Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Doria Ragland were spotted in a taxi in New York last night after leaving the glitzy gala where the Duchess accepted an award.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex reportedly got into an SUV after the ceremony at the Ziegfeld Ballroom before getting out and getting into the yellow cab.
Photographers spotted the royal duo traveling in the back of the car with Meghan’s mother on the occasion of the Ms Foundation for Women’s 50th anniversary event.
Harry sat between Meghan and Ms. Ragland, while a member of their security team spoke into a microphone in the front next to the driver.
The Sussexes’ departure came after attending their first public event since Meghan’s absence from King Charles III’s coronation in London on May 6.
Prince Harry in the back of a New York taxi after the Ms Foundation for Women’s gala last night
Meghan is spotted in the back of a cab after New York’s 50th anniversary gala last night
Meghan, pictured in a taxi, was presented with an award at the ceremony in Manhattan yesterday
The couple was joined by Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, in the back of the taxi
The Duchess is caught between Doria Ragland and Prince Harry after receiving the award last night
Meghan wore a strapless gold midi dress with scalloped pattern details to last night’s event
The ceremony honored “pioneering” grantee partners and visionary leaders committed to the organization’s mission of “advancing collective power and creating a safe, just and equitable future for women, girls and gender-expansive people.”
The Duchess received the Women of Vision Award from the Ms Foundation, which recognizes her “global advocacy to empower and advocate for women and girls.”
She wore a strapless gold midi dress with scalloped pattern details.
Meghan received the award from renowned journalist and feminist activist Gloria Steinem.
Her acceptance speech concluded the gala where she said, “It’s just never too late to start.”
“You can be the visionary of your own life. You can chart a path in which what you repeat in your daily service, in kindness, in advocacy, in grace, and in honesty, become those things that will be recognized by the next wave of women, both young and old, who will also presently choose to join the movement and make our vision for a just world a reality.”
Looking at Ms. Steinem, who introduced her alongside the foundation’s current director, Teresa Younger, Meghan also said, “I am a woman who continues to be inspired and driven by this organization.
“It enabled me to recognize that part of my greater worth and purpose in life was to advocate for those who felt unheard, to stand up against injustice and not be afraid to say what is true and what is just and what is right. ‘
The Duchess’ comments on the service were noteworthy, as her brother-in-law Prince William paid tribute to Charles’ “service” at the coronation concert at Windsor Castle on May 7.
William had said, ‘Even though parties are great, the core of the pomp and circumstance is a simple message. Employ. My father’s first words when he entered Westminster Abbey yesterday were a promise of service. It was a promise to keep serving.”
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Awards last night
Meghan arrives in a $1,850 strapless gold dress with scalloped pattern details
Meghan, 41, also posed for a solo shot before entering the awards ceremony
The Sussexes were joined by Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, for the event last night
And on May 8, at the end of the bank holiday weekend, Charles issued a message urging that he and Queen Camilla “rededicate our lives to serving the people of the United Kingdom, the wealthy and the Commonwealth.”
Queen Elizabeth II famously said on her 21st birthday in a speech broadcast from South Africa in 1947: “I declare before you that my whole life, be it long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service to our great imperial family to which we all belong.’
Meghan’s words were also remembered when she and Harry made a statement in February 2021 after Buckingham Palace confirmed they would step down as working royals, saying, “We can all live a life of service.” Service is universal.’
The Duchess’s relaunch — dubbed “Meghan 2.0” — has already seen her speaking about mental health to youth in Santa Barbara and dining with Hollywood stars including Cameron Diaz and Gwyneth Paltrow over the past week.
Yesterday’s event is the first public event Harry and Meghan have attended together since the Duke went solo to the King’s coronation earlier this month.
Meghan had chosen to stay at their American home in Montecito, California with their two children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Last year, the couple received the NAACP President’s Award and the Robert F Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award, in a ceremony also held in New York.