Meghan Markle greeted Colombia’s vice president with a gift as she and Harry landed in the country’s capital for the start of their four-day quasi-royal tour.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, was invited to the country by Vice President Francia Marquez after the politician watched the couple’s two-part documentary on Netflix.
When Megan and Harry, 39, greeted Marquez and his partner, Rafael Yerney Pinillo, they gave them a personal gift.
The quartet then shared a conversation, during which Marquez reportedly told the former royals that she admired Prince Harry’s late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
According Harper’s BazaarThe four had tea and coffee at Ms Marquez’s residence, during which the politician said she believes she shares the same goals when it comes to creating a safer online world for children as the Sussexes.
Meghan and Harry arrived in Colombia for their four-day visit and landed in the capital, Bogotá.
After the meeting, Harry and Meghan were photographed smiling and walking hand in hand in Bogotá.
Mother-of-two Meghan wore a £596 navy collared waistcoat from New York label Veronica Beard.
She paired her sleeveless, button-down number with matching navy, ankle-length trousers from the designer, priced at £349.33.
He The outfit was paired with black Manolo Blahnik high heels and a $4,700 cream handbag from Italian company Loro Piana.
The couple have a busy schedule for the next few days of their royal tour, three months after their visit to Nigeria, starting with a visit to the local nursery school, Colegio Cultura Popular, to tour it and meet its headmaster.
This is her second quasi-royal engagement after a trip to Nigeria earlier this year.
Over the next four days, the Sussexes will visit the city of Bogotá before heading to Cartagena and Cali as part of a “cultural and social” visit.
Harry will also meet with members of the Colombia team taking part in the Invictus Games, who are preparing for the 2025 games in Whistler, Canada.
Meghan is pictured hugging Colombian Vice President Francia Marquez, who invited the Sussexes to the country after watching her Netflix documentary.
Authorities have kept the itinerary a strict secret, as some areas of the country are considered “best avoided” due to ongoing internal conflicts.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Development considers Colombia, like Nigeria, a high-risk destination in some areas.
“The FCDO advises against all non-essential travel to parts of Colombia,” the government agency said, adding that many armed groups remain active in the country despite a 2016 peace deal between the government and the revolutionary group FARC.
Marquez told reporters today that the purpose of the visit was to “build bridges and open doors” to address the problem of cyberbullying and online discrimination, particularly for young people.
She reportedly told Harry and Meghan that they share the same goals when it comes to safety and mental health on social media.
However, she made no secret that the trip will serve as a way to showcase Colombia on the world stage, raising fears that the Sussexes are being manipulated to shore up the vice president’s reputation following a series of scandals.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has a 34 percent approval rating among voters and has removed centrist figures from his Cabinet who opposed his costly health care and pension plans.
Prince Harry shakes hands with the Vice President as the Sussexes begin their four-day trip to Colombia, arriving in the country’s capital today.
Márquez has been accused of using helicopters as taxis to get to and from work. In the past, when asked why she used them so often, she is reported to have said that she was the vice president, so “what a pity.”
The vice president says the visit had been on the agenda for a year after inviting Meghan to the country a year ago on July 25, International Day of Women of African Descent.
Meghan had spoken at length about her African heritage during her and Harry’s visit to Nigeria in May this year, their first royal tour “in all but name” together.
Ms Marquez said today: ‘We wanted to invite Meghan, a woman of African descent, to participate in this meeting and share her experiences.
‘At that time we sent her a letter inviting her and she replied to us: the letter said that she could not come but that she was eager to visit and get to know our country.
‘Since then we have been working for a year to achieve this important and very good visit.
Ms Marquez reportedly said she believes she shares the same goals as the Sussexes when it comes to creating a safer online world for children.
‘(As for) how I met Meghan and Harry, well, I met them through the media but above all I saw the series on Netflix about their life and their story and that moved me and motivated me to say: this is a woman who deserves to come to our country and tell her story.
“It will certainly be an empowerment for many women around the world.”
He also said about the visit: ‘I would also like to use the media, both national and international, to invite the world to visit our country.
‘Colombia is a country with enormous cultural wealth, with unique biodiversity and with strong people who want to get ahead.
‘Colombia, the country of beauty, wants to be the best host and so it will be.’
For Marquez, part of the reason for the trip may be that she sees Meghan as an ally in cyberbullying.
They were invited to the country by Vice President Francia Márquez (pictured), who was “moved” by Meghan’s story told in the Netflix documentary released in 2022.
She is Colombia’s first black vice president and last year a woman was convicted after making a racist speech in which she called Márquez a “monkey.”
The woman, Luz Fabiola Rubiano, said: “Francia Marquez is an ape… what education can black people have, they steal, attack and kill,” the Associated Press reported. She pleaded guilty to the charges in April 2023.
Ms Marquez says she was subjected to more than 12,000 racist comments on social media last year.
She told the press conference: ‘I think I’ve been telling the story, the story of racism and racial discrimination since I was a child, I’ve been aware of it since I was 13.
“For women who are involved in politics around the world today, we are exposed to a level of violence on social media that affects our well-being (and) our dignity.”
