Making a difference! Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have used their trip to New York to raise awareness and offer support for a number of charitable causes.
The pair started out with a visit to the One World Trade Center observatory on Thursday, September 23. They walked hand in hand during their meeting with Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, their first appearance together since welcoming their second child.
The Sussexes also visited the 9/11 Museum and memorial and met with US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.
The duo continued their visit by spending the day at P.S. 123 Mahalia Jackson School in Harlem, alongside New York City Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter on Friday, September 24. They donated several boxes of vegetables and herbs to assist with the school’s effort to provide fresh food to those in their community.
The students later got a special reading when Meghan, 40, shared her children’s book, The Bench, with the second-grade children.
“I wrote this when we just had our little boy, and I haven’t read it to any other kids but you!” the former actress said to the group, which included her husband.
Harry, 37, and Meghan’s appearance on the East Coast is all in preparation for the Global Citizen Live in Central Park this weekend.
“Prince Harry and Meghan will join the 24-hour global broadcast event live from the Great Lawn in New York City’s Central Park, to continue their urgent work with world leaders in the pursuit of global vaccine equity to end the COVID-19 pandemic for everyone, everywhere,” the festival wrote in a statement.
The twosome will be raising awareness about how “the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated health, social, and economic inequality globally.”
The charitable trip comes three months after Harry and Meghan announced the birth of their daughter Lilibet. They previously welcomed son Archie in 2019.
“It is with great joy that Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, welcome their daughter, Lilibet ‘Lili’ Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, to the world,” they confirmed via their Archewell website at the time. “Lili was born on Friday, June 4 at 11:40 a.m. in the trusted care of the doctors and staff at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, CA.”
Two months later, Meghan celebrated her birthday with a new endeavor that focused on offering mentorship to women reentering the workforce after the coronavirus pandemic.
“In the past two years, and in large part because of the COVID-19 pandemic, TENS OF MILLIONS OF women around the world have left the workforce, including over two million women in the U.S.,” the Suits alum detailed in a statement at the time. “So many of these women are also SHOULDERING THE BRUNT OF THE CRISIS when it comes to unpaid labor, including schooling and caring for family members. And the latest research shows that FEWER WOMEN THAN MEN WILL REGAIN WORK as we recover from the pandemic.”
Meghan’s new 40×40 project was featured in a special video that included a cameo from Harry. As the California native was explaining her plans to Melissa McCarthy to ask 40 friends to donate 40 minutes of their time to mentor women, her husband started juggling in the window behind her.
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Scroll down to see all the photos from Harry and Meghan’s time in the Big Apple:
