Just days after the Duchess of Sussex was made vice president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust on International Women’s Day, she is already actioning her role. To mark Commonwealth Day on March 11, she and Prince Harry attended an event hosted by Canadian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Janice Charette, to showcase and celebrate the diverse community of young Canadians living in London and around the UK.
For Meghan, who has previously called Canada her “second home” owing to the time she spent filming Suits there, her first event as VP couldn’t have been more fitting. She chose to put the spotlight on the country she feels “very connected” to sartorially by wearing a coat by Montreal-born designer Erdem Moralioglu, too. Offset with Aquazzura “Deneuve” pumps and a simple black clutch, the moss-green outerwear comprising intricate black beading hailed from the autumn/winter 2019 collection, which was inspired by Princess Donna Orietta Doria-Pamphilj-Landi, a member of Italian royalty.
This is not the first time Meghan has acknowledged her role at the forefront of the “family of nations” through her clothing. Her wedding veil was a painstaking collaboration between herself and Givenchy creative director Clare Waight Keller, designed to represent the distinctive flora of each Commonwealth country in one spectacular composition.
The Commonwealth Day visit to Canada House, which saw the couple meet young Canadians from the spheres of arts and academia and take part in the spring tradition of making maple taffy, will be succeeded by a Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey. The inter-faith public event marks the voluntary association of 53 countries and their commitment to promoting democracy, human rights, the rule of law and equality with some 2,000 guests, including Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful, expected to attend.
