’ll accomplish once she and Prince Harry are officially wed. Seems as though she’s fitting in quite nicely already, if we do say so ourselves!
Of course, she’s already shaking things up for the royal family. It’s not every day that a royal gets engaged to an American actress, after all. But Markle and Prince Harry are proving that it can work — and that’s likely in large part for the passion they share for each other as well as the causes they’re representing.
At Wednesday’s event, Markle also spoke about a cause that’s important to her: women’s empowerment.
“I hear a lot of people speaking about girls’ empowerment … and women’s empowerment — you will hear people saying they are helping women find their voices,” Markle said. “I fundamentally disagree with that because women don’t need to find their voices. They have a voice, and they need to be empowered to use it and people need to be urged to listen.”
She even went so far as to speak out about the #MeToo and Time’s Up initiatives specifically.
“Right now with so many campaigns like #MeToo and Time’s Up there’s no better time to continue to shine a light on women feeling empowered and people really helping to support them,” she said.
Making a public statement or sharing an opinion about a political movement is against royal protocol. For example, a very pregnant Middleton recently wore a dark green dress at the BAFTAs, as a nod to Time’s Up’s all-back dress code. But speaking up about current social justice campaigns is yet another way that Markle is modernizing the royal way of life.
Markle also recently caused a stir when she hugged a member of the public after an event. The moment was captured on video:
It’s not common for royals to show affection in public, or much less hug a stranger. However, Princess Diana was known for doing just that — and Markle seems to be following her footsteps.
The royal wedding won’t take place until May 19, but it’s becoming more and more apparent that Markle is already putting her stamp on the royal family. Perhaps Prince William said it best: “When we work together, we are greater than the sum of our parts,” he said when addressing the work the four of them can do through the Royal Foundation.
It would seem that they’re definitely better together!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc9qWgCAXiD/?taken-by=kensingtonroyal
And Prince Harry? Well, of course he’s excited to see his bride-to-be in action.
“I am personally incredibly proud and excited that my soon-to-be-wife who is equally passionate about seeing positive change in the world will soon be joining us with this work,” he said.
Watch: Prince Harry “personally incredibly proud and excited that my soon-be-wife who is equally passionate about seeing positive change in the world will soon be joining us in this work” @people pic.twitter.com/lHVMxwUFS2
— Simon Perry (@SPerryPeoplemag) February 28, 2018
We’ll just be here counting down the days until May 19.