Through the Archewell Foundation’s Southern California Welcome Project, Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, orchestrated a special Thanksgiving dinner for Afghan women. This event is part of a series of solo appearances she has made amidst reports of professional shifts with her spouse, Prince Harry.
Markle, aged 43, participated in this small gathering at Our Place, an organization established by Shiza Shahid. Participants engaged in sharing personal narratives and cultural experiences while preparing traditional Afghan cuisine, including Ashak and Mantuu.
Markle communicated her gratitude for the event in a statement released by the Archewell Foundation: “This initiative, led by the partner organization Mina’s List, has spent the past year building community through storytelling and creating a safe space for women who have resettled in the U.S. from Afghanistan.”
The gathering spotlighted the continuous work by Mina’s List since its inception in 2014. The organization has been instrumental in evacuating over 2,000 Afghan women and their families and aiding in their resettlement through independent and coalition efforts since 2021.
While Markle was hosting the dinner in California, Prince Harry, 40, was engaged with Invictus Games-related events in Vancouver, Canada. The couple has been seen increasingly involved in separate events in recent times.
Despite their independent schedules, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex continue their mutual commitment to various causes. They were recently seen together in a video for Veterans Day, highlighting the Archewell Foundation’s initiatives to safeguard children’s online safety.
The Archewell Foundation has showcased considerable impact across multiple initiatives. Recent achievements include offering 3,176 hours of mental health support informed by trauma to individuals in Turkey after an earthquake, supplying menstrual products and health education to 2,500 girls in Nigeria, and uniting 237 women via The Welcome Project.
Residing in Montecito, California, with Prince Harry and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, Markle has previously expressed her fondness for Thanksgiving celebrations. She revealed to Marie Claire magazine that the holiday is usually “pretty low-key” for their family, often including her mother, Doria Ragland.
The Duke and Duchess are scheduled to attend the Invictus Games in Canada in February 2025. The Duchess has hinted that their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, who generally avoid the public eye, might also be in attendance.