Kind thoughts for Meghan Markle

I am hoping by the time you hear this podcast you will have had your own opportunity to watch the 2-hour sit down interview between Meghan and Harry and Oprah as I don’t won’t to spoil it for anyone who hasn't yet watched. 

In this short little podcast, rather than discuss the bombshells that we heard, and there were many, I have picked out some of the more upbeat and cute things that we learned about Harry and Meghan’s lives, something they can hopefully hold onto as they move away from the toxic and unprotected environment, that they are no longer part of.

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie and keep checking out my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

One year ago when Meghan and Harry first stepped back as senior working Royals many a UK Royal Expert predicted that within a year Meghan and Harry would be forgotten and irrelevant. Role forward a year and the whole world is still talking about Meghan and Harry and the world will be talking about them even more next week after their sit-down interview with Oprah.

Ahead of the event, it is interesting to take a look at how the interview, that is both the idea of Meghan and Harry giving an interview in the first place, and the anticipated content, is being covered in the media in the UK in contrast to the US. 

I will take you through some of this media coverage.

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.

You can contact me through my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com 

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

Over the past weekend some changes were made to Harry and Meghan’s Archewell Foundation website. Meghan and Harry are also using their website to promote International Women’s Day that will take place on March 8th.

This is not the first year that Meghan either as a working or non-working Royal has celebrated International Women’s Day.

International Women’s day dates back to the early 1900’s with the early focus being on obtaining rights for women to votes. The United Nations began celebrating International Women's Day in the International Women's Year, 1975. In 1977, the United Nations General Assembly invited member states to proclaim March 8 as the UN Day for women's rights and world peace.

Every year has a theme and for 2021 the theme is Choose To Challenge.

Meghan and Harry’s approach on their website is somewhat different. Continuing their theme of Compassion in Action, the couple are encouraging their followers  in the month of March to unleash a groundswell of real acts of compassion for the women in our lives and in our communities. https://www.archewell.com/iwd 

To make things easy, Meghan and Harry have included links to various non-profits on their website and you can click these to learn more about some of the domestic and international organizations that are active in advocating for women and children, and you can also make donations or shop from the websites of the various charities. 

What we are learning is that Harry and Meghan are back on a roll. When they were working Royals, they used their Sussex Royal Instagram account to raise awareness to causes and charities that many of us hadn’t heard of.  It seems that Meghan and Harry as non-working Royals are relaunching this initiative, but using their Archewell Foundation website as the means to get their messages out.

Those of you listening from America and Canada, don’t forget to set your TV pre-recorders for the CBS Interview between Oprah, Meghan and Harry. 

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie and checking my blog at  www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

If you want 17 minutes of fun, check out the You Tube video of The Late Late Show host James Corden showing his friend and fellow Brit. Prince Harry the sights of Los Angeles.  Corden rolled out the red carpet (sort of). 

James took Harry on a LA Big Bus (open bus) tour along some of the famous streets in LA ; spotting the homes of the stars (actually I think Corden was making that up as he went along); a spot of afternoon tea complete with a tea trolley, cake tier stand, and china cups and saucers on the top deck of the bus; a stop of for a loo break for a pee at the house used during the filming of the TV show the Fresh Prince of Bel Air; and ending up with Harry and James tackling a military style assault course, mud and all. Easy to guess who did well on the assault course. 

James Corden interviewed Harry along the way and we got to learn some things from and about Prince Harry.

The video is intended to be fun and light-hearted. Clearly an interview conducted during a ride on an open top bus was never going to be hard-core.

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie and check out my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

Meghan and Harry have made a donation to replace the roof on the transitional housing unit called Annie’s House at Dallas based Genesis Women's Shelter.  Harry and Meghan are  literally helping to put a roof over the heads of women and children!

Established in 1984, Genesis’s mission is to provide safety, shelter, and support for women who have experienced domestic violence and raise awareness regarding its cause, prevalence and impact. 

Genesis Women’s Shelter was founded with a goal to not just help women, but to completely eradicate domestic violence.

In 1986 Genesis had a small 7-bedroomed shelter using a property that had been donated by the City of Dallas. By 1988 Genesis had already began building a new wing to their shelter and they started a 24-hour crisis hotline as well as counselling and parenting classes.

Genesis has continued to expand and grow as an organization year of year, both in terms of the number of women and children they help and also in terms of their services. They offer emergency and long-term housing, counselling,  education and legal advice. 

https://www.genesisshelter.org/   According to their website, in 2020 they serviced 3,700 women and children.

