Meghan celebrates International Women's Day!

To mark International Women's day, the Duchess of Sussex joined a panel convened by the Queen's Commonwealth Trust, which brought together inspirational women to discuss a range of issues affecting women today.

As fitting as it may have seen, prior to the event the Duchess was announced Vice President of the Queen's Commonwealth Trust. The Trust, of which Her Majesty the Queen is Patron and the Duke of Sussex is President, exists to champion, fun and connect young leaders around the world who are driving positive social change, serving their communities and providing hope, work and self-employment opportunities for others.

Chairman Lord Geidt said:

"The Queens Commonwealth Trust is thrilled to welcome The Duchess of Sussex as its Vice-President. The support and encouragement which Her Royal Highness will bring to the young leaders with whom we work promises to have a profound effect. We are enormously grateful to The Duke and Duchess of Sussex for this signal of commitment they are making to our work, helping The Queen's Commonwealth Trust to pursue its ambitions right across the Commonwealth and beyond."

Nicola Brentnall, Chief Executive, said:

"We are particularly delighted that the first opportunity of formally working together with Her Royal Highness comes on International Women's Day. This squares perfectly with our focus on amplifying the work and contribution of those furthest away from power. Women across the Commonwealth and the globe often face the biggest impediments to success. So we are delighted to have our Vice-President's support in helping others to overcome those obstacles."

In her new role, The Duchess will highlight the partnerships with young people across the Commonwealth, and in particular work supporting women and girls. I felt today's engagements was a first step in Meghan's work highlighting the charity.

The Duchess was welcome by Lord Geidt upon arrival.


The theme of this years International Women's Day is #BalanceforBetter. According to the International Women's Day website, #BalanceforBetter advocates for gender balance in all of the world: from government offices, board rooms and media coverage.

Meghan was joined by a handful of activists, which included Annie Lennox OBE, founder of The Circle, an organisation supporting and empowering women's lives around the world; Adwoa Aboah, founder of Gurls Talk, an open community where young girls an talk about the issues that most matter to them; Julia Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia, Chrisann Jarrett, founder of Let us Learn; and Angeline Murimirwa, Executive Director of the Campaign for Female Education.

Meghan was introduced by Anne McElvoy, who introducted her as "a royal not afraid to embrace full-one feminism."

More from the QCT: "A key theme of the panel was education and everyone’s right to learn. Angeline Murimirwa stated that “Education is the single most positive force in making change. It’s a fundamental right, and we have to work hard if we’re going to make change globally.” She went on to share how transformational change can be achieved in empowering girls and women specifically, stating that “we have an unprecedented opportunity to accelerate change, but it can’t be fought alone.” The panel went on to discuss what men and boys can do in the fight for gender equality. Adwoa Aboah stated that “we have to bring men and boys into our global community of feminists.” Annie Lennox, OBE, said “I’d like every man to be able to stand up and say ‘I am a global feminist.’

You can watch the panel in full below. It's about 70 minutes:

After the panel, Meghan had an impromptu walkabout where she met students. A picture of the crowds.

Since a young age gender inequality has been an important topic for Meghan. Her first encounter with inequality came at the young age of 11 when she saw an advertisement for Ivory diswashing soap that declared, "Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans." Meghan then wrote a letter to the company, and to much of her shock they changed the commercial to say people!