Duchess of Sussex to take part in female empowerment summit

The Duchess of Sussex is to be a keynote speaker for the GirlUp gender equality and female empowerment summit.

Meghan will deliver advice for global girls’ leaders when she takes to the stage for the online event next week.

GirlUp referred to the former Suits star using her pre-royal wedding surname, calling her “Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex”.

Harry and Meghan stopped using their HRH styles following their exit from the working monarchy, becoming the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as they kept their dukedom titles.

Others taking part in the summit include US former first lady Michelle Obama, who will open the event with a message for young female leaders and gender equality activists.

Meghan and the Duke of Sussex have signed with the same New York-based speaking agency that represents the Obamas.

Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg will also be a special guest as part of the summit which runs from July 13 to 15.

Meghan and Harry have recently been working behind the scenes to urge senior executives to stand in solidarity with groups calling for a Facebook boycott.

The pair have spoken with organisations leading the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, which is calling on businesses to pause advertising on the platform over its failure to do more to remove hate speech.

Actress – and Meghan’s friend – Priyanka Chopra will take part in a Q&A session.

The duchess has made women’s empowerment and equality a key part of her campaigning work.

GirlUp’s leadership development programmes have involved more than 65,000 girls in 3,500 clubs in the US and in 120 other countries. The organisation aims to inspire a generation of girls to be a force for equality and social change.