Even before joining the royal family and becoming the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan was involved in humanitarian causes and continues to use her public platform to be an inspirational force for change.
In between filming US legal drama Suits, the former actress travelled all over the world with her philanthropy work, including India to raise awareness for women's issues and Rwanda in 2016 to help bring clean water to children with World Vision Canada.
When she married Prince Harry in 2018, one of Meghan's first projects was with the women of the Hubb Community Kitchen, who cooked meals for their local community after the tragic Grenfell Tower fire.
The Duchess, who helped to prepare food during her visits to the kitchen, worked with the women to create the cookbook Together to assist with funding. Sales from the book have helped to transform the facility and have allowed it to expand its opening days.
Meghan also hit the ground running with her royal duties and took on patronages for the National Theatre, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, Smart Works and Mayhew animal charity.
"Her kindness and genuine love for animals has been evident every time she has visited Mayhew, and we are very grateful to her for her ongoing support of our community-based animal welfare projects." - Mayhew's CEO Caroline Yates
Her capsule clothing collection in 2019, created in collaboration with several British fashion houses, benefited Smart Works. For every item that was purchased by a customer, another was donated to help a woman back into the workplace.
Mayhew's CEO Caroline Yates said of having Meghan as their royal patron: "We are delighted to have the Duchess of Sussex as our Patron.
"Her kindness and genuine love for animals has been evident every time she has visited Mayhew, and we are very grateful to her for her ongoing support of our community-based animal welfare projects.
"We work extremely hard to help animals and their owners all across London, and we know that our cause is close to the Duchess's heart. She especially enjoys meeting our service users face to face and spending time with our staff on the front line, as well as cuddling with the dogs and cats we have on-site!"
Since stepping back from royal duties this year, Meghan and Harry have been focusing on issues such as gender equity, racial justice and improving the digital world to make it kinder and fairer. They've also highlighted various people or organisations doing amazing things for their local community.
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