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In honour of adorable Archie's 3rd Birthday and the forthcoming 1st Birthday of baby Lili,  Meghan and Harry supporters’ group, the Sussex Squad  - as well as other Sussex followers  - are raising money in support of Jose Andres’s World Central Kitchen (WCK). WCK use the power of food to nourish communities in crises. WCK are currently doing wonders in feeding those living in or fleeing from the war in Ukraine.  World Central Kitchen has been a partner with the couple's Archewell Foundation since 2020. Archewell is funding 4 community relief centers that can be activated in times of crisis as emergency response kitchens or vaccination sites while standing as community gathering spaces, food distribution hubs, or clinics throughout the rest of the year. The first relief center has been completed in Dominica with construction underway on centers in Puerto Rico and Mumbai, India. In addition to the relief centers, Harry and Meghan have backed WCK's emergency response efforts in Haiti and Ukraine, as well as supporting women restaurant owners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sussex Squad have tweeted a link to the site set up with WCK to collect donations made in Harry and Meghan’s name. The site says “Like Harry and Meghan, their supporters always show up for communities in need." https://donate.wck.org/team/425216 This is not the first time that Meghan and Harry followers, either the Sussex Squad or other groups or individuals,  have organized major fundraising events. There is now a tradition of marking key events in Meghan and Harry’s and now their two children’s lives,  with charitable fundraising events. Sometimes the fundraising has been kick started by a call to action by Meghan and Harry  themselves. At other times Sussex followers have taken the initiative. In this podcast I chat about some of the previous fundraising events over recent years. Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

Today I am taking a look at a topic that everyone and their dog has an opinion on – the question as to whether Harry and Meghan should travel to the UK to participate in the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations? It is not yet known whether or not Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili will make the trip over from California to attend all or some of the Jubilee Celebrations.  Whilst rumour has it that the Queen would like them to come, when asked recently if he would be coming Prince Harry did not commit. In this podcast I chat about some of the pro and cons that Meghan and Harry might consider when reaching their decision Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

During the week of the Invictus Games at the Hague in Holland - Prince Harry did a fair few press interviews to promote the Games. In these interviews Harry,  for the most part,  kept the topic limited the Games and only answering the odd question about fatherhood and his children.  Not so when he sat down with NBC’s Hoda Kotb. This interview did explore Harry's private life.  This podcast is an overview of their interview, the reaction to it by the UK press, and my thoughts. Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

As I mentioned before we don’t have live TV coverage of the Invictus Games The Hague here in Canada, but I have been trolling all over social media and news reports so as to keep up to date on how the Games are going. Amongst the many hard-hitting stories of the competition,  such as the fact that the Ukrainian team who despite the on-going war with Russia did manage to travel to Holland to take part, and also the serious part of the games for each of the 500 plus competitors who have either conquered a service-related or another injury, and who who may still be on their road to recovery,  some stories and events have, for me at least, stood out more than others.  This podcast has a few of those stories - including the story of 'the kiss.' Here is a link to Prince Harry's speech at the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games The Hague -  https://mobile.twitter.com/WeAreInvictus/status/1515420737405960194 Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

