Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were back in the spotlight again this evening when the couple attended a Women’s Empowerment reception as part of the ongoing Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). The event, hosted by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and his wife, was held at the Royal Aeronautical Society and marked the launch of a platform focused on girls’ access to education worldwide.
The venue, luckily, is close to Buckingham Palace, making it easy for Harry to return there for tonight’s state dinner hosted by his grandmother, the Queen.
The new platform is an integrated campaign between the Foreign Office, the Department for International Development and Department for Education to encourage all 53 Commonwealth Nations to commit to providing 12 years of quality education for girls.
This has been a focus area of Meghan’s humanitarian work for years, pre-dating her relationship with Harry. For years she worked closely with the United Nations as an ambassador for women’s political participation and leadership. Just last year she penned an op-ed for TIME on the issue, which you can read here.
The couple met with representatives from participating organizations, including the Malala Fund, Plan International, the Varkey Foundation, and Code Camp.
Per the Mail:
“Peace, a 15-year-old schoolgirl from Nigeria who spoke at the summit earlier this week during the Educate to Empower session, said: ‘I told Meghan she was pretty, which she is. She said she watched me give my speech. She said she was really impressed, and that that is what she wants girls to do.’
“Hope, an 18-year-old from Kenya who campaigns on equal education rights for girls, said she told the couple and Mr Johnson ‘that if they empower girls we won’t let them down’. She added: ‘Meghan Markle was talking about how it has a rippling effect – how if you empower girls they empower the next generation in the community.'”
Meghan wore a black sheath dress from Black Halo, a brand with which I’ll admit I’m not familiar. The dress is apparently called the “Jackie O” and was inspired by the former First Lady.
Her heels, which are literally always to-die for, are Aquazurra, and her earrings are from the Canadian brand Birks.
She looked flawless, IMO, and I think this might be the first time we’ve seen her in a sheath since her engagement was announced last November.
A state dinner is going on now at BP, so I’ll get something up on that in a bit.