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Over two years after his retirement as senior members of the royal family Prince Harry38, and his wife, Megan Markle, 41, were presented with the Ripple of Hope Award on December 6th. The Duchess of Sussex looked stunning in a long-sleeved, off-the-shoulder white gown, which she paired with Princess Diana’s one-of-a-kind aquamarine ring. The black-haired beauty wore her hair in a chic bun as she and Harry were recognized for their lobbying work through their own Archewell Foundation, which focuses on social issues such as mental health and racial justice.
“This award is such a great honor for them and so meaningful because there is nothing they are more passionate about than their children [than their humanitarian work]’ said a source HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY.
“They are both incredibly motivated to make a positive change in this world, it really connected them when they first met and is a big reason they fell so in love. To receive this recognition and to be in such prestigious company with this award means a lot to them.”
The award is presented by the Robert F Kennedy Memorial and was first established in 1984. RFK’s daughter, Kerry Kennedy63, opened to El Confidential‘s Vanitatis Magazine on why the royals were presented with the award on Tuesday. “When my father went to South Africa in 1966, he spoke to a white audience and said that the problem with this generation is talking about racial justice. He also spoke of civil courage, saying that few would have the courage to question their peers, family and community about the power structure they maintained,” she told the outlet, translated via PERSONS. “And that’s what Meghan Markle and Prince Harry did.”
Kerry also spoke about how Meghan and her husband took action against the royal family by condemning “structural racism” in the monarchy. “They went to the oldest institution in the history of the UK and told them what they were doing wrong, that they couldn’t have structural racism within the institution; that they could not sustain a misconception about mental health,” she added. “They knew there would be consequences if they did that, that they would be ostracized, they would lose their family, their position within this structure, and that people would blame them. They did it anyway because they felt they couldn’t live with themselves unless they challenged that authority. I think they took that step heroically.”
In October this year, the royal couple were officially announced as recipients of the humanitarian award for their work in the areas of “racial justice, mental health and other social action”. Both Harry and Meghan launched their non-profit organization, the Archewell Foundation, in October 2020. Although registered in the state of Delaware, the organization is operated out of Beverly Hills, CA.
When the power couple began launching their charity in 2020, the organization’s website included a message from the Duchess of Sussex herself: “I’m my mother’s son. And I am the mother of our son. Together we bring you Archewell. We believe in the best of humanity. Because we’ve seen the best of humanity. We have experienced compassion and kindness, both from our mothers and from strangers,” the message said US Weekly. “In the face of fear, struggle and pain, it’s easy to lose sight of this. Together we can choose courage, healing and connection. Together we can choose to put compassion into action. We invite you to join us. As we work to build a better world, one act of compassion at a time.”
The Duchess and Harry married on May 19, 2018 and together they have two children: Archie3 and Lilibet1. These days, Meghan spends a lot of her time working on her podcast archetypes, where she often has in-depth conversations with other celebrities and people who are influencing change in the world. On November 22, she even had a poet Amanda Gorman24, read a special poem for the episode entitled “Beyond the Archetype: Human Being.”
And for the last episode of archetypes, Meghan gushed about how her husband inspired her. During the episode, the mother-of-two said the podcast so far has intentionally featured “all female voices,” but Harry felt adding some males to the mix would help her goal. “If we’re really going to change how we think about gender and the limiting labels that we separate people into, then we need to expand the conversation … and we need to actively engage men in that conversation and certainly in that effort,” she said.