Meghan Markle gives speech for first time since leaving royal family
Meghan Markle has given her first speech since stepping down as a senior member of the royal family.
The Duchess of Sussex virtually addressed via webcam at the United Nations’ annual virtual Girl Up leadership summit on Tuesday.
Girl Up has a presence in 120 countries and works to “empower women and inspire them to get involved in social change,” and Meghan contributed by giving advice on how to deal with critics and “push through the fear”.
More than 40,000 people tuned in around the world.
“Your generation is often referred to as digital natives, and you understand that our online world has the power to affirm and support as much as it does to harm,” the 38-year-old said during her speech.
“We are not meant to be breaking each other down; we are meant to be building each other up. So use your voice both on and offline to do just that – build each other up, support each other.”
Markle urged the people watching to make use of their own voices to “drown out the noise” and the critics they might face as they fight to make change.
“There will always be negative voices and sometimes those voices can appear to be outsized, and sometimes they can appear to be painfully loud,” she said.
“You can and will use your own voices to drown out the noise. Because that’s what it is – just noise. But your voices are those of truth. And hope. And your voices can and should be much louder.”
Royal Commentator Victoria Arbiter informed Sunrise that the event was particularly “significant” as it is “setting the stage for the type of work Meghan is going to want to do moving forwards.”
“This is an opportunity to launch herself as a philanthropist and as an authority on this topic on this side of the atlantic,” she said.
“I think we’re going to see a lot more of this going forwards.”
Arbiter went on to say Harry and Meghan are in a lucrative position.
“Let’s take an event in the future in which she could be paid... a number of experts in the field have said that individually Harry or Meghan could command upwards of $500,000 for an appearance,” Arbiter said.
“If they appear at something together, they could be looking at $1,000,000.”
“If Harry and Meghan want to maintain their lifestyle then they’re going to need to make some significant money moving forwards, and public speaking is the most lucrative way to do that.”