Prince Harry and Meghan Markle returned back to the United States and officially stepped down as senior members of the Royal Family amid what can only be described as a time of civil unrest due to the Black Lives Matter protests that swept nationwide following the death of George Floyd. According to Markle, the experience was “devastating.”
Speaking with Emily Ramshaw, co-founder and CEO of The 19th, Markle said she did not expect to come back to a United States in such disarray.
“To come back and to just see this state of affairs, I think at the onset, if I’m being honest, it was just devastating,” she said. “It was so sad to see where our country was in that moment.”
Despite the devastation, Markle said she sees some silver linings and a future cycle of change.
“If there’s any silver lining in that, I would say that in the weeks after the murder of George Floyd, in the peaceful protests that you were seeing, in the voices that were coming out, in the way that people were actually owning their role… it shifted from sadness to a feeling of absolute inspiration, because I can see that the tide is turning,” Markle said.
As a senior member of the Royal Family, Markle was largely barred from speaking out about issues that mattered to her. Going forward, all that will change.
“From my standpoint, it’s not new to see this undercurrent of racism and certainly unconscious bias, but I think to see the changes that are being made right now is really — it’s something I look forward to being a part of,” Markle said. “And being part of using my voice in a way that I haven’t been able to of late. So, yeah, it’s good to be home.”
Both Prince Harry and Meghan Markle waded into politics last month when they called upon Britain to reckon with its colonial past during a video meeting with young people from across the British Commonwealth.
“There is no way that we can move forward unless we acknowledge the past,” Harry said with Meghan Markle at his side.
“We’re going to have to be a little uncomfortable right now because it’s only in pushing through that discomfort that we get to the other side of this,” added Markle. “It’s not just in the big moments, it’s in the quiet moments where racism and unconscious bias lies and thrives.”
“There is no turning back now, everything is coming to a head,” Harry concluded. “Solutions exist and change is happening far quicker than it ever has done before.”
Following that, Meghan Markle gave the keynote speech at the Girl Up Leadership Summit where she urged girls to fight against racial and gender inequality.
“I know you have already done so much and made so many people’s lives better. The moment we are living through right now asks all of us to do more,” she said. “It’s a moment where your voices, and your action, have never been more urgently needed.”
“Believing in true equality is not enough – it’s going to take more than belief; we have to work for it every day, even when it’s hard and even when it makes others feel uneasy,” she continued. “We have to speak up for ourselves and we have to speak out for others who struggle to be heard.”