Meghan Markle has worn a jacket that was given to her on a visit to a U.K. school, providing an antidote to recent swipes from British newspapers about her fashion choices.
The Duchess of Sussex visited The Marcy Lab School, in Brooklyn, New York, ahead of a summit marking World Mental Health Day on Tuesday.
She wore a navy and white varsity letterman jacket that had been given to her by the debate team at Robert Clack School, in Dagenham, London, which she visited in March 2020, when she famously got a kiss on the cheeky from a plucky school pupil.
Beyond looking the part, the jacket insulated Meghan from recent swipes in the British press over the cost of her outfit during another visit to a New York school back in 2021.
The Duchess of Sussex read her children's picture book The Bench to pupils at P.S. 123 in Harlem, but more recently U.K. newspapers took aim at her $7,520 Loro Piana Cashmere coat and pants.
The Mail, for example, noted the school had a "91 percent black and Hispanic student population—95 percent of which qualify for free or reduced-price lunches due to their low-income backgrounds."
Whether deliberate or not, by pulling the gifted Robert Clack jacket from her wardrobe she ensured the same allegations was not made again.
The Marcy Lab School is intended to be an alternative to college that teaches students important skills for the workplace.
"They dive into the real stuff, which is coding," Maya Bhattacharjee-Marcantonio, co-founder of the school, told Meghan and Prince Harry.
And one pupil the couple met has already got a job at Spotify—the very streaming platform the couple parted ways with earlier in 2023. Others have gone on to jobs at the New York Times and JP Morgan.
Harry encouraged the students to look after each other: "Everyone's got their own story, reason for being here, your life is still going to be filled with complications and challenges.
"And if one of you starts to go quiet, doesn't show up, you need to find out why. And remember to have fun! It has to be fun."
And Meghan turned the conversation to the pressures of being young in the digital age: "I think my husband was asking about online spaces because it's a place where so much community can be built, but there's also so much vulnerability.
"There's a lot of saturation, and as parents, we can be hopeful knowing that your bright minds [are at work], knowing that they will be seen, valued and growing in the right direction. And that's why it's so important what you're doing at the Marcy Lab."
Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.
Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jack Royston is Newsweek's Chief Royal Correspondent based in London, U.K. He reports on the British royal family—including King Charles ... Read more
