Meghan Markle Has Two Solo Appearances on Her Royal Tour With Prince Harry, and They're Feminism-Focused
The Duchess is working with causes close to her heart.
With last week’s debut solo appearance for the Duchess of Sussex being considered one giant success, Meghan Markle has officially passed the royal family test, and she’s been given the job to do all over again. Kensington Palace has confirmed that, among the whirlwind schedule for her upcoming overseas royal tour with Prince Harry, there'll be two more solo engagements for the Duchess to appear without her husband, during their trip to Fiji in late October.
In true Meghan style, the announced solo appearances are fully focused on feminism and all things girl power. Having already shown that she’s keen to work closely with causes that celebrate women and female talent, the Duchess will attend two suitably empowering organizations. First, she will attend a morning tea at the British High Commissioner's Residence, which will offer a showcase of women's organizations across Fiji.
Later, Meghan will surely be excited to reunite with a charities she used to work closely with, as she learns more about UN Women's project, Markets For Change. This will include a trip to Suva Market, to meet female stallholders who work alongside the project.
If you’ve ever wondered how a Duchess actually choses which important appearances to make and causes to support on trips like this (sounds stressful, tbh), a royal insider told of Meghan’s selection: "It's her first tour. It's all very new and quite daunting in terms of the choice. New Zealand has hosted very many royal visits and they offered up these engagements, and the Duchess thought they were all very good."
They explained: "New Zealand has a strong tradition of female empowerment and it's the 125th anniversary of suffrage and they happen to be there for the anniversary of a historic time. Fiji asked the Duchess to do those events. There's a movement in Fiji to encourage women to move away from the stereotypical roles of cooking and looking after children.”
As well as the inspiring feminism focus for the Duchess’s trip down under, the royal itinerary is offering up an eclectic selection of activities for the couple (to say the least... yikes). In the 16-day long tour of Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand, expect no less than 76 public appearances from Meghan and Harry. These include a meeting with mental health campaigners, some involvement in sports, and a casual meet-up with koalas at Taronga Zoo. Oh, and don’t forget the "welly-wanging" contest, which literally involves throwing Wellington boots as far as they possibly can.
Meghan, sighing in the background: “I did not sign up for this.”