On the Thursday evening before Good Friday many of us were knocking off work early so as to extend our Easter weekend as much as possible. As is my norm,  I was keeping one eye on the Twitter feeds about all things Meghan and Harry when a story popped up on the My Royalty Account  https://mobile.twitter.com/BurnerRoyalty a post by The UK Sun newspaper reporting that Meghan and Harry had been to visit with the Queen. Tweeter went ballistic when shortly thereafter a spokesperson for Meghan and Harry confirmed that yes, they had indeed visited with the Queen, having stopped off in England on their way to Holland and to the Invictus Games at The Hague. Also confirming that the couple had spent Thursday morning in Windsor, England with the Queen, their first joint visit with her after more than two years apart. So, what was all the fuss about you might say – nothing extra-ordinary about Harry visiting with his grandmother and taking his wife along? And that might have been the case but for the way that some UK and Australian news outlets and so called Royal Experts, had been pillaring Meghan and Harry firstly for not attending Prince Phillips memorial service, and secondly the media had been widely reporting that Meghan and Harry were not planning to visit with the Queen whilst they were in Europe, reporting that Meghan and Harry would be 'snubbing' the Queen. Even as Meghan and Harry were meeting with the Queen,  the UK Daily Express newspaper was reporting on-line that Meghan and Harry were definitely not coming to visit. Oops.  What is also amusing about the report of the visit by Meghan and Harry with the Queen was the source of the news? Did it come from a royal correspondent or one of those numerous palace sources?  No it did not.  News of Meghan and Harry’s visit would have gone completely unnoticed bar the fact that some sharp-eyed pensioners who happened to be at Windsor Castle that day to collect their Maundy Thursday gifts from Prince Charles and Camilla,  for their contributions to the community,  had spotted Meghan and Harry walking on the grounds of Windsor Castle while the pensioners were being transported away from the Maundy Thursday service by bus.  What is known,  is that the UK media were covering the Maundy Thursday event and so it is even more amusing that Meghan and Harry’s visit went unnoticed.  What the story also tells us is that far from being the attention seeking couple that the UK media like to portray, Meghan and Harry are able to keep things low key and secret from the press. Afterall, they managed to book an appointment with the Queen, fly to England, travel to Windsor Castle, meet with the Queen, fly out of England and arrive in Holland before anyone had got wind of the trip. But for the eagle eyes of the pensioners none of us would have been the wiser.  Catching a glimpse of Meghan and Harry as well as meeting with Prince Charles and Camilla certainly made these seniors day out even more special. A perfect start to their Easter weekend. Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

At a time when we are constantly bombarded with hateful and polarized media and social media commentary and when it is becoming increasingly difficulty to sort out the real news from the fake, Meghan and Harry have issued a couple of new charitable grants, re-committing themselves "to convening, bridging, and accelerating leaders, ideas, and solutions for an online community rooted in equity, safety, participation, and belonging." In the statement released on their Archewell website Meghan and Harry admit that technology has changed how we all experience everyday life: connecting us and at times making our lives more productive.  Meghan and Harry also point out the down side of increased use of social media and other technologies, including our "lack of trust in the information we read and view, the safety and health of our kids being placed at risk, civil rights and human rights being threatened, and marginalized communities being targeted by a barrage of hate and vitriol." Meghan and Harry write that they feel that many of the underlying societal issues created by technology remain unaddressed. Hence their existing work with various organizations and academics working in the field such as the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry (C2i2), Color Of Change and URL Media and now the new grants that Meghan and Harry announced this week to Cortico’s Local Voices Network  https://cortico.ai/  and the Institute for Rebooting Social Media at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society https://cyber.harvard.edu/programs/institute-rebooting-social-media Cortico Community Local Voices Network is an initiative that is working in cooperation with the MIT Center for Constructive Communication. What they do is record small-group conversations in various communities when the participants discuss their lives and experiences.  Think of what they do as a lot of separate interviews and discussions, say with local government or community groups and non-profits, similar to what you might have heard in the past on a local radio or TV show. Cortico collect and store these conversations on a searchable library using artificial intelligence (AI) tools that allow search by topic or key words or even by speaker.  The second new grant announced by Meghan and Harry is to the Institute for Rebooting Social Media at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Meghan and Harry are helping to fund a new three-year initiative, in work that is addressing urgent concerns surrounding social media, including hate speech and harassment,  misinformation and privacy.  Meghan and Harry are also supporting what is called the Rebooting Social Media Assembly Fellowship during the 2022-2023 academic year. The fellowship will bring together renowned experts and new innovators from diverse backgrounds to address the challenges and opportunities of social media.  Meghan and Harry have said before and they reiterate in this week’s statement, that they believe new innovations in technology and media "should strengthen our communities, empower families, restore trust in information, and ensure that all of us can experience a better and safer world online." Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

