Baby Archie makes appearance on royal tour of Africa
- Published
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have introduced their baby son Archie to renowned anti-apartheid campaigner Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
It is the first time the four-month-old has been seen in public on the couple's 10-day tour of Africa.
Archie was seen smiling in his mother's arms and was held up on her lap.
Prince Harry and Meghan joked about their son's time in front of the cameras as they greeted the archbishop and his daughter Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe.
"He's an old soul," said Meghan, while Harry remarked: "I think he is used to it already."
A Nobel Peace Prize winner for his opposition to apartheid, the archbishop said he was "thrilled" by the "rare privilege and honour" of meeting the royals.
He spent half an hour with the couple and Archie at his Legacy Foundation in Cape Town, based in a centuries-old building which was constructed by enslaved people.
The archbishop told the couple: "It's very heart-warming, let me tell you, very heart-warming to realise that you really, genuinely are caring people."
The couple also posted a video to their official SussexRoyal Instagram account of their arrival at the meeting with the archbishop in Cape Town, with the caption: "Arch meets Archie!"
Later, the Duchess of Sussex spoke about the excitement and pressures of being a working mother as she met female entrepreneurs in Cape Town.
Speaking to them at an event called Ladies Who Launch, she said looking after Archie as well as carrying out royal duties was "a lot" but added: "It's all so exciting."
She described one non-profit group, which employs disadvantaged women to make bracelets for good causes, as "fascinating".
"By empowering these women from those backgrounds they are changing the focus of their communities and empowering the next generation," she said.
Meghan also met mothers and young children at mothers2mothers, a non-profit organisation which provides support for pregnant women and new mothers living with HIV.
She played with toddlers on the floor and invited other mothers to join her.
Some of the children could end up wearing royal hand-me-downs after the duchess handed over two bags of "loved but outgrown" clothes as she left.
She told the women: "It's so important we're able to share what's worked for our family and know that you're all in this together with each other. So we wanted to share something from our home to yours."
On their tour so far, the duke and duchess have also visited South Africa's oldest mosque and visited a charity which provides mental health support for young people.
Meghan told teenage girls in a deprived part of South Africa she was visiting the country not only as a member of the Royal Family, but also "as a woman of colour and as your sister".
- Published24 September 2019
- Published23 September 2019