Meghan Markle makes 'working' debut alongside Royals

Meghan Markle makes 'working' debut alongside Royals

Meghan Markle voiced her support for the #MeToo and #TimesUp campaigns during her first official appearance with The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge this morning.

The former actress, 36, and Prince Harry joined William and Kate at the Royal Foundation Forum in London to update the public on their charitable projects.

And Meghan encouraged women to 'use their voices' rather than 'find' them, praising women for speaking out against sexual harassment. 

She said: 'I hear a lot of people speaking about girls' empowerment and women's' empowerment you will hear people saying they are helping women find their voices.

'I fundamentally disagree with that because women don't need to find their voices, they need to be empowered to use it and people need to be urged to listen.

'Right now with so many campaigns like #MeToo and #TimesUp there's no better time to continue to shine a light on women feeling empowered and people supporting them.' 

#MeToo and #TimesUp are viral campaigns that have spread around the world in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein Hollywood scandal, encouraging women to share their own experiences with harassment to highlight the 'magnitude' of the problem. 

Meanwhile Harry heaped praise on his future bride, adding: 'I am personally incredibly proud and excited that my soon-to-be wife, who is equally passionate about seeing positive change in the world, will soon be joining us with this work.' 

It is the first time the foursome have been pictured together since they attended a Christmas Day church service in Norfolk with the majority of the Royal Family.

After Meghan pledged to 'hit the ground running' regarding her charity work, Prince Harry could be heard quietly mentioning the 'wedding', which prompted laughs and Ms Markle to joke: 'We can multi-task.'

Ms Markle said she could not go into detail on what future work she would be doing, but added: 'I certainly know how passionate I am and Harry and I see the world so similarly in our approach of being very hands on with things.' 

William officially welcomed Meghan to the family, adding how 'delighted' he was for her to join them at the event, which was greeted with a warm round of applause from Kate. 

The duke said they took inspiration from their parents the Prince and Princess of Wales who were 'an example of diligence, compassion and duty', and their grandparents the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, who 'had made support for charity central to their decades of service to the nation and the Commonwealth'. 

Meghan is no stranger to being lauded for her charity work, having previously been given a standing ovation at the UN.

Then secretary general Bahn-Ki Moon was among those who rose to their feet to applaud the former actress when she made a speech on International Women's Day as UN Women's Advocate for Women's Leadership & Political Participation. 

Harry added having Meghan join the Royal Foundation would be a much welcome addition, adding: 'I think it's really good we've got four different personalities, we've all got that same passion to want to make a difference but different opinions.

'And I think those opinions work really really well. Working as family does have its challenges of course it does... the fact everyone is laughing means you know exactly (what I mean) - but we're stuck together for the rest of our lives.' 

Ms Markle said the four of them brought their own perspectives to issues: 'Thank goodness (there are) such differing personalities and everyone's very communicative because that's how you can really see bigger change - if everyone's thinking the same way how are you going to push the envelope, how are you really going to break through in a different sort of mindset?

'Changing mindsets, and all of that, is all part of this communication that we have constantly so I think it's part of the reason they've had so much success with Heads Together.' 

Meghan will become a patron of the charity alongside Harry, William and Kate following the wedding in May but is already involved and is expected to answer questions on various projects at the London forum. 

Asked for her thoughts on the Royal Foundation, Meghan said: 'To see the model of the foundation is really interesting because, while I've worked with larger NGOs, I've also worked with really small grassroots organisations where you can see a higher level of impact in my opinion, because there's a lot less red tape.

'What you are seeing here and what I noticed with Heads Together from a global perspective, because I wasn't here obviously when it was happening, was the