HARRY AND MEGHAN NEW FACE OF BRITAIN

by Amit Roy

Royal couple reflect modern and diverse society

THE new Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who are now seen widely as symbols of a modern, multicultural Britain following Meghan Markle’s marriage to Prince Harry last Saturday (19), are likely to undertake a tour of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh later this year, royal author Andrew Morton has told Eastern Eye.

In particular, the duchess, who has de­clared she is “proud to be a woman and a feminist”, looks set to work for “social jus­tice and women’s empowerment”, espe­cially in south Asia.

That she is likely to bring about change has been recognised by three women who were present inside St George’s Chapel in Windsor to witness the royal wedding.

They are actress Priyanka Chopra, 35; Suhani Jalota, the 23-year-old founder of the Myna Mahila Foundation in Mumbai; and Rosie Ginday, 34, founder of Miss Macaroon, a Birmingham-based company that helps unemployed young people.

The duchess has singled out Myna Ma­hila on her new website. Prince Harry, meanwhile, is likely to work alongside her as a Commonwealth “youth ambassador”, a responsibility that has been given to him by the Queen.

The new website emphasises that “the Myna Mahila Foundation is one of the charities chosen by the couple to benefit from charitable donations made for the Royal Wedding”.

It recalls that in 2017, “Her Royal High­ness undertook a learning mission with the organisation when she visited India with World Vision to bring a greater aware­ness to girls’ lack of access to education. In the slum communities of Mumbai, the duchess witnessed the work of the Myna Mahila Foundation who empower women through access to menstrual hygiene products and employment opportunities.

“Struck by her experience, she wrote an op-ed for Time Magazine about the stigmatisation of men­strual health management and its hindrance to girls’ education.”

No fewer than four representa­tives of the charity – three from India and one from the UK – were invited to the wedding.

Priyanka, 35, a former Miss World who has been friends with the 36-year-old American actress for three years, was among the 600 guests at the wedding. She was also among the 200 close family and friends invited to the evening party at Frogmore House in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

Fashion writers complimented Priyanka for the lavender Vivi­enne Westwood suit she wore to the wedding with a matching Phil­ip Treacy hat, and especially the “sparkling gold Dior gown” she put on for the black-tie reception in the evening.

Alexis Fisher noted tongue-in-cheek in Harper’s Bazaar: “Is it even legal to look this good as a guest at your friend’s wedding? She is the actual definition of ‘ra­diant’ in the ultra-feminine and romantic chiffon-covered gown.”

While Jalota was allocated a seat inside St George’s Chapel, two of the women who had come with her from India – Archana Ambre, 25, and Deborah Das, 31 – had vantage points outside, along with their UK colleague, Imogen Mansfield. All four wore saris, with Jalota remarking: “We are here to represent India.”

“Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex!” said the charity, which has issued a picture of the duchess in a sari from her trip to India last year to see the work of the charity, in a tweet.

“We are deeply honoured and grateful to be one of the seven charities chosen to benefit from the proceeds of the Royal Wed­ding. Your donations will strengthen our mission to empower women in slums of India to speak about issues they are most afraid to discuss aloud. We empower women by providing them access to menstrual hygiene products and a steady source of employment.”

Jalota, who set up Myna Mahila in 2015, first met the duchess in 2016 in New York and showed her the charity’s work with women in Mumbai’s slums when the actress visited India in January last year. The two met at the lunch time re­ception hosted by the Queen after the wedding.

The new bride remained down to earth, despite now being a Duchess and a member of the House of Windsor.

“Whatever her name, despite the face she is now a Duchess, she is the same Meghan and she talked to us in the same way,” re­vealed Jalota.

She laughed and added in Hin­di that it was more an Indian-type “gharaili (homely) wedding”.

Since the duchess’s endorse­ment, the charity had noticed its resources had trebled, many more people had offered their help and the number of online hits had rocketed by “a factor of 100”. “We were in shock when she invited us to the wedding,” Jalota admitted.

Ginday, who told Eastern Eye her parents came to Britain from Punjab in India, was invited after the royal couple visited Birming­ham and were moved by her ef­forts to help the unemployed.

The royal couple were not the first to recognise Ginday’s talents. In 2016 she won the “Young entre­preneur award” at the Asian Busi­ness Awards Midlands, an event hosted by the Asian Media Group, publishers of Eastern Eye.

Ginday pointed out: “There were a lot of Asian faces at the wedding.”

Among them was Indian Amer­ican actress Janina Gavankar, who was sat behind the duchess’s mother Doria Ragland and was among the bride’s close friends inside the chapel.

The duchess’s veil featured flowers of the 53 nations of the Com­momwealth – among them a lotus (India), jasmine (Pakistan), blue water lily (Sri Lanka) and white water lily (Bangladesh).

Many have commented that the wedding has marked a moment of change for Britain in general and the monarchy, in particular.

However, Ginday, who produced “lemon and elderberry flow­er” macaroons to celebrate the wedding, said it put “too much pressure on two people to expect them to change race relations in Britain by themselves”.

The official wedding photo­graphs, taken by Alexi Lubomirski, shows the monarchy is a progres­sive light. One shows the Queen seated with Prince Philip; the newlyweds; the bride’s Africa American mother, Doria Ragland; Prince Charles and Camilla; Prince William and Catherine, as well as the six bridesmaids and four pageboys.

“Their Royal Highnesses are delighted with these official por­traits taken by Alexi Lubomirski,” a Kensington Palace statement said.

Americans are not known for their understatement, but among the many who got up at dawn to watch the wedding live in Los An­geles where the duchess grew up, the overriding sentiment was: “This wedding is going to change the world.”

The wedding has been espe­cially well received by Britain’s ethnic minorities.

Black Labour MP David Lam­my, who has been prominent in exposing the recent Windrush scandal and the harsh treatment of Caribbean migrants, tweeted: “A beautiful service and a beauti­ful couple. Making my beautiful mixed heritage family’s shoulders stand a little taller. Against the odds a great new symbol of all that is still possible and hopeful in modern Britain.”

The sermon delivered by black American preacher, Michael Cur­ry, has attracted praise such as that from Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator magazine: “If Pippa (Middleton) was the unexpected star of Kate’s wedding, Michael Curry is the star of this one. Won­derful, wonderful sermon.”

And supermodel Naomi Camp­bell said: “Michael Curry giving me life.”