The Duchess of Sussex has made her first public appearance since her father was charged with possession of child sex abuse material. Meghan joined her husband, Prince Harry, at the European Parliament in Brussels on Tuesday.
Harry delivered a keynote speech there calling for greater protection for children online. He spoke alone, while Meghan listened from the audience.
The couple arrived at the Paul-Henri Spaak building with the duchess holding her husband's hand tightly. She did not answer questions from reporters about how she was feeling.
In his speech, Harry said he and his wife stood alongside parents who had lost children to online harm. "I'm not here as an expert or a politician. I'm here as a father. My wife, a mother," he said. He said children "deserve to feel safe wherever they are", including in classrooms and playgrounds, and called for stronger safety measures and a greater focus on prevention.
Harry did not mention Meghan's father, Thomas Markle, who appeared in court in Florida on Friday charged with possession of child sex abuse images. Markle is currently under home detention and subject to electronic monitoring. He has previously denied the allegations.
Meghan has been estranged from her father for several years. He did not attend her wedding in Windsor in 2018, citing ill health at the time. When the allegations emerged last month, Meghan released a statement saying she was "deeply distressed at the news" and hoped that "justice will be fully served".
After the speech, Harry took part in a panel discussion, where he described the addictive nature of social media as "brainwashing on an extraordinary scale". He said everyone had a responsibility to protect children from companies that "clearly don't care".
The appearance marked the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial, which has moved to Europe after being launched in New York last year. Supported by the couple's Archewell charity, the memorial features images of young people whose parents believe their deaths were linked to harm they experienced on social media. Each image is a photo of a son or daughter that a parent held on their phone.
It includes a photo of 13-year-old Breck Bednar from Surrey, who died in 2014. His parents believe he was groomed online through gaming and social media apps. The couple want their campaign to put pressure on social media companies to better support families after the loss of a child.
Source: BBC
