It looks like the Californian sunshine is working wonders for Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan Markle, 39, as the pair appeared happy and relaxed when they sat down for an online chat with Pakistani activist and Nobel laureate, Malala Yousafzai, 23.
The couple, who moved to Santa Barbara in July spoke to the Oxford graduate to celebrate the International Day of the Girl, and also shared sweet details about their 18-month-old son, Archie.
“We were both there for Archie’s first steps, his first run, his first fall, everything,” Prince Harry told Yousafzai. “These are really special moments.”
And Duchess of Sussex added that the trio had been able to share "a lot of good family time" during the pandemic.
"It's just fantastic and in so many ways we are fortunate to have this time to watch him grow," said the former Suits star. "In the absence of Covid, we would be travelling and working more externally and we'd have missed a lot of those moments."
Coming together for girls’ education
The trio came together in aid of the Malala Fund, which the activist established to highlight the lack of access girls around the world have to education, and the devastating effect the pandemic could have on reducing it further.
Admitting that he was "hugely grateful" for his education, which included going to Eton college, Harry, said: "At the time, I certainly, probably wasn't as grateful, but looking back on it now, I'm very, very blessed with having such an amazing opportunity."
"Right now there are already 130 million girls out of school, but an additional 20 million more girls are at risk of dropping out of school because of this pandemic," Yousafzai told the pair.
“They’re at risk of never being able to return to their schools, because they are likely to be pushed into early child marriages, or they might become the breadwinners or financial supporters of their families.”
‘Raising Archie with educational substance’
Revealing that they have been spending their quarantine time on "a lot of Zoom calls", Harry told Yousafzai, "We have been working really, really hard. Because we completely understand and get how challenging this is for absolutely everyone. And I think the longer it goes on for, the more it's going to be felt, obviously, especially from a mental health aspect."
And the duchess, who has made female education and empowerment one of her main focuses, told Yousafzai" "When young girls have access to education, everyone wins and everyone succeeds. It just opens the door for societal success at the highest level."
Adding of their son, Archie, that they were raising him “in a way where everything about his nourishment is about educational substance and how you can learn and how you can grow.”
More information is available at www.malala.org
