SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATE – 30 September***
Today Meghan participated in the 2020 Fortune Most Powerful Women virtual summit.
Meghan popped on a video chat today with Ellen McGirt of Fortune to talk about “humane tech” in she and husband Harry’s ongoing efforts to stop hate speech, online and offline.
The 15-minute chat was part of Fortune’s invite-only Most Powerful Women Summit, a three-day event that kicked off today. Meghan was dressed casually in a With Nothing Underneath striped poplin shirt, unbuttoned enough to see a gorgeous necklace, which we believe to be her Edge of Ember Kismet charm necklace, though this is unconfirmed.
Meghan was also wearing her most favorite Monica Vinader Linear Friendship bracelet in yellow gold, her Cartier ‘Love’ bracelet in yellow gold and the Cartier Tank Francaise watch in gold, which we’re thinking is the same watch that once belonged to Princess Diana.
Meghan appears to be in the same room in she and Harry’s Santa Barbara home as she was for last week’s America’s Got Talent message, with the video shot from a slightly different angle. You can see the stack of coffee table books and her Diptyque candle over her left shoulder, and the hydrangeas from last week have been replaced with beautiful orange and pink blooms, which look to be dahlias or zinnias.
The theme of the conference this year is “Rising to the New Reality,” and Meghan’s portion posed the question “What will it take to create humane tech?” The description for her one-on-one sitdown with Fortune senior editor McGirt tells attendees that “Our experiences online shape our communities offline. How do we build – and rebuild – our digital world? What’s the true price to pay if we don’t?”
Kindness online is a key component of Harry and Meghan’s forthcoming Archewell Foundation, which seeks to continually combat online toxicity – a subject with which Meghan is all too familiar, as anything and everything she’s said and done since her relationship with Harry became public four years ago has been picked apart by both the media and the public, beginning with racist attacks online as she and Harry’s relationship became known in 2016.
“Part of our focus with the Archewell Foundation is to just ensure that we are helping foster healthy, positive communities – online and off – for our collective well-being,” the Duchess said.
“To see how you are propagating hate, whether passively or actively; to see how you are clicking on things that are contributing to an industry that is really toxic for so many of us, especially as parents.”
Most of this vitriol, she said, is untrue and malicious.
“We have got to all put our stock in something that is true,” Meghan said. “And we all need to have reliable media and news sources that are telling us the truth. Without that, I don’t know where it leaves us.”
Meghan’s comments encouraging Americans to vote, aired on last week’s TIME100 TV special, have spawned more hate online, even from U.S. President Donald Trump.
“It seems So fantastical, but that’s actually the current state of affairs and that is shaping how we interact with each other online and off – and that’s the place that’s important,” Meghan said.
“It is not just an isolated experience. It transcends into how you interact with anyone around you and certainly your own relationship with yourself.”
This summer, Harry and Meghan joined the Stop Hate for Profit campaign, which encouraged advertisers to no longer give advertising dollars to social media companies – Facebook in particular – as a way to encourage those companies to address hate speech and toxic behavior, specifically racist vitriol. And there is no better time than now to address this, the Duchess said, as we “are all going through a reset and we are all going through a moment of reckoning – and probably a reevaluation of what really matters.”
What can the average person do to help in the fight against online venom?
“It really just includes not contributing to or even clicking on misinformation,” Meghan said.
“And when you know something is wrong, reporting it, talking about it, ensuring that the facts are getting out there. I think that is one clear, tangible thing that everyone could be doing.”
And, Meghan accurately pointed out, if you actually listen to her words, they’re not even worth the hate spewed at her from the average Joe up to the man sitting in the Oval Office.
“If you look back at anything that I’ve said, it’s really interesting, because what ends up being inflammatory it seems is people’s interpretations of it,” the Duchess said. “But if you listen to what I actually say, it’s not controversial.”
Meghan spoke about what it will take to create humane tech. She discussed how our experiences online shape our communities offline. Ways in how do we build—and rebuild—our digital world? What’s the true price we pay if we don’t? The interview was conducted by FORTUNE’s Ellen McGirt.
Watch Meghan’s interview with Ellen McGirt, Fortune below or you can visit Fortune’s site here to see it. —
And now, everyone’s favorite part, a recap summary of what Meghan wore!
Meghan wore a shirt by With Nothing Underneath. It is their Poplin Blue and White Stripe shirt, £85 ($109 USD).
Some followers were thinking this was the same shirt she wore to Wimbledon in 2018. It is not. The shirt Meghan wore to Wimbledon in 2018 was the Ralph Lauren Collection Apparel Striped Cotton Shirt – see our post here.
You may recall Meghan wearing the With Nothing Underneath brand previously in 2019 — their Linen Sky Blue & White Stripe shirt, £95 ($122 USD) for the Smart Works behind the scenes photoshoot of her Smart Set Collection, August 2019 and the Poplin White & Midnight Blue Stripe Shirt, £85 ($109 USD) for her visit to Luminary Bakery, November 2019.
UPDATE 20 September***: We had been thinking that Meghan may have been wearing her Edge of Ember ‘Kismet’ charm necklace. It was a bit hard to tell in the video. Although we did think it sort of looked like a “lock” of some sort.
Jennifer Fisher Jewelry has confirmed that the necklace is from their collection. It is the Small Family Gothic Lock Pendant in yellow gold, $1150, on their 17″ small link chain in yellow gold, $425.
The Duchess had on her most favorite Monica Vinader Linear Friendship bracelet in yellow gold, her Cartier ‘Love’ bracelet in yellow gold
We were also able to get a better look at the watch Meghan has been wearing. It is believed to be Princess Diana’s Cartier Tank Francaise watch in gold.
The short story behind the watch — Both William and Harry picked out a piece of jewelry from Princess Diana’s personal collection after she had passed away in 1997. William was first to pick and he chose his late mother’s Cartier watch which was a 21st birthday gift to Diana from her father, John Spencer. Harry’s choice was his mother’s famous blue sapphire engagement ring. Fast forward to 2010 when William was getting ready to propose to Kate, Harry felt like the ring deserved to be passed onto someone else for a very special reason. That’s when William gave Harry the watch.
Below, Princess Diana in April 1997 leaving The British Lung Foundation wearing her Cartier Tank Francaise watch in gold.
Embed from Getty ImagesJust to eliminate some confusion out there — Meghan also owns the Cartier Tank watch in the two-tone stainless steel with gold accents which she purchased herself after the second season of the tv show Suits. She had the watch engraved with the message, “To M.M. From M.M.” with a future plan for the watch — “I plan to give it to my daughter one day. That’s what makes pieces special, the connection you have to them, Meghan said.”
Meghan wore a pair of turquoise earrings. They could be one of two pairs that she owns by Jennifer Meyer — either the Diamond Bezel with Turquoise Marquise Studs, $600.00 or the Turquoise Inlay Bar Studs, $395.
The room Meghan sat in was the same room she was in for her America’s Got Talent video clip from last week. Behind her is the Diptyque — Tubéreuse/Tuberose Candle, $68 and a number of books, one of which is The Black Godfather – The Clarence Avant Story.
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Oh so the interview was just that one question? I thought it was an extract from a longer interview. Many thanks!
Hi! Thank you for your posts, I love them! I usually don’t comment but I have a burning question : do you know how or if it is possible to see the full interview somewhere on the Internet? Many thanks!
Hi – Nathalie – we’re so happy you are enjoying our posts. If you scroll to the bottom you will see the Twitter video which has the interview and also, at the bottom of the post in “LINKS” there is a link to Fortune and the video interview with Meghan. Hope this helps. Susan C.