Colombia has received a warm welcome for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle who arrived on August 15th. They met with the Vice President Francia Marquez and her husband Rafael Yerney Pinillo during their visit to the country.
Various Engagements in this Visit include:
The trip will involve meeting with various organizations, engagement with young people and the participation of summits tackling issues mental health and digital security. Their visit comes ahead of the World Ministerial Conference on Violence against Children in November.
Meeting with Colombia’s Vice President
They started their schedule by meeting Vice President Francia Marquez at approximately 9 am local time. The VP announced on August 1 that they would be coming to visit her first black woman to hold such a position in Colombia.
Afterward, they had tea and coffee for about 30 minutes with the vice president and his wife where they exchanged gifts while enjoying pan de bono, traditional Colombian cheese bread. When she said she loved Princess Diana, it was during a conversation between Harry and Meghan as well as Marquez which touched on technology, mental health among other topics shared ideals regarding a digital future.
Engagements by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in Colombia
However, this marked just the beginning of cordiality between Prince Harry and Meghan Markle while they stayed busy throughout their stay. On August 15th, they were supposed to link up their activities related to Archewell Foundation through several local organizations as well as youth groups.
Additionally, an Insight Session which was held at one of the local schools affirmed that there is need to focus more on digital safety as well as mental health.
Participation in a summit on digital safety
An experts session follows this event at a summit involving them together with other participants like activists, community members among many others. This summit is meant to support better online spaces aligning with Archewell Foundation objectives.
Moving forward into emotional wellbeing
On the following day, 16th August, Prince Harry and Meghan will continue their commitments in Bogota. Students have been invited to join them in discussing the emotional well-being and education, which is currently a very important topic.
They will lunch with Colombia’s Vice President Marquez as they sit with the Invictus Games participants from the country.
Colombia became the first South American country to take part in Prince Harry’s Invictus Games; an event for former servicemen and women who are wounded or ill that he set up in 2014.
Visits to Cartagena and Cali
The British Duke of Sussex and his spouse will also visit Cartagena and Cali during their stay in Colombia. This is all part of their wider mission to link up with upcoming events like the World Ministerial Conference on Violence against Children scheduled for November this year.
Towards a global framework of safety
Beforehand, Vice President Marquez had spoken about how significant it was for her country to host this global conference on safe spaces both online and off line.
“Our aim would be to create a framework globally so that we can have safe spaces both physically where violence does not exist, electronically where there are no threats such as cyberbullying or exploitation or anything else harmful, nor do these result into mental health challenges,” she said.
Second international trip since 2020
This visit makes it their second official foreign tour after moving to California USA last year following their resignation from official roles as active members of royal family. It follows their recent visit to Nigeria in May around when Josh Kettler left his post after only three months.
Chief of Staff’s Quitting
The New York Post’s story about Kettler was that he was employed “temporarily” and that “he had left the Sussex payroll on a mutually agreeable basis, as both sides felt it wasn’t working.”
Worldwide Campaign for Mental Health and Security
While on this visit, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are involved in various engagements which highlight the global significance of their work on mental health, digital well-being and safety in schools.
