THE ROYAL FAB FOUR!
MEET the new Royal Fab Four... as Meghan Markle joins the familiar trio of Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate.
They made their first official appearance together yesterday at the annual meeting of The Royal Foundation charity.
But it certainly won’t be the last. Meghan will join the foundation as a patron after she and Harry marry in May.
And the royal bride-to-be is determined to make her mark at once.
Wedding
Meghan, who has been making private visits to charities, said she had been preparing “behind the scenes” so she is ready to “hit the ground running”.
Harry could be heard quietly muttering “wedding first” as she made the comments, prompting her to insist: “We can multi-task.”
The American actress, wearing a £1,372 navy Jason Wu wrap dress, spoke out in support of current movements against sexual harassment, saying: “I think right now in the climate we are seeing so many campaigns – I mean Me Too and Time’s Up – and there is no better time than now to really continue to shine a light on women feeling empowered and people really helping to support them...men included in that.
“It makes such a tremendous difference. You will often hear people say, ‘Well, you are helping people find their voices,’ and I fundamentally disagree with that because women don’t need to find a voice.
“They have a voice. They need to feel empowered to use it and people need to be encouraged to listen.”
The Duchess of Cambridge, who like Meghan is 36, attracted recent criticism by declining to join actresses in wearing all-black at the Bafta awards in support of Time’s Up.
But it was clear she and Meghan are in harmony as they sat side by side, mirroring each other’s body language, Kate in a £99 Seraphine maternity dress she has worn before.
Meghan was happy touching her 33-year-old fiance affectionately on stage at an auditorium in the City of London, and displayed a growing closeness with William, 35, as well as with Kate, who is expecting her third child in April.
Created by the young royals in 2009 and fully operational since 2011, The Royal Foundation, which has £9.2million in the bank, has revolutionised their approach to duties.
It uses their “convening powers” to bring together groups of charities. Harry expressed his pride in what he, William and Kate have achieved.
He added: “And 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: “We’re pretty tied up with planning a wedding at the moment, but we’re really looking forward to working as a pair and as a four going forward, hoping to make as much of a difference where we can.”
To laughter, he admitted that the four did not always see eye to eye.
Passion
“Working as family does have its challenges, of course it does,” he said. “The fact everyone is laughing means you know exactly – but we’re stuck together for the rest of our lives.”
Former BBC One controller Lorraine Heggessey, now chief executive of the foundation, said Los Angeles-born Meghan, who until recently starred in the US TV drama series Suits, was likely to focus her royal work on “women, young women, teenage girls” and disadvantaged young people.
She added: “She has a passion for charity work. She’s just dying to get up and running which is wonderful for us.”