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The Duchess of Sussex has made her first proper appearance since she and Prince Harry shocked the world with their announcement that they were stepping down as senior royals, paying a private visit to a women’s centre in Vancouver Canada.
The royal mum was spotted boarding a seaplane from Vancouver Island where she’s been staying with eight-month-old Archie before it was revealed she had stopped in to visit the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre in Vancouver.
The centre shared a photo of her visit to their Facebook page, where she posed with staff at the centre, looking relaxed in jeans, a cream sweater and knee-high boots.
“Look who we had tea with today,” the centre captioned the photograph.
“The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, visited us today to discuss issues affecting women in the community.”
The centre’s followers had an overwhelmingly positive response to the duchess’ visit with one woman writing: “Well if this is where the exited royals are going to be maybe having them around will be a wonderful thing. No bling in sight. I bet her mother-in-law would have been happy to see this.
“Raising awareness where it is needed is always a good thing. Way to go!” she added.
Another follower penned, “You know what I love about this – is she is dressed like everyone else and not in “duchess clothing” so to speak. She’s so down to earth – as is Harry! I’ve always been a huge fan!”
Meghan’s private visit to a Vancouver Women’s Centre has been met with positive feedback. (Image: Getty)
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex dropped their royal bombshell in an Instagram post on Wednesday last week, stating they would be stepping back as senior royals, splitting their time between the UK and Canada and planning to be financially independent.
While it’s been reported discussions with the Queen and the Palace had been going on behind the scenes, the news still came as a shock to the Palace who said in a statement of response that discussions were still at the “early stages” and that it was a “complicated” matter.
Days later the Queen called an emergency four-way summit between herself, Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry to find workable solutions that could accommodate the Sussexes’ wishes.
Following the discussion, the Queen said she and the family supported the Sussexes’ wishes and that more concrete decisions would be made in the coming days.
The Queen has publicly backed her grandson and granddaughter-in-law’s decision, but admits she would have preferred they’d stayed full-time working royals. (Image: Getty)
It is, however, not the only family drama the Sussexes are currently embroiled in, with their lawsuit against the British tabloid newspaper the Mail On Sunday currently underway and recent reports that Meghan’s estranged father Thomas Markle could be called to testify against his daughter.
In October last year, the Sussexes announced they were launching legal action against the Mail on Sunday for its “unlawful” publication of a private letter Meghan had sent to her father after her wedding to Prince Harry.
Thomas Markle showed the private letter to the Mail on Sunday after a feature appeared in PEOPLE magazine in which five unnamed friends of the duchess’ rubbished Thomas and Meghan’s sister Samantha Markle’s claims that Meghan ‘ghosted’ her father, in an attempt to share his side of the story.
Meghan’s half-sister Samantha told the BBC that if their father is called to testify, “He will come”.
