Meghan Markle delivers first UK speech since quitting royal life

The Duchess of Sussex has delivered her first speech in Britain since sensationally quitting royal life – and just days after her controversial interview.

Meghan Markle has told an audience in the UK that it’s “nice to be back” and called for global change during her first public address there since quitting the royal family.

Meghan and husband Prince Harry attended the One Young World opening ceremony in Manchester on Monday evening, where the Duchess of Sussex wore a scarlet $1863 Valentino blouse and $2000 wide-leg trousers – plus matching shoes – and donned a slicked-back ponytail.

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Meghan was the keynote speaker. Picture: Oli Scarff/AFP

She claimed it was “very nice” to be back in the UK. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

During her speech, Meghan told the 2000-strong audience she was first introduced to the charity back in 2014 when she was “the girl from Suits.”

“It was several years ago in 2014 that I was first invited to be a counsellor at One Young World. In many ways I was probably like a lot like you, I was young, ambitious,” she said.

Meghan then described feeling a sense of imposter syndrome at a dinner for the organisation, saying: “How on earth did I get here? There I was, I was the girl from Suits, I was surrounded by world leaders, humanitarians, prime ministers and activists that I had such a deep long respect and admiration for. And I was invited to pull up a seat at the table.

“I was so overwhelmed by this experience. I think I saved my little paper place with name on. Just proof that I was there, proof that I belonged.

“Truth was I wasn’t sure I belonged. I was so nervous.”

Elsewhere, Meghan said her life had “changed dramatically by 2019” with her world view “expanded exponentially” after seeing “the global community through the eyes of my child.”

“And I would ask what is this world that he would come to adopt and what can we do, what can I do, to make it better?” she said.

Prince Harry attended the event alongside her. Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The couple arrived in the UK over the weekend. Picture: Oli Scarff/AFP

She also told the audience they are “the future, but also the present, driving the positive and necessary change needed across the globe.”

Earlier in the day, they were seen leaving Frogmore Cottage in Windsor and heading to London’s Euston station, from where they hopped on a train.

It marked Meghan’s first speech in the UK since she sensationally quit the royal family in 2020.

They last visited the UK in June for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Picture: Oli Scarff/AFP

They were all smiles as they listened to the other speakers. Picture: Oli Scarff/AFP

The couple’s whirlwind trip began over the weekend, and will see them travel to Dusseldorf in Germany on Tuesday to mark the one-year countdown to the next Invictus Games before heading back to London to attend the WellChild Awards on Wednesday.

It comes just days after Meghan’s controversial interview with The Cut magazine, in which she claimed that her husband had “lost” his father Prince Charles amid the fallout of their move to the US.

She also issued what’s been viewed as a thinly-veiled threat to the monarchy about speaking out, telling the journalist that she “never had to sign anything that restricts” her from talking, and that has made “a choice not to”.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission