Meghan, Duchess of Sussex: Best of 2020
Through an incredibly difficult year, the Duchess of Sussex has continued working with a few of her existing charitable organizations while expanding her portfolio into the States. After purchasing a new home in California this summer, Harry and Meghan began to show the world small glimpses of what type of work they plan to do in the future, separate from the Royal Family. Here have been my favorite moments of 2020.
10. Speech to her Alma Maters Graduating Class
Meghan shared a speech with the graduating class of her former High School which is located in Los Angeles. In it, she shared how she was hopeful about the future of the world because of young people and the work they continue to do to try and help those in need, one another and the planet. It was among the first speeches Meghan made once the couple moved to Los Angeles and the first where I could sense her passion on the subject.
9. Appearance on Teenager Therapy
Prior to launching their own podcast, Harry and Meghan made an appearance on Teenager Therapy, a podcast run by five Los Angeles teenagers. They typically discuss some of the problems facing teenagers and the way it affects their mental health and wellbeing. Harry has been a longtime advocate of Mental Fitness and Meghan has joined her husband campaigning for a more open discussion of the importance of mental health in the past few years.
8. Commonwealth Day Service
Their last official engagement as working members of the Royal Family, Harry and Meghan arrived at Westminster Abbey for the annual Commonwealth Day service along with other members of the family. Obviously it will depend on the state of the world and the ongoing pandemic but I sincerely hope that the Commonwealth Day service is an annual event that they continue to attend in the future.
7. Partnership with Netflix and Spotify
So far, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have announced partnerships with Netflix and Spotify, the first of what will likely be a large portfolio of brand deals. Though nothing has yet been released by them on Netflix, they have released their first podcast on Spotify, Archewell Audio.
6. Time 100 talks
Probably one of their biggest events of the year, Harry and Meghan organized a Time 100 talk where they spoke about the importance of humane tech. Tackling hate and extremism on online platforms has become one of their biggest projects through 2020 and I expect them to continue focusing on this in the coming years, possibly partnering with social media sites or tech companies to try and find a solution to the growing problems brought on by Social Media
5. Meghan's fashion
Though she wasn't visible quite as much this year, when she was, Meghan looked absolutely phenomenal. My personal favorite outfits included her appearance at the Endeavour Awards and Harry and Meghan's visit to a local cemetery on Remembrance Day. As she has been pregnant and then on maternity leave for most of 2019, seeing her fashion resemble something closer to her pre-duchess days was a definite highlight.
4. The Leagues Preschool Learning Centre
Late this summer Harry and Meghan began making some visits to child centred organizations as lockdowns temporarily lifted in Los Angeles. Among their first visits was the Leagues Preschool Learning Centre where they helped replant a garden with some of the children. Though visits had to stop once again this fall due to rising Covid numbers I am hoping for more engagements like this one in 2021.
3. Archewell Audio Podcast
So this podcast is the reason this list is now so late. I obviously had to include it and rework the rest of my favorite moments in order to do so. The best bit was clearly including Archie in it at the end and based off twitter, I wasn't the only one who thought so. I am looking forward to discovering what the format of their podcast will be as it doesn't seem like they are planning to do weekly episodes (unless they plan to have a different host take over each week) but it seems like they are leaning towards the interview format that a few other celebrity podcasts have. More to learn on this in 2021.
2. Archewell Foundation
After a tumultuous year, Harry and Meghan launched the Archewell foundation site which included their privacy policy as well as an official office space in Los Angeles. There is not yet news of what projects they might be doing through Archewell but that should hopefully come in 2021.
1. QCT Talks
As I have shared previously, I am a royals fan through and through so may favorite moment had to be the one that was most similar to the familiar royal engagement that I love: Their talks with the Queen's Commonwealth Trust. They joined two discussions this year, one on race and institutionalized racism and the other on building safe online communities. Assuming they remain the President and Vice President of the QCT, I am really hoping for more discussions and engagements like the ones they did this year (also hopefully a visit to a commonwealth country!)