Meghan Markle Spoke Perfect Spanish at LA Charity Visit

last updated 4 October 2021

Late last month, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (opens in new tab) quietly paid a visit to a charity in Los Angeles.
During Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's visit to Homeboy Industries (opens in new tab), a charity that supports people beginning a new chapter after incarceration or gang involvement, the duchess surprised the organizer by casually having a conversation in "perfect" Spanish with one attendee.
Meghan also playfully teased her husband for his lack of skills in the kitchen when the couple spent time making tamales for the organization.

Did you think you had reached peak levels of impressed with Meghan Markle (opens in new tab)? Well, make space in your heart for a little more Meghan love because during a recent appearance in Los Angeles, the Duchess of Sussex (opens in new tab) demonstrated for approximately the 17 millionth time that she's the absolute best.

Let's set the scene: Meghan's low-key latest act of awesomeness went down on June 23, when she and her husband, Prince Harry (opens in new tab), volunteered at Homeboy Industries (opens in new tab), a Los Angeles-based charity dedicated to supporting people looking to start their next chapter after being incarcerated or involved with a gang. During the visit, Harry and Meghan (opens in new tab) baked for and chatted with the people supported by the charity. This is when Meghan casually whipped out her impressive language skills, stunning a lot of people who were present.

"She spoke Spanish perfectly with one young woman," Father Greg Boyle, the group’s founder, told People (opens in new tab). "She just went right into Spanish, which was a revelation—and it was very good."

It shouldn't actually be that surprising that Meghan is fluent in Spanish. Not only did she grow up in Los Angeles County, which has the largest Latinx population (opens in new tab) of any county in the United States, but she also majored in international relations at Northwestern University and did a stint interning at the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Boyle added that Harry and Meghan (opens in new tab) were "were completely engaged and very informal" during their visit to Homeboy Industries, where he says the Duchess of Sussex insisted on forgoing formalities in favor of digging in and doing the work.

"She didn’t want to have a long-table discussion or presentation or even a tour," he said. "They knew we pivoted our organization to help address food insecurity in the county and that was intriguing to her, so she said, 'We want to come and put an apron on,' and that’s what they did. It was quite wonderful."

Of course, even though Harry and Meghan (opens in new tab) both donned their aprons and got to work making tamales in the charity's kitchen, their contributions weren't totally equal—something Meghan playfully pointed out

"Meghan is quite good at [cooking]—and Harry probably less so!” Boyle revealed. "We were joking about that and she said, 'I don’t even think Harry even had a tamale before!' So maybe she will make it for him."

So, just to recap, Meghan speaks perfect Spanish, skips the easy, performative side of charity work in favor of getting her hands dirty, and had maintained a fun sense of humor in relationship after months of personal drama, social injustice, and a global pandemic? Someone please call Marvel and let them know we officially have a subject for their first superhero biopic.

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