Last week the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in their roles as President and Vice President of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, hosted a young leaders event at Buckingham Place.
The group discussed mental health, equal opportunities for all, and the importance of supporting youth leadership to help address global challenges and drive positive change around the world.
Below, QCT young leader, Kenny Imafidon, a social entrepreneur, activist and QCT Advisor, assisted Harry and Meghan with hosting the discussion.
An award-winning social entrepreneur and campaigner, Kenny is also the co-founder & Managing Director of ClearView Research Ltd, a social and market research agency. The agency specializes in research on young people, under-represented/unheard groups and vulnerable communities. He is also an advisor to the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.
Below is the video of the group’s discussion that kicked off the event.
Each young leader had a chance to share their story in a short video clip.
Young leader and award winner Esther Marshall is the founder of sTandTall, an organisation that provides support and resources to individuals suffering from abuse and bullying via an online platform, community and education programs. She is also the author of the children’s book, Sophie Says I Can I Will, which empowers children to fulfill their dreams regardless of gender, race or religion.
Sophie Says I Can I Will
Esther discusses her work in the video below.
Amna Akhtar and Kiran Kaur are Co-founders of Girldreamer, a non-profit organisation based in the UK that acts as an empowerment platform for millennial and gen z women of colour. The two share their story in the video clip below.
Izzy Obeng is public speaker, business coach and social entrepreneur who founded Foundervine, an international training consultancy specializing in start-up and scale-up acceleration programs. Their core mission is to remove social barriers to entrepreneurship and build the greatest network of digitally enabled businesses in the world. Learn more about Izzy’s experiences in her video clip below.
Finally, Victor Ugo who is founder of Mentally Aware Nigeria, one of Africa’s largest user-led youth mental health networks. The network has over 1500 active volunteers and chapters in 18 out of 36 states in Nigeria. Hear more about Victor’s story in the video below.
Read more about all of these brilliant young leaders on the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust site here.
We now take a quick look at what the Duchess wore for the event.
Meghan wore a dress by Preen by Thronton Bregazzi. It is the Glenda asymmetric pleated georgette midi dress, $920. The dress is also available in limited sizes at Olivela, $1,265 as well as Farfetch, $1393.
Meghan may have worn her Aquazzura ‘Purist’ pumps 105 in nude leather, $695.
She also wore the Edge by Ember ‘Wave’ earrings in gold, $87. You can pre-order the earrings now for shipment in early April.
We leave you with this photo from Sussex Royal who shared an outtake from filming.
Late to the party but I actually like this dress. I’ll bet it is comfortable and fun to wear. The best though is the color. Once again this awesome pair has dressed in tandem… Harry wearing a very dark, if not black suit that matches Meghan’s hair, and yes, Meghan in a slightly wild, rusty ginger to match her husband. I love it! And I love them. I think what they’re doing is extraordinary. The queen should see how much good they could be doing for the royal family. I hope the BRF all “change their tune” and learn a different rhythm.
I’m trying to find anything to like about this dress- the weird color, texture and sheen to the fabric, pleats, asymmetrical pieces hanging everywhere, drapey fit…. And it isn’t just Meghan- not even the model can pull it off, and if that’s the case, you know it’s bad news. My question is, what about this dress made Meghan go, “Oh, that looks great!” and buy it? It isn’t as though it is inexpensive- in fact, it is incredibly expensive. Oh well. I have liked almost everything else she has worn this week so much, I can get over one floppy-looking macaroni colored dress.
When the dress doesn’t look good on the model, the body type designers design for, it’s not going to work on someone who is petite. Plus, what the heck is with all the weird seams? Meghan looks gorgeous, but I honestly hope we never see this dress again.
Love the colour, don’t like anything else about this outfit…
The dress looks better in motion, imho. I like the color and the design (it’s very different), but it feels a bit overwhelming on her frame. I’d like to see it again but with a more tailored look.
What wonderful work they are doing! Looks like it was a fabulous meeting with wonderful young people starting important organizations that are making a real difference. Harry and Meghan look really in their element.
I’m one of those who thinks the color looks divine on her. But in general she needs more structured dresses. The lack of a defined waist isn’t her friend here. I do love the more structured, pleated, “reverse V” in the lower back. That is lovely. The shoes, earrings, and her hair are gorgeous and she looks radiant.
Love the color but not the style. I have a blouse in that material and I just love the style, but it is so big on me that I don’t wear it. I think anyone buying something in that material needs to size down. I love the color with the lipstick and her skin tone. Sitting down the folds of the dress falls gracefully over her legs.
Looks like a fun meeting, with Meghan & Harry enjoying themselves. Agree – Meghan looks lovely, not keen on the dress though. But Meghan can take comfort that it seems to hang/fit badly on the model too – what is the weird wrinkle coming down from left shoulder to armpit?
This dress is very unflattering with its odd draping and hemline.
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I loved everything Meghan has worn over the last several days but not this dress. I would not like it on a tall person and it’s even worse on someone as petite as Meghan. There is way too much material! Not my favorite color, either.
It’s nice to see her in more color, orange is not an easy color to pull off but it looks great with her skin tone. It’s hard to tell how this dress falls on Meghan because she is sitting in most of the pictures and the pictures of her standing aren’t the best. But just based off the model pictures to me this dress is a no because there’s a lot going on. I realize Meghan is very into asymmetrical, something being slightly “off” in her outfit so this is very on brand for her. That last picture of Harry laughing with his legs up is so adorable.
All these young folks are so well spoken! I watched the clips of their discussion, they are all so smart.
The Duchess looks lovely, but I am not a fan of this style, either dress or skirt. The colour suits her well.
Absolutely agree on this!
She looks so relaxed and happy. Her hair looks great and I love the earrings!
As far as the dress, it’s not working at all. I think the color is wrong for her (or at least photographs poorly) and it looks massive on her small frame. Maybe if it was a different color it wouldn’t seem so big on her, as it is I think it washes her out.
Her clothes are such a puzzle. Either too tight or too loose. This color is gorgeous on her but it’s just way too much fabric… she is so petite and this swamps her.
Her hair looks amazing and I adore those dainty gold earrings.
At first I thought the dress might have worked better on someone like Karlie Kloss, who is 6’ or more. But I’m not sure it would not have swamped her as well. It’s just a huge amount of lightweight fabric. And the fact that it’s pleated, and the pleats stretch out by sheer force of gravity, is not helpful.
Meghan looks beautiful, rested, and happy, but this is not the standout frock of this trip.
She’s lovely, but I don’t much like the dress, which I think looks bunchy and disheveled. It’s fine to do interesting things with pleats and folds and hemlines, but when it actually works against the shape of the body–as, to my mind, this does–it’s kind of pointless.
Jessica puts this much more politely than I ever could, thank you! This dress is a mess, it does nothing for Meghan or the model.
Love the color, love dress — but it swamps petite Meghan. Could it not have been altered?