Meghan Markle declines invitation to awards ceremony in LA to stay by Prince Harry's side during Queen's funeral
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: Meghan Markle recently declined an invitation to an awards ceremony in the US, choosing to stay by her husband's side in the UK days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Opting out of the event, the Duchess of Sussex is currently with her royal in-laws in their time of grief.
As per reports from OK!, Markle was due to be honored at the event hosted by Variety which sought to celebrate the publication of its September issue, 'Power of Women'. She was slated to appear alongside notable women such as Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea. The occasion would feature a discussion on the "tropes holding women back."
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The program is scheduled for September 28 and Markle was among the recipients of an award. However, she has pulled out of the entire program, having declined the invitation to speak at the ceremony as well. According to the Daily Mail, one source reveals, "Meghan has gracefully declined to take part after the death of Queen Elizabeth."
Markle, who has stayed back in the UK for the Queen's funeral was expected to speak about harmful stereotypes surrounding women in addition to promoting and emphasizing the work done by the Marshall Plan for Moms, a group dedicated to women's economic empowerment. It was also anticipated that she would utilize the platform to reiterate those views she had earlier expressed on her podcast 'Archetypes'.
The Duchess of Sussex had already put the next episodes of the podcast on hold, an announcement on Spotify's page said. So far, three episodes of the audio series have been released, out of which, Markle actually hinted at her speech for Variety's event during the third episode. Speaking to Mindy Kaling, she alluded to how she was perpetually frustrated by people's assumptions that she was the "lucky" one for having been chosen by Prince Harry.
In the chat with her guest, Markle claimed that her husband had suggested the reverse to be true - he was the lucky one in their relationship. "But, thankfully, I have a partner who was countering that narrative for me and going 'They've got it all wrong. I'm the lucky one because you chose me,'" she said. She also added that such a notion by people reminding her of her good luck is "gendered and it's archetyped and stereotyped," and that it "feeds into this idea that you're waiting for someone to tell you that you're good enough, as opposed to knowing that you're good enough on your own." Her speech for Variety's ceremony would have been along the same lines.
