MEGHAN Markle wore nearly £300,000 worth of clothes and jewellery, including Princess Diana’s old watch, in a new black-and-white snap.
The 39-year-old posed alongside Prince Harry in the photo, released ahead of the couple hosting an episode of TIME100 Talks on Tuesday.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were boasted as being “among the most influential voices in the world”, ahead of the chat on the dangers of social media.
In the photo the mum-of-one is smiling and looking away from the camera, as she’s dressed in a £1,820 ensemble.
Meghan re-wore an Alexander McQueen suit, which she wore back in 2018 to her first royal engagement.
The former actress donned the tailored two-piece for the Endeavour Awards, which celebrates the achievements of wounded servicemen and women.
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Meghan wears a bespoke version of the Grain de poudre suit, which costs £575 for the trousers and £1,245 for the blazer.
The mum to one-year-old Archie teamed her power suit with some key pieces of jewellery – including Princess Diana’s old watch.
Meghan wore the £17,800 Cartier watch on her left wrist, which was a gift from her father for her 21st birthday.
The late princess wore the watch numerous times, including on a visit to London’s Shiri Swaminarayan Mandor Hindu Temple the year she died.
Meghan is a known fan of Cartier, admitting she bought herself one of their French Tank watches when Suits got renewed for a third season.
She said back in 2015: “’I’ve always coveted the Cartier French Tank watch.
“When I found out Suits had been picked up for our third season – which, at the time, felt like such a milestone – I totally splurged and bought the two-tone version.
“I had it engraved on the back, ‘To M.M. From M.M.’ and I plan to give it to my daughter one day. That’s what makes pieces special, the connection you have to them.”
Prince Harry gifted Meghan a number of pieces from his mother’s collection, including a £75,000 Aquamarine ring, which she wore on their wedding day.
The duchess has also stepped out in Princess Diana’s butterfly earrings on numerous occasions, including at her first outing after ending maternity leave.
Meghan wore another Cartier piece in the new monochrome snap, which is a bracelet is rumoured to have been a gift from Prince Harry before the couple got engaged.
The £6,000 ‘love’ bracelet was inspired by medieval chastity belts, and comes with a golden screwdriver – which is the only way to remove it.
Meghan also wore her everyday jewellery – her trilogy engagement ring – which gets its name from the trio of stones.
Prince Harry designed the sparkler, estimated to be worth £271,000, using stones from Botswana and from his mother’s collection.
Meghan came under fire after she reportedly redesigned the ring, stepping out with a new band studded with diamonds.
Before the overhaul, Prince Harry said: “The ring is obviously yellow gold because that’s [Meghan’s] favourite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the little diamonds either side are from my mother’s jewellery collection, to make sure that she’s with us on this crazy journey together.”
Meghan also praised the ring, despite re-designing it, saying: “Everything about Harry’s thoughtfulness and the inclusion of [Princess Diana’s stones] and obviously not being able to meet his mom, it’s so important to me to know that she’s a part of this with us.
“It’s incredibly special to be able to have this, which sort of links where you come from and Botswana, which is important to us. It’s perfect.”
The TIME100 talk is Themed around the topic of “Engineering a Better World,” and the special episode will reflect on the couple’s focus “on building online communities that are trustworthy, safer, and more equitable—and what that means for supporting and accelerating progress on critical issues like gender equity, racial justice, and climate change.”
As part of the online chats, the couple will speak with Reddit co-founder and founder of 776 Alexis Ohanian, the husband of Meghan’s pal Serena Williams.
They will also speak to Rappler CEO and executive editor Maria Ressa and co-director of the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry Safiya Noble.
The couple will also speak to the hosts of the podcast Teenager Therapy – which they recently appeared on.
The event is just another in a string of events the couple have been involved in over the recent few weeks – appearing on podcasts and speaking with Malala about the importance of education for girls.
Most recently, the duchess spoke at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Next Gen Virtual Summit – later accused of ripping off a Netflix documentary for her speech.
Both Harry and Meghan have been raising awareness for issues including equality and racism since quitting the royal family earlier this year.
The 39-year-old former actress also opened up about mental health recently, saying she had received “unsurvivable” online trolling.
She said: “I’m told that in 2019 I was the most trolled person in the entire world, male or female.
“But what was able to be manufactured and churned out, it’s almost unsurvivable. I don’t care if you’re 15 or you’re 25 – if people are saying things about you that aren’t true, what that does to your mental and emotional health is so damaging.”
TIME editor in chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal said the upcoming show was supposed to focus on solutions and visions of a better future.
He said: “This special episode marks our first collaboration, and we are thrilled to partner with The Duke and Duchess of Sussex to explore these urgent issues.”
Dan Macsai, TIME executive editor and editorial director of the TIME100 added: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, both TIME100 alumni, are among the most influential voices in the world.
“We look forward to working with them to elevate essential voices and highlight real solutions to some of the most pressing issues of our time.”
Meanwhile Meghan Markle was a ‘massive problem’ for the royal family & wasn’t made to feel important enough, author claims.
Plus Meghan was ‘desperate to be liked’ and ‘not worried about privacy’ in her now-deleted Instagram posts, expert reveals.
In other royal news, we told you how Meghan wants to “make the world a better place” for Archie.
