Prince Harry is set to speak at the UN next week, and Meghan will be going with him

The Duke of Sussex will be marking Nelson Mandela Day.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in New York
THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS - APRIL 16: (EMBARGOED FOR PUBLICATION IN UK NEWSPAPERS UNTIL 24 HOURS AFTER CREATE DATE AND TIME) Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex on stage during the Opening Ceremony of the Invictus Games 2020 at Zuiderpark on April 16, 2022 in The Hague, Netherlands. (Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images)
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Iris Goldsztajn
By Iris Goldsztajn
published

The Duke of Sussex will be marking Nelson Mandela Day.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are officially returning to New York City next week, for a pretty important engagement.

The Duke of Sussex is scheduled to give a speech at the United Nations, for an informal General Assembly meeting on Nelson Mandela Day, 18 July. A spokesman for the UN told the Daily Mail: “The South African Mission has confirmed the participation of the Duke and the Duchess at Monday's commemoration.”

Although the Duke will be the one giving the speech, the Duchess will also be there to support him. This will be the Sussexes’ first public engagement since they made their discreet appearance at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations last month.

The trip will mark the second time Harry and Meghan have visited New York in the past few months. Last time they were there, in September 2021, they most notably participated in the Global Citizen Live event, held to fight poverty and protect the planet.

They stopped by the United Nations building at the time as well, to listen in to a General Assembly meeting, but they didn’t actively participate in said meeting.

The Mail reports that Harry’s UN speech next week is likely to centre on climate change and world hunger, both causes that are close to his and his wife’s hearts.

Harry notably founded eco-travel non-profit Travalyst in 2019, and sustainable habits have been second nature for him since he was a child, when he would pick up litter he came across, on Prince Charles’ suggestion.

As for the Sussexes’ fight against world hunger, their non-profit Archewell announced a partnership with World Central Kitchen, a charity that provides meals for victims of humanitarian crises globally, in 2020, according to Harper’s Bazaar.

Earlier that same year, the royal couple also announced that they would donate the profits from the BBC broadcast of their wedding to Feeding Britain, an organisation which fights hunger in the UK, according to TODAY.

So if his speech does in fact revolve around these two important issues, we have no doubt he’ll have plenty to say about them.

Iris Goldsztajn
Iris Goldsztajn
Iris Goldsztajn is a celebrity and royal news writer for Marie Claire.
As a London-based freelance journalist, she writes about wellness, relationships, pop culture, beauty and more for the likes of InStyle, Women's Health, Bustle, Stylist and Red. Aside from her quasi-personal investment in celebs' comings and goings, Iris is especially interested in debunking diet culture and destigmatising mental health struggles.
Previously, she was the associate editor for Her Campus, where she oversaw the style and beauty news sections, as well as producing gift guides, personal essays and celebrity interviews. There, she worked remotely from Los Angeles, after returning from a three-month stint as an editorial intern for Cosmopolitan.com in New York.
As an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles, she interned at goop and C California Style and served as Her Campus' national style and LGBTQ+ editor. Iris was born and raised in France by a French father and an English mother. Her Spotify Wrapped is riddled with country music and One Direction, and she can typically be found eating her body weight in cheap chocolate.
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