Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will be in New York City next Monday with the prince set to address the United Nations.
The speech, as part of Nelson Mandela Day, will see the Duke of Sussex speak in front of an informal General Assembly gathering.A UN spokesman told DailyMail.com: ‘The South African Mission has confirmed the participation of the Duke and the Duchess at Monday’s commemoration.’
His speech may refer to the impact of climate change and world hunger, reports say. This year’s Nelson Mandela Day tagline is: ‘Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.’The duo are said to have been keen to honor Mandela since visiting his widow Graça Machel in 2019.
Machel said to the couple at the time: ‘It’s wonderful meeting you. I’m sure we’re going to be working together in the future. I can feel the vibe.’ Prince Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, famously met with Mandela in Cape Town in March 1997, just five months before her tragic death. The couple appeared at the last UN General Assembly in September 2021. During that visit, the couple didn’t participate in the speeches in the assembly hall.
It would be the first public appearance since last month’s Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations. The couple kept a low profile at the event. In 2019, the couple shared a Nelson Mandela quote on their Instagram page, writing in the caption: ‘Sharing a powerful quote to start the week.’
The quote reads: ‘It is so easy to break and destroy. The heroes are those who make peace and build.’ While in the Rainbow Nation in 2015, Prince Harry visited Mandela’s former prison cell in Robben Island. In their 2019 trip to the country, Prince Harry and Meghan also met with Mandela’s grand-daughter Zamaswazi Dlamini-Mandela and the late South African leader’s cellmate Andrew Mlangeni.
When Harry’s mother met with Mandela in 1997, he said of Lady Diana’s efforts to help those with AIDS: ‘We saw her sitting on the beds of AIDS patients and shaking hands with them, and that changed perceptions dramatically with regards to AIDS.’
While Diana said that she was ‘absolutely thrilled’ to meet Mandela. Mandela went on to say that he ‘trembled’ at the thought of meeting Diana adding: ‘I didn’t know that I would meet a British princess.’ A reporter asked him if he would kiss her, Mandela responded by saying: That would be treason.’
Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer, was a resident of Cape Town at the time of the meeting and moved back to the United Kingdom in the aftermath of her death. Nelson Mandela Day has been celebrated by the United Nations since 2009. According to the United Nations website, the public is invited to mark the day by making a difference in their community.
The blurb reads: ‘Everyone has the ability and the responsibility to change the world for the better! Mandela Day is an occasion for all to take action and inspire change.’ In 2014, the assembly established the Nelson Mandela Price, an award for those who have dedicated their lives to the service of humanity.
The UN speech comes amid reports that the prince’s controversial tell-all memoir may be delayed until next year after it failed to appear on a list of upcoming book release. Sources suggested that the omission of the Duke’s ‘heartfelt’ book from the latest Penguin Random House listings meant that it might not be published this autumn, as previously expected.
The book’s missing status has reportedly raised eyebrows in Royal circles. A Royal insider told The Sun on Sunday: ‘If this book’s coming out this year as originally planned it should be in the publisher’s marketing and promotional list — unless they’re planning a surprise or there’s been a delay. ‘Its omission has raised lots of eyebrows in royal circles.’
