Meghan Markle and Prince Harry Visit a Brooklyn School
Since stepping down as senior working royals, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have traveled to New York City on numerous occasions. Most recently, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were in the city in May for the Ms. Foundation 50th anniversary gala, after which their spokesperson said they were involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" with paparazzi.
Today, they returned to New York for the first time since that incident, for Archewell Foundation’s first-ever in-person summit, timed for World Mental Health Day. They began their day with a visit to The Marcy Lab School, a college alternative, in Brooklyn, New York.
For the occasion, Meghan wore a varsity letterman jacket—the jacket was given to her by the Robert Clack school's debate team during her March 2020 visit on Women’s International Day. She accessorized with Jennifer Chamandi heels.
During the visit, Prince Harry told students, "Everyone's got their own story, reason for being here, your life is still going to be filled with complications and challenges. And if one of you starts to go quiet, doesn’t show up, you need to find out why. And remember to have fun! It has to be fun."
A recent alum and now associate instructor, Zohaiv Manzoor, shared of their visit, "They were super down to earth, they were really listening to everything we had to say, the questions they were posing afterward, it really seemed like they were internalizing the things that we were saying, our stories. They did a really great job with that. They were really positive, you could see from their facial expressions they were really excited to be there as well, and they had a lot of joy in them. They made me feel super welcome."
Maya Bhattacharjee-Marcantonio, the chief program Officer and Co-founder of The Marcy Lab School, spoke highly of the royals after their visit. "I think [co-founder Reuben Ogbonna] and I just feel so touched and so grateful," Bhattacharjee-Marcantonio said. "The Marcy Lab has been a dream of ours and it's something we work so hard for every day. To have their support not just financially and the investment that they made in Marcy, but for them also to take the time to come to the campus is such a generous act of just belief in us, belief in our students and the work that we do. And so it was totally a beyond wildest dream moment to be able to have them here and just, I think both feeling so grateful for all of it."
Ogbonna added, "For us two middle school teachers to have these people who have seen literally the entire world to say that we believe in what you're doing, we believe in it enough to show up and be here. It is a good dream come true."
This afternoon, Harry and Meghan are set to participate in the The Archewell Foundation Parents' Summit alongside Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. It's their first major public appearance since the end of the Invictus Games in Germany last month.
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