The countdown is on to the start of the Invictus Games that are taking place this year at The Hague in the Netherlands.  The opening ceremony and a few sporting events take place on Easter Saturday, continuing thereafter up to the closing ceremony on Friday April 22nd, 2022.  The Invictus Games, founded by Prince Harry and based on the US Warrior Games,  are designed for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, both serving and veterans. The idea is to use the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and to generate a wider public understanding, acceptance and respect for those servicemen and women who are injured while serving their country.  Meghan Markle accompanied Harry to the Sydney Games in 2018. We have heard that she will be travelling with Harry to the Hague Games this year.  The Games will take place in the existing Zuiderpark or South Park in the Hague, an area established in the city in 1936,  where recreational, sporting events and outdoor concerts are often held. Approximately 700 volunteers will be helping out during the week-long Games.  So, what can you expect to see at the event? There will be the more traditional athletics, powerlifting, cycling, and swimming as well as wheelchair rugby, sitting volleyball, and one of my favourites the indoor rowing. This year,  they have added a Land Rover Driving Challenge that sees competitors drive through a series of  obstacles in the right order from start to finish – a bit like a horse-jumping event but using Land Rovers.  Ticket prices to watch the competitions are modestly priced,  with free access to other parts of the park and a Fanzone where the public can listen to music or take part in other side activities,  all geared to accommodate people with disabilities. Dutch Royalty are also taking part. Princess Margriet is honorary chairman of the Committee of Recommendation of the Invictus Games The Hague 2020,  and she will be present at the one and a half-hour opening ceremony, which includes the flag parade similar to what takes place at the opening ceremony at the Olympics. King Willem-Alexander will attend the closing ceremony. This will Meghan’s first official trip outside of the United States since she and Harry stepped back as senior working royals.  According to media reports she and Harry will be joined by a Netflix documentary crew.  This makes perfect sense as we know from Meghan and Harry’s Archewell website that their Archewell Production company is producing a documentary series called "Heart of Invictus," which will showcase stories about the Games, the competitors,  and will follow some of the competitors on their journey leading up to and including taking part at The Hague 2020. It will be great to see Meghan and Harry back in action.  Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

Concurrently with a new report from the US National Women’s Law Centre (NWLC) about the impact of the pandemic on women and mothers, Meghan and Harry through their Archewell Foundation have started a new campaign,  a call to action,  asking us alongside themselves to take actions to support women in our communities. The NWLC report https://nwlc.org/resource/resilient-but-not-recovered-after-two-years-of-the-covid-19-crisis-women-are-still-struggling/  authored by  Jasmine Tucker and Julie Vogtman is titled Resilient but Not Recovered after two years of the COVID-19 crises women are still struggling,  focuses on the negative impact of the pandemic on working women in America. The report finds that women, who have long taken on the bulk of caregiving responsibilities for children and others in their households—and the additional caregiving  demands produced by school and childcare disruptions and quarantine periods - appear to be holding women back from re-entering the workforce, whereas men have more than recouped their pandemic related labor force losses. The net effect of this is that many women continue to struggle financially, with more women than men living in poverty. The report tells is that even before the pandemic began, women experienced poverty at higher rates than men, were overrepresented in low-paid jobs, and suffered from racist and sexist wage gaps. These trends continued during the pandemic and have contributed to women’s economic insecurity in this crisis. Women continue to be overrepresented in jobs with low wages. NWLC are advocating for what they term a Women Centred Recovery plan. The NWLC acknowledge that they have received financial grants from Archewell. The authors of the report state that the findings and conclusions presented in the report do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Foundation.  Meghan and Harry did post a link to the report from their Archewell website with a statement saying that “if like us, you are compelled by these finding to help improve the issues that the report brings to light, we encourage you to visit our action page where you will find ideas for meaningful ways to show up for women in your own communities and around the world.” On Meghan and Harry’s action page there is a list of 18 ideas for actions that we can take in support of women in our communities. The actions are split into the sub-headings of:  family care; wellness; food; economic empowerment and mentorship. Some examples of things that we might be inspired to do include: Help a woman to return to the workforceSupport policy efforts for gender equality, paid family leave, or to create safe spaces for womenProvide a meal for a Ukrainian woman in crisesContribute to mental health services and resources for black womenOffer a mother an afternoon of childcare.When you look at this list you can see that Meghan has already completed all of the 18 suggested actions. She is not asking us to do anything that she has not already done herself. Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

