Yesterday, Meghan Markle made a speech for her first official gig since we heard the news that she and Harry have signed with an A-list speaking agency. The duchess headlined the Girl Up Leadership Summit alongside Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton and her friend Priyanka Chopra—not bad company for your first professional speaking foray.

The gig was both a return to her roots (this girls’ empowerment organization was founded by the United Nations, and Meghan is a former advocate for UN Women) and a big step toward her future as a public figure independent of the House of Windsor. 

 

Presenting via video, Meghan was in full “thought-leader” mode. Poised and slightly actor-y, as always, she gave a powerful speech, even if it did feel at times that she was half a gesture away from triangulating her fingers into the TED-talk power pose.

She spoke for nearly 10 minutes, possibly reading off a teleprompter of some kind, although a “source close to Meghan” told Harper’s Bazaar that she spoke “unscripted and from the heart.” And she was standing against the now-familiar terracotta wall of her Beverly Hills house, the exact spot where she gave her alma mater high school commencement address, in which she spoke about the death of George Floyd. Read on for more notable moments from her speaking career debut.

1. Meghan Markle has new hair!

Let’s get the shallow stuff out of the way, shall we? A notable development was aesthetic: new hair! Well, a different style, at least. Her extra-long, straight, glossy blowout with what look to be fresh long layers is causing the internet to cry “extensions?!” Also, her very smudgy, smoky eye read more Hollywood glamour than royal polish. And that solid blue sleeveless top (dress?) is pure newscaster chic, a departure from her L.A. casual look of late.

2. A name change, or rather, not

Interestingly, she was introduced as “Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex” which indicates she kept her name after marriage—it’s never actually been confirmed before since royals don’t generally operate with last names. 

3. A nod to her own difficult journey

So what did Meghan actually say in her speech? To be honest, it was heavy on the empowering-if-vague rhetoric these sorts of summits tend to trade in. (“Continue to believe in yourselves,” is an example.) But there were a few turns of phrase—and a subtle dig or two—that caught our ears. “Your gut will tell what is right and what is wrong, what is fair and unfair,” Meghan said. “The hardest part—and it was the hardest part for me—is to chase your convictions with action.” With this subtle bit of allusion, Meghan nodded to the specific convictions, actions, causes and effects that led to her giving this speech to the 40,000 people gathered virtually. Wonder what those might be?

4. Her take on where true power lies

“I want to share something with you,” Meghan said. “It’s that those in the halls and corridors and places of power—from lawmakers and world leaders to executives—all of those people, they depend on you more than you will ever depend on them. And here’s the thing: They know this.” Certainly, she’s speaking to and about a generation of young people whose activism has the Old Guard trembling in their boots, but we also see an echo of her own difficult experience with an institution that, let’s face it, was shaken up and revived by her star power, initiative and youthful energy.

5. A push to challenge norms

Meghan called the status quo “easy to excuse” and “hard to break” and said that it “will pull tightest just before snapping.” It’s why she encouraged girls to ignore “Well, that isn’t how it’s done.” (Anyone else hear the voices of stuck-in-the-protocol-mud, men-in-grey-suits of The Firm when she said that?) Her advice: “Keep challenging, keep pushing, make them a little uncomfortable. Because it’s only in that discomfort that we actually create the conditions to reimagine our standards, our policies, and our leadership; to move towards real representation and meaningful influence over the structures of decision-making and power.” Ya don’t say.

6. A “thank u, next” to online haters

Speaking of attacks, scrutiny and relentless bullying: Meghan encouraged the young women to use the digital world for good, acknowledging the “paradox” of the internet—that it has the capacity to ignite global change but can also be a cesspool of hate. Or as she phrases it: “Our online world has the power to affirm and support as much as it does to harm,” which feels like an incredibly polite way to refer to the trolls who flood to any comments section involving her. It felt quite moving when she said: “There will always be negative voices and sometimes those voices can appear to be outsized, and sometimes they can appear to be painfully loud. You can and will use your own voices to drown out the noise. Because that’s what it is—just noise.”

7. A shoutout to Archie

Right at the end, Meghan dropped a very quick mention of Archie “cheering” the young women on in their endeavours. Just imagine him pumping those little fists supportively. Cutest image ever!

 

    More Royal Report