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Speaking up
A visit to celebrate International Women’s Day may not have been the most appropriate moment on which to compliment Meghan Markle on her looks, but the head boy of an East London school got away with it when he bounded up on stage to join Meghan, gave her a kiss to whoops of applause from his schoolmates, exhaled, then turned to his peers and said, “She really is beautiful, innit?”
Meghan wagged her finger in mock admonishment at Asher Okoye, 16, who then appeared to recover his sense of the occasion and sternly declare: “Maybe this Sunday could be the one day we don’t look at women as objects.”
Okoye’s impromptu declaration of Meghan’s beauty came after the Duchess urged a “brave” young man to come to the stage and talk about what IWD meant to them during a secret visit to the East London school on Friday.
The footage was only released Sunday as part of a deal to avoid overshadowing a speech by Camilla Parker Bowles about domestic violence on Friday (that intention failed, more on which below).
Meghan urged an assembly of 700 boys and girls to “value, appreciate and protect” women, adding, “No matter how small you might feel, no matter what color you are, no matter what gender you are, you have a voice and you certainly have the right to speak up for what is right...I encourage and empower each of you to really stand in your truth, to stand for what is right.”
The students had previously been told they would be addressed by a “mystery guest” and there were cheers when Meghan appeared and called for “the women of our future” to “believe in themselves” and “really stand in your truth, to stand for what is right, to continue to respect each other.”
Meghan is expected to appear at further IWD-themed engagements on Sunday, but these have not been announced in advance.
Power couple
Saturday night, Harry and Meghan attended a fundraiser for the Royal Marines. They received a standing ovation as they took their seats.
Harry was proudly wearing an officer's mess jacket, complete with medals awarded from touring Afghanistan, but the event was tinged with sadness as it marked the last time he will ever wear his military uniform, having been stripped of his military associations as part of the price of his withdrawal from royal life.
Meghan Markle stunned in a red full-length $1,700 Safiyaa dress.
The couple received a round of applause and a standing ovation before singing the National Anthem.
Headline grab
Camilla Parker Bowles is said to have been left furious after Meghan Markle ignored a request not to overshadow her speech on domestic violence on Friday.
Instead, Meghan released a set of shiny images of herself visiting the National Theatre on Instagram as Camilla launched the Women of the World Festival at the Southbank Centre in London.
Buckingham Palace had urged royal correspondents to focus on the Duchess of Cornwall’s speech on Friday, with an email to news organizations saying: “Please note that media arrangements have been designed specifically with a view to allowing royal correspondents to focus on the Duchess of Cornwall's engagement on Friday.”
The event had been long planned and came on a day when there were no other major Royal engagements. Then Meghan posted a series of pictures of her visit to the National Theatre on Thursday, which knocked Camila’s speech off the news agenda.
Camilla was said to be “very upset” at the release of the images, insiders told the Mirror, with a source saying: “Camilla’s work is very important to her and her decision to highlight the scourge of domestic violence at the 10th anniversary of Women of the World was a carefully thought-out plan.
“Of course it was known Harry and Meghan would be doing engagements this week, some privately, but everyone was in agreement that Camilla’s speech should take precedence. Unfortunately some people had other ideas.”
Camilla said in her speech: “The campaign to end domestic violence needs the voices of men as well as women, challenging the cultural, economic and political context in which we all experience the world.
“We will all benefit from building a society which will simply not tolerate this heinous crime any longer.”
Face to face
On Monday, Harry and Meghan are due to join the Queen and the rest of the family for the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey. It will be the first time the Queen’s family has been pictured together in public since last summer—and Harry and Meghan’s last public engagement as senior working royals.
Monday’s Commonwealth Day Service will see the Queen praise diversity for “making us stronger,” but the irony of the fact that this event will effectively be remembered for the inability of the British Royal Family to fail to keep its first non-white member in the fold will be lost on no-one.
HM will highlight in her speech how global connectivity makes people aware their “choices and actions” can affect the “well-being of people and communities living far away…for many, this awareness awakens a desire to employ our planet’s natural resources with greater care.”
International boxing champion and Olympic gold medallist Anthony Joshua will deliver a reflection, while singers Alexandra Burke and Craig David will perform.
This week in royal fashion
Unsurprisingly, with Meghan Markle’s return to the U.K., everything has gone a little freaking insane style-wise. The big fashion moment will play itself out tomorrow, when Kate and Meghan attend the Commonwealth Day Service. In the lead-up, Kate looked amazing in Ireland dressed in all green, and then a vintage Oscar de la Renta dress.
But it was Meghan who has won the week in royal fashion SO FAR in a blue Stella McCartney dress, and then photographed—by Samir Hussein—with Prince Harry at the Endeavour Fund awards in the rain, the whole thing just looking just ridiculously beautiful. It’s already an iconic royal picture.
This week in royal history
Happy birthday Prince Edward! The Queen’s youngest son turns 56 on Tuesday. Back in the 1980’s, no-one knew quite what to do with Edward. He was most famous for overseeing It’s a Royal Knockout, a terrible/brilliant TV show in which members of the Royal Family took part in a wet-and-wild TV game show that was very popular in Britain at the time.
Marriage to Sophie Rhys-Jones bought stability, two children, and now a life of quiet royal duty (as the Duke and Duchess of Wessex) with the payoff that Sophie is now known to be close to the Queen. Indeed, the Mail reports, Sophie has even become HM’s secret shopper, picking her out a shirt from Emma Willis.
Unanswered questions
What is going to happen tomorrow, Monday, at the Commonwealth Day service? Will it just be very polite as the royals gather in public for one last time with Harry and Meghan as part of the gang? Plus, Harry has met the Queen for discussions. Are similar talks of rapprochement happening for Meghan and the family, or for the couple with William, Kate, and Charles?