The question that I am posing for you all this week is  "Should Prince Harry have travelled to the UK to attend the memorial service for his late grandfather, Prince Phillip? " Although Harry had let everyone know in advance that he was not going to come, this did not stopped everyone from: (a)           Speculating as to why Harry chose not to attend, or  (b)          Taking an opinion  over whether this was the right decision or not. Prince Harry was at Prince Phillip's carefully planned funeral in April of 2021.  Back then,  things were frosty between Harry and his brother Prince William,  and we were led to believe that this was due to statements made by Meghan and Harry during their interview with Oprah that aired about a month before Prince Phillip died.  Back then, William was said to be so upset with Harry,  that special arrangements were put in place at the funeral such that William did not walk beside or sit beside Harry. At the time of the funeral,  the UK was in a heavy Covid-19 lockdown which included restricting the number of people able to attend funerals to 30. The Queen dutifully stuck to those rules, with her limiting the number of family and other dignitaries inside the chapel at Windsor Castle. In December of 2021 Buckingham Palace announced that a memorial service for Prince Phillip, a religious service of Thanksgiving,  was being planned for the Spring of 2022 at Westminster Abbey.  No specific date was set for the memorial. It was only in the first week of February this year that Buckingham Palace announced that the service would take place on March 29th, 2022.  On March 11th, 2022, a spokesperson for the Sussexes advised that Prince Harry would not be returning to the UK for the Service of Thanksgiving,  adding that Harry hoped to visit the Queen as soon as possible.  While no reasons were given as to why Prince Harry decided not to come, this did not stop news media and social media from speculating.  The people that know the true reasons for this decision are Harry, Meghan and the Queen.  The UK media are weird though. Having swung from Harry is disrespecting the Queen, and Harry is acting like a spoilt child, onto Harry is not wanted in the UK, and Harry would be a distraction if he came to the memorial service, as well as headlines to the effect that the Royal Family will be relieved if Meghan and Harry don’t come -  they are now saying Harry will live to regret the decision not to come and, the British Public are disappointed that Harry did not come! All going to say that Harry,  like all of us,  can never please everyone. So he focuses on pleasing those that mean the most to him. Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

In a week when Samantha and Thomas Markle made the news for not so good reasons, Meghan and Harry took the high road, announcing that they had made donations to several organizations that are working on the ground to support the people of Ukraine. Ukrainians continue to suffer the effects of Russia’s unwarranted invasion of their country.  In a post to their Archewell website,  Meghan and Harry announced donations to a couple organizations that they had not worked with before,  as well as reaffirming their commitment to their existing charitable partnerships with World Central Kitchen (WCK) and with the mine and ordnance clearing charity, Halo Trust, both of whom are heavily involved in providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine.  One of the new (to Harry and Meghan) organizations receiving funds from them was the group called “Are We Europe” who describe themselves an independent media group that publish stories with local perspectives. Funds will be directed to a few Ukraine Media organizations including the Kyiv Independent. https://kyivindependent.com/ Another organization that Meghan and Harry have donated to is HIAS.  https://www.hias.org/  Founded in Manhattan as the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society in 1881 the organization was set up to assist Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe. Over the years HIAS has continued their work in assisting people to resettle in the US. They describe their client as including some of the world’s most vulnerable refugees. Meghan and Harry end their website post with a link to Project Healthy Minds and a package of Mental Health Resources for anyone who maybe be feeling anxious or otherwise negatively impacted by the war in Ukraine and in need of mental health supports.  Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

Patrick Hill of the UK Daily Mirror newspaper reported in what he termed an Exclusive Interview with Meghan Markle's dad Thomas Markle, writing that Thomas was vowing to tell 'his truth' as he launched his YouTube channel, promising that the chats will be "no holds barred."  Co-host of the channel and 'close pal'  to Thomas LA based photographer Karl Larsen told the Daily Mirror that he and Thomas were inspired by people such as the royal commentator Lady Colin Campbell and also podcaster Joe Rogan, and others.  The pair have called their YouTube channel "Remarkable Friendship with Thomas Markle and Karl Larsen." In the Daily Mirror interview Thomas promised he would give us his views on his eldest daughter Samantha and her court case. Samantha is suing Meghan for defamation - something I spoke about in my previous podcast. In a prologue to the first episode of their show,  Karl said the aim was for this to be an entertainment show, with the thoughts and opinions expressed being those of Karl and Thomas and with us free to come to our own thoughts and opinions. In other words, we may not like what they have to say. I have now watched the first episode and provide an overview of the topics that Karl and Thomas discussed, as well as my own thoughts and opinions. Here is a link to the show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr3YZLiGyYE&t=623s Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo

For those of us who have long since given up hope that Samantha Markle would find inner peace and leave Meghan and Harry alone, it was not much of a shock to hear that Samantha has decided that she is not yet done messing around in her half sister’s life, and what better way to garner some more press attention (and maybe get some more paid  TV work) than to sue Meghan for defamation.  This podcasts is all about the ins and outs of Samantha's lawsuit. Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili. Reach out to me through my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/ and on twitter https://twitter.com/JeanetteSongolo