The Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is one of the most talked about events of the year! After months of waiting, they’re finally walking down the aisle of St. George’s Castle in Windsor Castle. Since they announced their engagement late last year, the spotlight has been on Ms. Markle quite a lot. People are fascinated with the bride-to-be, as her background is different from the Royal Family’s.
Photo from Elle.com
Meghan Markle is an American actress, a biracial woman, and a divorcée. But beyond her past life and work in show business, Markle is also a humanitarian activist. She’s worked as an ambassador for the likes of the United Nations, the international charity ‘One Young World,’ and the relief organization ‘World Vision Canada,’ among others. She’s also the UN Women’s advocate for political participation and leadership.
This actress-turned-princess has been passionate about human rights since she was young. At age 11, she took it upon herself to change a dishwashing soap commercial that featured a sexist tagline. She sent letters to prominent women at the time, like Former First Lady Hillary Clinton and women’s rights lawyer Gloria Allred, and both women wrote back and praised her youthful tenacity. Inspired by their responses, the young Markle decided to write directly to the dishwashing soap company and conveyed her problems with their ad campaign. As a result, the problematic tagline was changed.
Her drive to make change happen is what makes Markle fit to be a monarch. She’s fought for gender equality, spoken out against modern-day slavery, and raised awareness for women’s issues. Specifically, she’s campaigned for clean water in Rwanda and talked to the women of India about the issues they were facing in their country.
As Markle marries Prince Harry, she’s entering European monarchy, a class that continues to have influence over people today. Despite having less political power, their views, opinions, and actions still matter, and can impact lawmakers and their policies. Markle’s newfound role as a royal can push the modern-day challenges of women and children to the forefront.
Photo from National Post.com
“I’m learning as much as I can to maximize the opportunity to really make an impact,” Markle shared during a Royal Foundation Forum last March. During that event, she even mentioned #MeToo and #TimesUp, which are today’s pivotal feminist movements, and implied that such issues need the Royal family’s attention as well. By doing so, she’s also highlighting that being a monarch in this day and age requires awareness and concern for a lot of people, not just a specific group or nation.
Meghan Markle has proven herself to be the perfect royal for today’s generation. She has shown that she understands the essence of her upcoming role as a monarch: to inspire change and to lead people to be better for each other.