Genesis describe the women who come to them as often being in a fight for their life. Shelter staff aim to walk alongside each woman and tell her she is not alone and that she deserves to feel safe and happy.

On February the 13th the shelter suffered significant structural damage to their emergency shelter. The electromagnetic locks on their buildings stopped working when power was lost meaning the building was no longer safe and secure. Genesis tweeted that for the first time in 35+ years of operating that their emergency shelter and transitional housing had to be completely shut down due to burst pipes and power loss. The shut down led to the evacuation of 87 women and children. 

The shelter hit reached out to their supporters through their social media accounts, asking for donations. Donations came in quickly in response from private individuals and from organizations, from all across America ad beyond. 

The shelter got themselves back operating in an amazingly short period of time. Their thrift shop was reopened first. One week after the storm, Genesis had their emergency shelter back open and beds available from women and children.

Meghan has always supporting organizations that protect women and children and which advocate for the rights of women.

The CEO of Genesis praised Harry and Meghan for their generosity, saying in a statement, "Not only will this gift provide for our critical needs, it shines an international spotlight on violence against women and children, letting survivors know that they are not alone.”

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.

And keep checking out my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com 

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

This is a short little podcast, a turning point as it were. It took me a while to catch my breath and absorb the breaking news of the divorce announcement this week. Buckingham Palace announced that Harry and Meghan had decided that they would not be resuming their senior working roles in the Royal Family, and as such, the Queen had asked / told them that they must relinquish their Royal Patronages.

 A flurry of news stories followed analysing every word of the Buckingham Palace statement and then Harry and Meghan’s own statement, and telling us what these statements were really saying. Regardless, the end result is the same. Harry and Meghan have chosen to continue to live independently from the Royal Family and pursue their own commercial endeavours. Prince Harry is still a Prince. Meghan and Harry are still the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The current announcement confirms that what was to be a one year trial is now over and what was a trial separation is now a divorce.

Maybe in the upcoming interview between Meghan, Harry and Oprah, we will get to hear what it was that made Meghan and Harry decide to stay away from the Royal Family. After all, they clearly have enjoyed working with their charities and patronages and they will be staying on as patrons for a fair few of these.  I suspect their reasons may be the same as many of us may have felt in a workplace. You might absolutely love the work that you are doing but hate the back-room politics. 

We all know of people who divorced and then a year or so later remarry.  So we can’t rule out that down the road some time a point in time when Meghan and Harry might return to the fold of the Royal Family. But for now let’s continue to follow their journey and let us see where it takes them.

Please take a second to rate this show and keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.

Contact me through my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

Wasn’t it just great to hear some good news for a change - to hear that Meghan and Harry are expecting their second child.  Their announcement was released this Valentine’s Day accompanied by a beautifully shot black and white photo taken by Misan Harriman. 

The announcement itself was a brief 2-line statement by a spokesperson for Harry and Meghan saying, “We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother,” and “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are overjoyed to be expecting their second child.”

The media coverage following the announcement was immediate and worldwide confirming the pull that Meghan and Harry still have, one year after they stepped back from being senior working Royals. The announcement was literally covered around the world, in the UK and rest of Europe, across the US, in Australia and New Zealand, Manilla, India, China, Russia and all over Africa.

As you would expect when the news of a pregnancy is announced, the news coverage was mostly positive, save and except for a few exceptions. 

The photographer Misan Harriman has quite a back story. Born in Calabar, Nigeria in 1977, the son of Chief no less, attended school in England and thereafter worked in the recruitment filed in the City of London. 

Harriman began photography in 2017 and best of all for everyone who has a hobby and has wanted to turn it into a source of income, Harriman is self-taught.

Many of Harriman’s black and white photos of the Black Lives Matter protests in the UK were widely shared including in British Vogue, the BBC, and The Guardian. In 2020 Harriman was to be the first ever black man to shoot a cover for British Vogue in its 104-year history. 

Harriman paid tribute to Harry and Meghan. He sent them congratulations on their joyous news. He tweeted that he was there at their wedding , had witnessed the love story begin, and was honoured to capture the love story continue to grow.

A happy Valentine’s Day moment that we all got to share in.

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.

