Meghan’s feminist rallying cry
The ins and outs of motherhood
THE Duchess of Sussex last night issued a clarion call to feminists around the world at a glittering embassy reception.
Looking glamorous in a floor-length cream Dior kaftan, accessorised with a clutch bag by the same designer and £7,000 Birks Snowflake diamond earrings, Meghan told guests at a reception of Britain’s Ambassador to Morocco that women must push boundaries to advance their cause.
‘Women have to challenge everywhere in the world,’ she told a group of female executives and entrepreneurs, concluding the first full day of a whirlwind three-day official visit to the North African country with Prince Harry.
The duchess, who has made women’s empowerment a focus of her campaigning work, was responding to Miriem Bensalah, chief executive of a finance firm called the Holmarcom Group, who told her that Moroccan women had made great advances towards equality
THE Duchess of Cambridge treated her children to a day out at a luxury spa over the half-term holiday.
Despite claims the family had gone skiing, Kate, 37, was seen last week wearing ‘full make-up, pearl earrings and her iconic engagement ring’ in the pool of a Norfolk hotel with George, five, and Charlotte, three. An onlooker said: ‘Kate looked stunning. George was swimming “dog paddle” … Charlotte was doing sitting dives.’
but still faced disadvantages. ‘ We were discussing how there are still many boundaries all over the world,’ the business chief said.
Meghan, 37, and Harry, 34, met some 130 influential Moroccans at the residence of Ambassador Thomas Reilly in the capital Rabat, including business leaders, military officers and disabled athletes.
Earlier in the day, Meghan also promoted the feminist cause as she offered words of encouragement to disadvantaged schoolgirls in a remote French-speaking boarding house.
On a visit to the school run by charity Education for All in Asni, high in the Atlas Mountains, Meghan – who is understood to have learnt the language at school – spoke in perfect French to pupils, asking: ‘Vous voulez aller à l’université?’ (Do you want to go to university?)
‘It’s so impressive that so many of the girls are studying maths and physics and the sciences,’ she told Harry afterwards.
And the duchess was similarly admiring of the girls’ artistic talents, after one pupil gave her an intricate henna tattoo to bring luck to the baby she is expecting within weeks. Megn
han sat patiently as Samira Ouaadi, 17, painted a traditional flower pattern in temporary dye on her left hand.
When the work was complete, she said: ‘That’s really lovely. Merci,’ and proudly showed it to her husband.
Natural dye made from the henna plant is often applied during the third trimester of pregnancy as Moroccan tradition believes it protects both mother and child from evil spirits.
However, aesthetic doctor Mervyn Patterson warned the dye could cause an allergic reaction, saying: ‘Meghan’s baby is fully developed so there’s very little risk it could be adversely affected. But it’s not something I would normally recommend for any pregnant women.’