The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have begun a two-day visit to Jordan by meeting refugees and humanitarian workers.
Meghan and Harry joined a discussion hosted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) with members of bodies including the UN and many of its agencies, diplomatic representatives and donors.
They spent time at a hospital in Amman and also visited a youth centre at the Zaatari refugee camp, which houses displaced Syrians near Mafraq, in the north of the country, taking part in a game of football and meeting young musicians.
Meghan looked emotional as she met a young man with shattered legs who was evacuated from Gaza to receive urgent care in Jordan. He had been shot while collecting food.
She told Jaber, 17, whose legs were held in place by a metal frame: “I’m so glad you’re getting the treatment that you need”, as he was assessed at the private Specialty Hospital in Amman.
The couple, who stepped down as working royals in 2020, travelled to Jordan at the invitation of the WHO’s director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
He welcomed the couple on the steps of the WHO’s office in the Jordanian capital Amman, kissing and hugging the duchess and embracing the duke.
During their two-day visit, the Sussexes are scheduled to meet Jordanian leaders and senior health officials, engage with WHO teams, visit front line health and mental health programmes and meet World Central Kitchen staff co-ordinating food relief for Gaza from Amman.
They visited the social development organisation Questscope’s youth centre to hear from young people involved in creative and well-being programmes.
Around the table were senior figures from UN agencies including UNWRA, UNHCR, the World Food Programme, Unicef, plus diplomats from countries including the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Canada the EU.
Philip Hall, British ambassador to Jordan, thanked the Sussexes for travelling to the Middle East: “Your visit, your support, your appreciation of the efforts that the United Nations, including of course, the World Health Organisation, the government of Jordan and others, are making here is enormously appreciated. So, thank you for coming.”
Jordan has around two-and-a-half million refugees, most recently Syrians who fled conflict in their country during the civil war and displaced people from the Israel’s war on Gaza, launched after the Hamas attacks in October 2023.
Mr Hall also told the assembled group about developments needed to resolve the issues faced by Palestinians: “And of course, the last point is just to say a lasting solution of this requires a regional peace.
“It requires, in particular, peace between Palestine and Israel and the two-state solution – that’s easily said, we all know it’s very hard to achieve, but we’re all working on that too.”
