Royals

The heartwarming story behind Meghan Markle’s Charlotte Elizabeth handbag

Not to mention it's a stunning bag!

Meghan Markle‘s sartorial star power shows no sign of waning. The soon-to-be royal visited Northern Ireland in recent days with her fiancé Prince Harry for a surprise visit.

Such is the fervour surrounding the former actress’s fashion choices that it wasn’t long before details of her outfit began to do the rounds online: the cream cashmere jumper was by Victoria Beckham, previously worn for her official engagement photoshoot at Frogmore House, the bottle green midi was by Toronto-based designer Greta Constantine, the heels by Jimmy Choo and the wrap-style coat by one of Meghan’s favourite outerwear brands, Canadian label Mackage.

Another royal occasion, another perfectly pitched ensemble, but it was the future Duchess’s classically stylish handbag in low-key brown leather that really caught our attention – and it turns out that Meghan‘s covetable accessory has a special significance.

The Bloomsbury bag, which retails at an affordable £175 ($342 NZD), is the work of 23-year-old Charlotte Elizabeth Jones and her eponymous brand, Charlotte Elizabeth, launched in 2016 with help from The Prince’s Trust organisation, of which Harry’s father is the patron.

The Hertfordshire-based designer, who had left school at 16 because of heart complications, attended a Prince’s Trust entrepreneurship workshop back in 2014, focusing on learning how to set up a fashion brand. Shortly after, however, she became paralysed for several months before eventually making a recovery and beginning to work on establishing her brand.

The Bloomsbury bag by Charlotte Elizabeth.

“Because I lost the ability to use my hands and muscles, I couldn’t draw, so I was trying but it was very childlike,'”she told The Telegraph. “My sister’s boyfriend is a designer so he drew more specialised sketches so people would know how to make them.”

Working with the Prince’s Trust, Charlotte (who, coincidentally, shares her two first names with a certain Princess Charlotte of Cambridge) has since managed to build her line of accessories, which are fashioned from British leather and made in Buckinghamshire.

The recently updated Bloomsbury style is not yet available to purchase (unless you’re about to marry the fifth in line to the British throne, we imagine), but the designer’s website is currently taking pre-orders in black, red and Meghan’s choice, chestnut. We predict a sell-out…

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