The Duchess of Sussex made undertook a secret engagement in Johannesburg on day eight of her 10-day royal tour to visit Victoria Yards, a place where local artisans and ‘makers’ come together to rebuild, support and learn from each other.
During her visit, Meghan also connected with the founders and children of the kid’s development programme Timbuktu in The Valley and was photographed sharing a group hug with some of the children, shared to @sussexroyal.
Meghan also stopped by Tshepo Jeanmaker to pick a pair of custom-made jeans from the denim designer, who revealed in a tweet that he had received a call of the British Embassy four weeks ago that the Duchess of Sussex had placed an order for a pair of jeans.
Talking to Hello! the label’s brand manager Lesedi Masemola said: “From what we’ve seen on the internet she’s the type of person who loves skinny fit so that’s what we made.
“When she saw the jeans the words she said were ‘oh my, oh my”, she was very impressed she loved the jeans. She said she couldn’t wait to try them on and said ‘wow’.
Handing over the brand new jeans to Meghan, designer Tshepo Mohlala also surprised Meghan with an adorable pair of dungarees for baby Archie, embroidered with the label’s signature crown logo, with the designer explaining the inspiration behind the logo to Meghan.
“The crown on my jeans represents the three ladies who raise me,” he shared with the Duchess.
“Enjoy wearing this crown.”
Lesedi adds Meghan said the overalls were “very cute”, adding “I think they are very, very lovely.”
We can already imagine how cute and stylish Archie’s going to look in his new denim overalls! (Image: Getty)
Meghan looked relaxed in a navy button-up dress by Wilfred which she paired with persimmon slingback flats by ethical brand Everlane.
As @sussexroyal explains artists, artisans, sculptors, metal workers and carpenters are all part of the fabric of Victoria Yards, but also utilises the power of the DICE programme, which supports several other local organisations in their work with marginalised youth and women.
She tasted sweet treats from Sobae, small business which uses unused fruit from Victoria Yards to create delicious sorbet, as a solution to food waste, and learned the importance of, and how to enable a ‘wellbeing economy’ thanks to co-director of the Maker’s Valley Partnership, Simon Sizwe.
Awarded a full scholarship attend the Young African Leaders Initiative programme initiated by former President Obama, Simon explained that by investing in the overall wellbeing of a community and its people, and focusing on that economy, you can enrich everyone for a better quality of life.
Throughout her 10-day tour of South Africa, Meghan’s solo engagements have largely focused on meeting with organisations who are working to promote women and girl’s health and education, entrepreneurship and leadership as well as taking a stand against gender-based violence.
The day before Prince Harry had visited Nalikule College of Education in Lilongwe, Malawi to see the work of CAMFED (Campaign For Female Education) and CAMA, and despite being in a different country, Meghan made a surprise appearance during the engagement, via Skype.
CAMFED is an organisation which aims to tackle poverty and inequality by supporting girls to go to school and succeed and is supported by the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust of which Harry is president and Meghan is vice-president.
While Harry remains in Malawi for now, he will travel to South Africa to join Meghan and almost five-month-old Archie tomorrow, to wrap up what has been an incredibly successful tour.
