Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have concluded their four-day visit to Colombia at the invitation of vice president, Francia Marquez, but one royal author believes the trip highlighted projects very close to the Princess of Wales’s heart.
After the couple’s arrival on August 15, Harry and Meghan attended a series of events aimed at promoting mental health for young people and highlighting ways to combat cyberbullying.
Royal author, Tom Quinn, who penned the book ‘Scandals of the Royal Palaces: An Intimate Memoir of Royals Behaving Badly’, thinks Harry and Meghan are “trying to steal Kate’s thunder”.
He said: “Francia Marquez, who issued the invitation to Meghan and Harry, praised the couples’ Archewell Foundation and what she described as its ‘global leadership in fostering a safer online environment’.
“This will have been music to Meghan’s ears, but palace officials in the UK are irritated that once again Meghan and Harry are trying to steal Kate’s thunder – Kate’s interest in child welfare has always been central to her role in the Royal Family.”
One engagement saw Harry and Meghan visiting Colegio La Giralda, a local school in Bogota’s Santa Fe locality (municipality) which is said to be one of the top learning institutions in the world.
The Sussexes visited the school’s “social and emotional gym” which teaches students mental and physical exercises to balance their mental health and personal wellbeing and pupils demonstrated to the couple their own personal meditation techniques and how they balanced their emotions.
The couple also attended a Responsible Digital Future Summit which aimed to bring together a diverse group of thought leaders, experts, activists, and community members who are united by a shared vision of fostering a healthier and more ethical digital landscape. Harry talked about misinformation on social media and how that can cause unrest and spark a quick reaction offline.
However, Princess Kate has previously spoken about how much children’s early learning years mean to her. In 2021, mother-of-three Kate founded the Centre for Early Childhood, a data-driven initiative focused on how the first five years of a child’s life “fundamentally shape the adults we become”.
During a 2019 gala speech for Action on Addiction, Princess Kate said that this cornerstone interest was inspired by the encounters she had during her early years as a working royal.
She said: “For the last few years, I’ve been focusing on the importance of prevention. How can we all really support the earliest years of life, build foundations, and help avoid adversity later on in life?
Kate added: “Having met so many people who’ve suffered from addiction, I have seen over and over again that, sadly, the root cause can so often be traced right back to the very earliest years of someone’s life.”
Colombia’s vice president, Francia Marquez, revealed that a key reason for inviting Prince Harry and Meghan to Colombia was because their story “moved” her.
She stated: “I saw the Netflix series about their life, their story and that moved me and motivated me to say that this is a woman who deserves to come to our country and tell her story and her exchange will undoubtedly be an empowerment to so many women in the world.”
The visit, Marquez said, hoped to “further illuminate Colombia’s role as a beacon of culture and innovation.”
