Meghan has stepped back into the limelight in London for the first time in years – wearing a £25,000 outfit to take afternoon tea with Malala Yousafzai at Claridge’s.
The Duchess of Sussex, 45, and the Nobel Peace laureate, 29, were photographed leaving the luxury hotel together in Mayfair before sharing a warm hug goodbye outside the foyer.
Meghan was wearing a camel-coloured Tove Studio coat worth £1,695, a wheat-coloured £526 sweater from Crew Company and Ralph Lauren’s white Charmaine trousers, which go for £1,900.
She carried a black Chanel handbag worth around £7,000 and wore Yves Saint Laurent shoes priced at about £1,000. Around her neck was Logan Hollowell’s Lovers Duet Diamond and Emerald Chain necklace, valued at £16,200.
The pair enjoyed a classic British afternoon tea yesterday with fellow diners saying they ate cucumber sandwiches and scones with jam and clotted cream, with the scones apparently being a favourite of Meghan’s.
Meghan and Malala first joined forces in October 2020 for a virtual discussion on the International Day of the Girl, when they spoke about girls’ education.
Their London meet-up is believed to have been Meghan’s first public appearance in the capital since Queen Elizabeth II‘s funeral in September 2022.
Months earlier Meghan and Prince Harry were met by some boos as they arrived at St Paul’s Cathedral for a service of thanksgiving to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
While the Duchess has transited through Heathrow on several occasions since then, she is understood to have avoided central London during the ongoing concerns about her security.
Malala, originally from Pakistan but now living in Birmingham, was shot by the Taliban in 2012 for speaking up about young female schooling and went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 – the youngest ever recipient at 17 – before going to Oxford University.
Meghan’s focus over the past week has been on the latest As Ever launches but this latest outing suggests she may be preparing to return to philanthropic work, perhaps in the field of girls’ education, now that she is back in the UK.
Meghan Markle and Malala Yousafzai smile as they say goodbye after having afternoon tea at Claridge’s in central London
Meghan looks chic in a Tove Studio coat and cream Ralph Lauren trousers
The two friends hug as they part ways after enjoying afternoon tea yesterday afternoon
Meghan smiles at the activist as they warmly embrace each other before saying goodbye
The pair were first linked in 2020 when they joined forces for a virtual discussion to mark International Day of the Girl
The Duchess and Malala look deep in conversation as they exit the restaurant after their meal
Meghan and Malala dined in Claridge’s world-famous Foyer and Reading Room, where afternoon tea costs £95 per person. Champagne is available for £30 more but Malala, a Muslim who does not drink alcohol, and Meghan appeared to stick to tea and mineral water.
Set in the hotel’s famed Art Deco interiors and accompanied by live piano music, it is one of Mayfair’s most exclusive and celebrated dining rooms.
Fellow diners discreetly took photographs of the pair as they chatted animatedly over their meal, according to a hotel insider. The women were polite but barely interacted with other attendees as they were surrounded by protection officers. No one knows yet what they were talking about.
The source said they were accompanied by security throughout the visit. Police vehicles were spotted outside Claridge’s during their meet-up, identifiable by their distinctive number plate lights.
The meeting comes amid Harry and Meghan’s ongoing battle to get taxpayer-funded police protection in Britain.
The couple previously mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge over Harry’s police security while he was visiting from the US. It is understood now that the committee overseeing royal and VIP security, known as Ravec, is to reconsider the level of police protection now the couple and their two children are full-time residents.
Meghan and Malala’s discussion in 2020 came during the Covid pandemic, with Harry also joining the virtual talk on barriers to education for young women.
Meghan said on the call: ‘When young girls have access to education, everyone wins, and everyone succeeds. It just opens the door for societal success at the highest level.
‘What I had realised very early on was that when women have a seat at the table, conversations in terms of policy change, conversations in terms of legislation and the dynamics of the community are all shifted.
‘And when you have to see how you get a woman to embrace her voice, you have to start with where she is a young girl.’
Meanwhile, Harry said he had taken his own access to education for granted. ‘We do take it for granted, and it is a privilege, but every single person, every single child, every single young person needs an education,’ he said.
Meghan puts her hand on Malala’s back as they speak after exiting the restaurant
Meghan smiles as she and Malala walk outside the restaurant after their catch-up
Meghan and Prince Harry join activist Malala for a virtual chat to celebrate International Day of the Girl in 2020
‘To know there’s over 130 million girls out of education right now, before the pandemic, and the numbers are only going to go up, it worries me, and it probably worries all of us, the effect that is going to have not just on the individual, but on the family, and community, for the country and the world at large.
‘I’m hugely grateful for the education I was lucky enough to have; at the time I certainly probably wasn’t as grateful, but looking back at it now, I’m very, very blessed with having such amazing options.’
Following their conversation, Malala said of the Duchess: ‘Meghan and I are on the same page: we both believe that when girls have access to education, everyone wins.’
The Sussexes unexpectedly moved back to the UK over the summer with their children, just in time for the start of the new school year.
Harry and Meghan were previously photographed holding hands as they headed inside the Falkland Arms pub in the Cotswolds on October 2, which marked their first public outing since their move from Montecito in California.
Meghan announced a festive range for As Ever last week, when she opened pre-orders for a £112 chocolate advent calendar that is only available to buy in the US.
The calendar, ‘inspired by her Montecito home and garden’, features a festive illustration of the £11million mansion she and Harry called home for six years.
A press release declared ‘every detail was considered with care, including countdown numbers hand-painted in Meghan’s own penmanship using edible gold lustre.’
One British vicar who politely criticised the product was forced to lock down his X account after being branded a ‘demon’ and a ‘disgrace to the cloth’ by Meghan’s supporters, known colloquially as the ‘Sussex Squad’.
Other products in Meghan’s ‘Holiday Collection’ include ‘botanical confection’ chocolates developed by Los Angeles brand Compartes as part of an ‘ongoing collaboration’ and ‘The Keepsake Double-Deck Parlour Card Set’ with the As Ever logo.
