The American in the British royal family leveraged her deserved maternity leave to avoid meeting Donald Trump during his current state visit to the United Kingdom (the rest of the royal family was unfortunately not so lucky), but there are some people the Duchess of Sussex will happily come out and celebrate.
Elle reports that exactly a month after her first public appearance on May 8, two days after giving birth to son Archie, Meghan will reemerge on Saturday, June 8 to attend Trooping the Colour. The annual celebration and parade are in recognition of Queen Elizabeth’s birthday (which was technically in April), and clearly, worth a much-anticipated appearance by the Duchess of Sussex, though baby Archie is not expected to attend his first royal engagement quite yet.
Not that Meghan has been entirely secluded since Archie’s birth; good friend Serena Williams reportedly made a visit with husband Alexis Ohanian to greet the new parents and child on their way to the French Open, and Priyanka Chopra was also rumored to have stopped by while working in London, though the actress and newlywed (to musician Nick Jonas) denied lavishing her friend with expensive gifts.
What Chopra did confirm is that she thinks racism is at the root of the vitriol that has been continually directed at Meghan.
“Of course it has to do with racism, it’s an obvious reason. But the beauty of Meg is that she’s been herself through all of this,” she told the Sunday Times (h/t Elle). “But if there’s anyone who can handle it, it’s her,” Chopra said of the relentless criticism.
Chopra also assures us that Meghan has the same value system she had prior to becoming Duchess of Sussex, which might further explain why she wasn’t clamoring to meet a man she called “divisive” and “misogynistic” ahead of the 2016 election. Well, that and the fact that women deserve maternity leave—in fact, the UK offers up to 52 weeks, with up to 39 weeks partially paid (averaging out to about 12 weeks at full scale), while the United States is the only developed country in the world that doesn’t require companies to offer paid leave (h/t Insider).
But back to Meghan, who is no doubt choosing how she spends her time away from her son wisely, but is nevertheless “the same chick,” according to Chopra.
“A lot of people got to know her after [she began dating Harry], but I knew her before and she’s the same chick,” Chopra said. “Now that she’s got a real platform, she talks about the same things she always did. We spent hours speaking about the difference that influence and dialogue can make to the world before this whole thing happened, so what you see now is authentically her. She’s always been the girl wanting to move the needle.”
Glad to see she’s got her priorities in order.