(In bold it indicates that the speech was given in Spanish)
On her life lessons, Meghan Markle said: ‘I would like to start in Spanish because we are in your country, my husband and I, and because I feel the embrace in Colombia. It’s incredible.
‘So thank you, thank you very much, because the culture, the history, everything has been like a dream on this trip.
And I’m sorry that my Spanish is not perfect, because I learned it in Argentina 20 years ago, but I’m trying here because I can feel this community and this feeling is the best in the world.
-So thank you very much to the vice president, my friend, thank you very much. Okay, now in English.
‘I would say that, from my point of view, I was very lucky to feel that my voice was heard from a very young age. And I think that is a luxury that many girls and young women do not usually have.
‘I was 11 years old and you might know this story. I had seen a commercial that I thought was sexist and I wrote a letter, several letters, about it. The commercial was changed when you were 11 and you realise very quickly that your little voice can have a very big impact.
“I think it creates the framework to feel empowered to use your voice, because you know you’re being heard. It never feels good to use your voice and no one is listening. That’s not ideal.
‘So for us and the work that we do with our Archewell Foundation, certainly the work that we do as parents, as I do as a mother, is to make sure that girls feel that their voices are heard, and also that boys are raised to listen and hear those young girls as well.
“And the same goes for adult women and men. This is not something that can be the sole responsibility and be left in the hands of women.
‘Yes, we work incredibly well together as a team, but as my husband demonstrates, the role of men in this matter of empowering women, of letting them know that their voices are heard, from a young age into adulthood, is key.
‘At the Archewell Foundation we are very, very dedicated to creating a sense of community, but also one where women are heard and their ideas are really felt and implemented in the programming that we do.
‘We recently launched a programme called The Parents Network, which is aimed at parents who have lost children or faced the worst possible challenges and levels of pain as a result of online harm, and allowing those mothers, those fathers, to be heard is key to the work that we’re doing.
‘We also have something called the Welcome Project, where we work specifically with women who have been displaced.
‘And really giving them projects and work that are comparable to the work I’ve done in the UK with something called the Hub Community Kitchen, where also women and the community were listening to each other and supporting each other.
‘You know, they may be cooking together, they may be doing a craft together, but what they’re doing at the same time is working on their mental health, working on their emotional healing, working to support each other with microfinance, business building, and partnerships.
‘So these are all the ways that I see the spirit of community and us supporting each other as women come through in so many different facets of our lives.’
Asked what inspires her, the Duchess said:: ‘For me, I think I find inspiration in a lot of the strong women around me. My mother is one of them.
“I think life is full of surprises and can be quite complex. And we (as Meghan addressed the Colombian vice president) have talked in the last few days about how she found her inspiration and this fighting spirit and, in my case, we also talked about the power of words.
‘A lot of the way I approach things is that it’s less about the struggle, which I’m not interested in, and more about how we show up in this space and wash things with love, kindness and generosity.
“And we talked about this the other day and of course that’s part of that same spirit that you have inside of you. That you see something wrong and you’re going to fix it. Maybe that’s a very feminine thing. Whether it’s a fan or something else.
“That’s what we do. As women, we are multi-talented and problem-solvers. So when I try to analyze the conditions under which we can make women feel more comfortable in that space, I see that it’s multifaceted.
‘And that includes finding ways to create political spaces where women’s voices can be heard.
‘In business, where women can have a seat at the table and be in leadership positions, having examples like the one you have with your vice president.
‘We all know how important representation is. We all know that if you see someone who looks like you, who speaks like you, who comes from a community like yours, you can believe that it’s possible that they’re also in a similar position of power, so you’re not underestimating yourself, you’re not underestimating your worth, you’re not underestimating your future.
‘Instead, you rely on the possibility that anything can happen because you have conditions around you and examples in front of you that indicate that you too can help change the world.
‘And I think the small ways that women do it every day and the larger ways that we do it as a community, those are the elements that continue to inspire me to use my voice.
‘Because I also recognize how small it feels when you don’t. It’s not nice to suffer in silence or even just sit in silence if in those moments you want to be heard or if you have something to say.
‘I think part of the role model that I certainly try to set as a mother is to encourage our daughter; at three years old she already found her voice and we’re so proud of that, because that’s how, as I was saying, we create the conditions where there’s a domino effect of girls and young women who know that if someone else encourages them to use their voice and be heard, that’s what they’re going to do.
‘They’re going to create a very different environment than the one many of us grew up in, where our voices were meant to be smaller and now, by raising them, we’re changing the conditions and the environment where everyone has space to be the best version of themselves.’
In her closing remarks to the panel, Meghan Markle said as Prince Harry listened from a seat in the audience: ‘I think when we really look at how we can continue to inspire and create change, all the examples I mentioned earlier from our perspective, certainly through the Archwell Foundation, are key elements to achieving that.
“And I can start from the ground up, but I think that also starts at home, modeling that behavior from a very young age and seeing it work.
‘From my perspective, I guess how I’ll continue to express this, both through our foundation and by being able to move around the world, is by simply seeing this as my chapter of joy.
‘And the more you can look at your life and really, truly recognize that if you’re going to be grateful for your life, you have to be grateful for every aspect of it.
‘The parts that were opportunities for growth and may have felt very difficult, as well as the parts that felt inspiring, joyful, and fulfilling.
‘I think part of role modeling doesn’t necessarily have to be a grand plan, it just has to be an intention and my intentionality is to enjoy this chapter and to be able to move through each part of it as best as I can, modeling that if we’re in the spirit of gratitude and generosity, how we’re able to connect with each other as women and how we’re able to move through the world in a much more free way, I think that’s part of how we continue to create the conditions that I was talking about before.
And you may have noticed, my husband and I were just talking about it this morning, I was very relaxed on this trip, probably because it’s Colombia and everyone knows how to have fun.
‘There’s something very liberating about being able to be yourself and be comfortable in your own skin and be surrounded by a space that gets excited about seeing you exactly as you are.
‘I think that’s part of the chapter for me, of joy, that I hope continues to inspire me and allows me to continue to do the work that we love to do, which is just serving and seeing other people live their lives through that same joyful spirit.’
