Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been keeping a low profile since they moved to Los Angeles from Canada in late March, days before the border was closed. The move coincided with a couple of other major events: the global health crisis we’re all living through and the couple leaving their senior royal roles.
Since they’ve been living in Los Angeles, we haven’t heard much about the couple, until now. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, the couple has been secretly delivering meals to L.A. residents in need.
Meghan and Prince Harry have been volunteering with a nonprofit that delivers meals to chronically ill people.
CNN reports the couple volunteered with Project Angel Food, a Los Angeles nonprofit that prepares and delivers medically planned meals to chronically ill people.
The outlet spoke with Project Angel Food CEO Richard Ayoub who explained that Duke and Duchess of Sussex put on gloves and N95 masks to deliver a week’s worth of perishable meals and three weeks’ worth of shelf-stable foods to 20 of the charity’s clients last week.
The health crisis has increased demand for the charity’s services and Meghan and Harry stepped up to help.
Project Angel Food typically services clients who are too sick to leave their homes and purchase food. The demand for the service has exploded during the coronavirus pandemic. The volume of calls to the nonprofit has increased by 70 a day which has overwhelmed delivery drivers.
Meghan and Harry have volunteered twice, including once on Easter Sunday. One client told Ayoub that they didn’t realize who the couple was until the Duke and Duchess had left their home.
“They were dressed so casually, that’s not how you expect to see them,” Ayoub said. “You don’t expect to see them at your door.”
Delivering food isn’t the only charity the couple has been involved with since leaving their royal duties behind.
After leaving behind Sussex Royal, their ‘brand’ associated with the royal family, Meghan and Harry decided to launch a new organization. The couple told The Telegraph that their new endeavor is named Archewell. They hope to “do something of meaning, to do something that matters.”
The couple’s 11-month-old son, Archie Harrison‘s name clearly played a role in choosing the name for their nonprofit organization.
“Before SussexRoyal, came the idea of ‘Arche’—the Greek word meaning ‘source of action’. We connected to this concept for the charitable organisation we hoped to build one day, and it became the inspiration for our son’s name,” Meghan and Harry explained. “Archewell is a name that combines an ancient word for strength and action, and another that evokes the deep resources we each must draw upon.”
Although Archewell has been announced, Meghan and Harry have are not planning on launching just yet.
The couple understands that the circumstances need to be right before launching Archewell. They do not wish to draw attention away from relief efforts already underway.
“We look forward to launching Archewell when the time is right,” the explained.
In fact, Archewell leaked. The couple had not even planned on announcing their plans, but The Telegraph got their hands on paperwork the couple had filed which detailed the nonprofit’s plans for a big online presence to include, “education and training materials” in the form of films, podcasts, and books.
“Like you, our focus is on supporting efforts to tackle the global [situation], but faced with this information coming to light, we felt compelled to share the story of how this came to be,” they commented.
While plans for Archewell are on hold, Prince Harry has opened up about ‘family time’ with Archie during isolation.
When Prince Harry isn’t delivering food to those in need or working on Archewell, he’s spending quality time with his son Archie as they’re hunkered down in their L.A. home. Harry recently spoke with representatives from one of his longstanding charities, WellChild, which provides care for seriously ill children.
“There’s a hell of a lot of positives that are happening at the same time and being able to have family time, so much family time, that you almost think, ‘Do I feel guilty for having so much family time?'” he shared. “You’ve got to celebrate those moments where you are just on the floor rolling around in hysterics. Inevitably, half an hour later, maybe a day later, there’s going to be something that you have to deal with and there’s no way you can run away from it.”
Harry went on to praise the families for their “grace” under the added pressure.
Harry has been involved with WellChild for well over a decade and he seemed genuinely excited to see old friends saying, “It’s very nice to see the familiar faces on here.” He went on to praise the families, calling them “super-parents” for their grace under such pressure.
“The resilience and the strength that you guys have is absolutely incredible,” he added. “You must never, ever, ever, ever forget that. Of course, there are going to be hard days – I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it is for you guys.”
“Having one kid at 11 months old is enough!” he adds, referring to Archie who will celebrate his first birthday in May.
Harry had a message to deliver before ending the call with WellChild.
As the 30-minute-long video call came to a close, Harry had a message to share: “It is really nice to see you all smiling and happy. Keep going, keep the morale up, keep busy, keep being creative, dare yourself to try new hobbies and I hope to see you all again very, very soon!”
We were happy to hear that Harry is cherishing time with his son, but a friend of the prince believes he’s having a hard time.
Prince Harry’s friend, Dr. Jane Goodall paints a different picture of how the prince is faring at the moment.
Famed conservationist and friend, Dr. Jane Goodall shared that Prince Harry is finding life “a bit challenging” after relocating to the United States.
She spoke with Radio Times and The Guardian reports that she said, “I don’t know how his career is going to map out, but yes, I’ve been in touch, though I think he’s finding life a bit challenging just now.”
RELATED: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Make Shocking Decision to Relocate from Canada to Los Angeles
Harry revealed to Goodall last year that he was thinking of leaving his royal duties behind.
Goodall visited with Harry and Meghan last summer at Frogmore cottage. While the conservationist was there for a Roots & Shoots Global Leadership Meeting, she also did get to spend private time with the couple. They revealed that they were thinking of stepping down from their royal duties to her.
As Goodall played with Archie, she made the baby “do the queens wave.”
“I suppose he’ll have to learn this,” Goodall recalled saying at the time, noting that Harry’s response was clear on the topic. “Harry said, ‘No, he’s not growing up like that.'”
While it does seem that Goodall is close to Harry, we hope she’s only referring to life under the new stay at home guidelines and not to his decision to leave behind his royal duties as a whole. We suspect getting involved with Project Angel Food helped. Harry should take his own advice: “Keep going, keep the morale up, keep busy, keep being creative, dare yourself to try new hobbies and I hope to see you all again very, very soon!”