Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan made their first appearance of the year when they dropped in to a free online poetry class on the weekend – totally shocking the teenagers in the seminar, who had no idea they were going to be joined by the royal couple!
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex joined a session run by Get Lit – Words Ignite! in honour of Black History Month. A screencap shared on Instagram by the organization on Instagram features many of the participants covering their mouths in disbelief, staring at the screen as if their eyes are deceiving them and generally unable to believe what's going on.
"It was the best weekend EVER!" Get Lit wrote in the caption. "Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, were magic and kind and interested in poetry!"
Meghan shared some of her favourite poems and lines, according to the post, and Mason Granger and Sheila, the teachers who regularly lead the class, couldn't say enough nice things about the royal couple.
"My favourite part of it all was Meghan echoing so many sentiments we've talked about in class, about this particular moment in time/history to be a long person and the ripple effect of a single voice," Mason wrote on Instagram.
"It was pretty surreal," he continued. "My kids shared poems, they asked questions, the kids answered and asked questions back, they responded authentically (they actually read and learned the kids' bios I'd sent earlier)... 10/10 would recommend The Duke and Duchess of Sussex for your next Zoom poetry practice."
Get Lit is a great organization that we're not surprised to hear the Sussexes support. Its website says it uses "poetry to increase literacy, empower youth and inspire communities." It was founded by Diane Luby Lane in 2006, and its programs are now in 100 schools across the United States.
Meghan has written about her love of poetry before, sharing one of her favourite works, Matt Haig's "A Note from the Beach," when she guest edited British Vogue in 2019.
This isn't the first time Meghan has spoken to a high school class in the last year. In June 2020, she gave a commencement speech to the graduating class at Los Angeles' Immaculate Heart High School, which she attended as a teenager. She spoke about the Black Lives Matter protests going on following the death of George Floyd earlier that year, and encouraged the new grads to do their best to change the world.
Meghan at Robert Clack Upper School in Dagenham, London in March 2020. Photo: © Ben Stansall-WPA Pool/Getty Images
In March 2020, the Duchess of Sussex made a surprise appearance at Robert Clack Upper School in Dagenham, East London, for International Women's Day. In a speech, she told the boys in the room to "protect" and "make sure" the women in their lives were "feeling valued and safe."