Meghan Markle has revealed she had no idea what a royal walkabout was before marrying into the Royal Family. The admission came during the couple's 2022 Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, as she recalled her first public engagement with Prince Harry in Nottingham in 2017.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made their first joint appearance since returning to the UK on Thursday, spending the day in Nottingham. They met with numerous charities, starting at the Community Recording Studio (CRS) in St Ann's, before heading to Himmah Hub, a food poverty community action group. Meghan reunited with women affected by the Grenfell Tower fire, with whom she collaborated on the 2018 charity cookbook, Together: Our Community Cookbook. They finished the day with a visit to Epic Partners, which supports children, young people and families in St Ann's and Sneinton through youth work, sport, mentoring and education.
First Joint Engagement in 2017
Nottingham holds special memories for Harry and Meghan, as it was the location of their first official joint event just days after announcing their engagement in 2017. In December 2017, the pair attended the Terrance Higgins Trust World AIDS Day charity fair, a cause close to the heart of Harry's late mother, Princess Diana. They also visited Nottingham Academy, where they met head teachers as well as Full Effect staff and mentors who support children and young people from becoming involved in youth violence and crime.
During that visit, Meghan accepted bouquets of flowers as the crowd congratulated the couple on their engagement. While the Duchess appeared natural at mingling with excited crowds, she previously admitted she didn't know what a walkabout was.
Admission in Netflix Docuseries
In the third episode of the 2022 Netflix docuseries, Meghan said: "I never saw pictures or videos of a walkabout. Like, what's a walkabout?" Harry explained: "I could talk her through as much as I knew from my own experience of what I'd seen. The piece I really didn't know about was the style, right, and what a woman needed, how they needed to dress and all that."
Meghan added that before her first walkabout in Nottingham kicked off, a zip broke on her outfit and had to be safety-pinned, to which Harry said: "The whole thing was just ridiculous." At the time, Nottingham locals said she looked 'amazing' and 'did really well', as Harry said in the documentary: "Everyone was just so pleased and happy.. She was a breath of fresh air." The duke continued: "I thought to myself 'what a dream... I've found someone that not necessarily finds this easy but is able to do it and make it look easy.'"
