Meghan Markle delivered a speech in Manchester last night. Picture: Getty images
In this week’s royal update, Meghan Markle delivers her first speech in Britain after making headlines after stepping down from royal duties. The BBC paid £1.4 million to charity over controversial Diana interview and Queen Elizabeth II missed the Highland Games event.
Two years after stepping down from their royal duties, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have returned to the United Kingdom for Meghan Markle’s much-anticipated speech at One World Summit in Manchester.
The couple were in England for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June. According to Express, the couple arrived in the UK on 3 September and have been staying at Frogmore Cottage on the grounds of Windsor Castle, where they lived before stepping down in 2020.
Fans went crazy after spotting Meghan Markle and her husband, Prince Harry at London’s Euston Station before boarding a train to the summit on Monday.
She was joined by dignitaries, including Greater Manchester Metro Mayor Andy Burnham, Bob Geldof, author Lemn Sissay and former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, amongst 2 000 young leaders from across the world.
What is the One Young World Summit about?
The annual One Young World Summit brings together over 2 000 of the brightest young leaders from every country and sector, working to accelerate social impact both in-person and digitally.
The Duchess said she was first invited to be a counsellor at One Young World in 2014, and during a dinner with at least 28 to 30 people, she had a “pinch me” moment as she kept asking herself “how on earth did I get here?”
“And also looking around and wondering, ‘How on earth did I get here?’ Have any of you today so far had that feeling, that ‘pinch me’ moment, where you’re just so, ‘How am I here?’
“At that dinner there were 28 to 30 of us, the counsellors, and there I was this girl from Suits and I was surrounded by world leaders, humanitarians, prime ministers and activists that I had such a deep and longstanding respect and admiration for,” the Duchess said in her speech.
Sharing some words of wisdom, she said the young leaders at the summit are the future, “but I would like to add that you are also the present. You are the ones driving the positive change we need across the world, now, in this very moment”.
Meanwhile, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) said it donated sales proceeds derived from a 1995 interview with Princess Diana to charity after it was found she was tricked into the bombshell expose.
In the Panorama interview, the late Princess Diana had detailed infidelity in her marriage to heir-to-the-throne Prince Charles. The interview had a record 22.8 million people who watched it.
According to AFP, the BBC said Friday it had paid a total of £1.42 million to seven charities linked with the princess.
They include homeless charity Centrepoint, English National Ballet, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, The Leprosy Mission and the National AIDS Trust.
According to British media Queen Elizabeth II did not attend a traditional highlight of her summer trip to Scotland due to her ailing health.
British media said the decision on her withdrawal was made for her comfort.
The queen was expected to attend the Braemar Gathering near her remote Balmoral retreat in northeast Scotland.
Attendees this year – the first the Braemar Gathering took place since 2019 because of the coronavirus pandemic – include the queen’s eldest son and heir, Prince Charles.
Events include tossing the caber, in which kilted competitors endeavour to lift and throw a full-length log of Scots Pine, AFP reported.
Compiled by Lethabo Malatsi and additional information by AFP.
NOW READ: Royal news: Diana planned to move to US without her sons before she died
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