Meghan Markle speaks of battle to 'chase your convictions' as she addresses young women at Girl Up summit

Meghan Markle drew on personal experience as she urged young women to “chase your convictions with action” in her keynote speech at the Girl Up Leadership Summit.

In an address on Tuesday, the Duchess of Sussex said: "Your gut will tell you what’s right and what’s wrong; what’s fair and unfair.

"The hardest part—and it was the hardest part for me—is to chase your convictions with action.”

The Duchess and her husband Prince Harry stepped back from senior royal duties earlier this year, after initially expressing their wish to carve out a different, progressive role within the royal family.

Speaking by in a pre-recorded video message, Meghan spoke of the power — and pitfalls — of the internet for enacting social change.

The couple have decided to step into a new future together after stepping down as senior royals
getty images

"Your generation is often referred to as digital natives, and you understand that our online world has the power to affirm and support as much as it does to harm.

"We are not meant to be breaking each other down; we are meant to be building each other up. So use your voice both on-and-offline to do just that – build each other up, support each other."

The duchess, who has had a fractious relationship with elements of the media, added: "There will always be negative voices and sometimes those voices can appear to be outsized, and sometimes they can appear to be painfully loud.

"You can and will use your own voices to drown out the noise. Because that’s what it is—just noise. But your voices are those of truth. And hope. And your voices can and should be much louder.”

Other speakers at the charity event this week, which has been taking place virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic, included former First Lady Michelle Obama, former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.

The Sussexes have said they will no longer co-operate with tabloids
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Actress Priyanka Chopra — a close friend of Meghan — was also a contributor to the event as a guest speaker, taking part in a Q&A session.

The organisation, which was founded by the United Nations Foundation in 2010, works to achieve gender equality by empowering and educating adolescent girls around the world.

In one of her first official speaking engagements since stepping back from royal duties, Meghan said young women across the world were "standing up and demanding to be heard.

"Girl Up members are organising Black Lives Matter protests around the world, you are creating films to encourage your peers to become activist leaders, you are reforming the criminal justice system, you are telling your school boards we need more mental health resources for all ages, you are leading coalitions to end gun violence," she said.

“Believing in true equality is not enough — it’s going to take more than belief, we have to work for it every day; even when it's hard and even when it makes others feel uneasy. We have to speak up for ourselves and we have to speak out for others who struggle to be heard.

“Look, sometimes it’s not obvious what to do. Often, it’s fear that paralyses us and stops us from being brave and being bold. But don’t underestimate that you have some of the answers.

Prince Harry and Meghan have made several virtual appearances for charity causes in recent months
Video Call

"Don’t underestimate your ability to push through the fear. You have, rooted in your convictions, the ability to craft a world that you know is just and kind."

Meghan has made several other virtual appearances in recent weeks.

In June, she addressed the graduating class of her alma mater, Immaculate Heart High School, and earlier this month, Meghan and Harry joined young people from the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust for a discussion about racial injustice.

She also privately contacted an 18-year-old who was the victim of an alleged hate crime, speaking with her over the phone for 40 minutes.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have formally retained their “HRH” styles, but they will not actively use them.

As the grandson of Her Majesty and second son of The Prince of Wales, Prince Harry remains sixth in the line of succession, and The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s status in the Order of Precedence is unchanged.

They no longer draw from the sovereign grant, the stipend allocated to the royal family from the Treasury, and have created a new brand for their non-profit activities, Archewell.

The couple moved to America with son Archie just a few weeks before the coronavirus pandemic shut down the globe.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have formally retained their “HRH” styles, but they will not actively use them
PA

She told the summit: "If you look at the breadth of the issues we’re facing right now, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, I understand. So be where you are in the moment.

"The growth and change you’re pursuing might not feel like anything day-to-day, but when you look back, I promise you’ll see it all adds up.

“We make better communities and a better world for ourselves step-by-step. And the pace of those steps is getting quicker. It’s in looking at the aggregate, looking at the big picture, that you can see how far we’ve progressed.”

She added: “I know you have already done so much and made so many people’s lives better. The moment we are living through right now asks all of us to do more. It’s a moment where your voices, and your action, have never been more urgently needed.”