Check out my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

And my new podcast Kind thoughts for Kate Middleton  https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/1604284.rss

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

Prince Harry's Invictus Games Foundation has joined up with the UK National Health Service (NHS) with the hope that the people in these organizations can learn from each other’s experiences. To kick-start this initiative there will be a series of podcasts on a variety of themes where military personnel will talk about how their experiences in the armed forces and thereafter can be used by NHS staff  to help them face the personal challenges arising from working on the frontline during the pandemic. 

Prince Harry said of this new initiative:

“For a year now, NHS workers have been engaged in a new kind of battle. They have consistently set-aside their own physical and emotional health in the service of others. This service and sacrifice resonates deeply with so many in the Armed Forces community. With this ongoing project, we know that the NHS and Invictus communities will learn from each other, support each other, and lead conversations that everyone can draw from. It is from these shared experiences I hope people can find strength, compassion, and understanding, and the inspiration they need for their own recovery and resilience.”

Episode 1 in the podcast series is out right now  called "Reconnecting with the Family after working away in stressful situations" - here is the link https://audioboom.com/posts/7792635-episode-1-glenn-haughton-obe-reconnecting-with-the-family

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.

Link to my Meghan, Harry and Archie blog www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

And if you are also a fan of the Duchess of Cambridge, listen in to my podcast Kind thoughts for Kate Middleton.

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

Meghan and Harry dropped in by zoom to surprise participants in a 'Get Lit' Black History Month poetry class - thrilling the people there!
 
February marks Black History Month in the US. Started in America in order to remember the important people and events in the history of the lives of people of African decent, Black History Month was first proposed in the format of a month-long celebration by black educators and the Black United Students at Kent State University, in Ohio.
 
 https://getlit.org/

The Get Lit organization was founded in 2006 after Diane Lane created a one-woman show about the power of books and toured colleges, high schools, jails, and detention centers, taking New Mexican born poet Jimmy Santiago Baca with her. After the show closed, she says that she couldn’t bear the thought of cutting off the work completely, so she started teaching classic and spoken word poetry in high school. When the semester ended, the students wouldn’t leave, they insisted on meeting after school. The rest as they say is history. Today, the curriculum has expanded to over 100 schools throughout California, and is sold to schools all over the world. 

In a nutshell, Get Lit uses poetry to increase literacy in students across the US and across the world, and also promotes poetry as a way to empower youth and inspire communities. 

Poetry as a form as expression in its own right is really huge right now and is set to get even more popular following Amanda Gorman’s two inspiring and uplifting poetry recitals over recent weeks. Firstly at the Presidential Inauguration and then just before the coin toss at the NFL Superbowl.  

Meghan and Harry are said to have really engaged in the zoom poetry class with Meghan sharing some of her favorite poetry lines. The participants in their social media post praised the couple for being kind and for genuinely knowing how to connect with people, saying they were so grateful for the visit in honor of Black History Month. Participants posted that it was a most surreal yet epic experience!

Keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry and Archie.

And check out my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/

In a week in which global deaths from Covid-19 topped 2 ¼ million, and when there was a coup in Myanmar, certain parts of the UK press felt it more important to suggest that Meghan had secretly changed her name on Archie’s birth certificate, in an alleged snub to her brother and sister-in-law William and Kate. 

The headline attributed to Ben Griffiths at UK The Sun newspaper read as follows “HRH Riddle. Meghan Markle secretly erases her first names from Archie’s birth certificate in snub to Kate and Wills.”

As it their want, The Sun newspaper dropped this bombshell on Friday evening after the law offices had closed and presumably timing it so they could get a whole weekend of headlines out of the story. And headlines they got.

By Saturday spokespeople for Meghan and Harry had fired back against The Sun, with Meghan and Harry releasing a statement straightening out the facts surrounding the matter. 

Interestingly there were a few things that this saga raised that we didn’t talk about in any meaningful way:

1. Why can’t Meghan have her forenames on her son’s birth certificate? 
2. If other female Royals have their forenames on their children’s birth certificates (which they do), why can’t Meghan? 
3. Can Meghan and Harry now simply go ahead and re-register Archie’s birth? 

Will the Palace enlighten us? (Probably not).

Please keep looking out for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, and Archie.

And check out my blog at www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com

Show written and produced by Jeanette Songolo.

Please keep listening for future podcasts on all things Meghan, Harry, Archie and Lili and in the meantime watch out for other posts on all things Sussex on my blog at https://www.kindthoughtsformeghanmarkle.com/