Princess Lilibet has “finally found her voice” at the age of three, the Duchess of Sussex has said.
Speaking on a panel at an Afro Women and Power event on the final day of the couple’s tour of Colombia, Meghan said she had tried to help her daughter find her voice and was “so proud” that she had achieved that.
She said: “So I think part of the role model that I certainly try to play as a mother is to encourage our daughter, who at three years old has found her voice.
She added: “We’re very proud of that because that’s how we create, as I said, the conditions where young girls and young women know that someone else is encouraging them to use their voice and to be heard.”
The Duchess, 43, also said men should help empower women like Prince Harry.
She said her role as a mother and parent was to make sure young girls feel their voices are heard and “also that young boys are raised to listen.”
“The same goes for adult women and men: this is not something that can be handled by women alone,” she added.
“Yes, we work incredibly well together as a team, but as my husband is a perfect example, the role of men in this, of empowering women, of letting them know that their voices are heard, from a young age through to adulthood, is essential.”
Meghan had previously said she found “inspiration from so many strong women around me. Of course, my mother is one of them.”
She also said she managed to relax during the couple’s four-day trip.
“You may have noticed that my husband and I were talking about this morning, I am really relaxed on this trip.”
She added: “It’s probably because it’s Colombia and you all know how to have fun.”
Meghan began her speech in Spanish and said she and Harry could “feel the embrace of Colombia.”
“I’m sorry if my Spanish is not perfect because I learned it 20 years ago in Argentina, but I try because here I can feel this community and this feeling that is the best in the world,” she said.
Meghan also thanked Vice President Francia Marquez, whom she called “my friend.”
Ms. Marquez’s remarks were briefly interrupted by a heckler who brought up the lack of inclusion of trans women.
Ahead of the discussion, the Duke and Duchess were seen in the front row applauding and nodding enthusiastically to the musical performances.
The couple were then expected to join 500,000 festival-goers on the final day of the Petronio Alvarez music festival, the country’s largest Afro-Colombian celebration.
Cali, along with Cartagena, are the two cities with the highest proportion of Colombians of African origin, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
On Saturday, Ms Marquez called the Duke and Duchess a “symbol of resistance” ahead of the final day of their quasi-royal tour.
They visited the Escuela Taller Tambores de Cabildo in the coastal city of Cartagena, where they participated in a percussion lesson and heard about the community’s efforts to preserve its heritage.
At the event, Ms Marquez thanked Prince Harry and Meghan for their visit to Colombia.
“We are grateful that they are both here because for me they are also a symbol of resistance, of rebellion,” she said.
She added: “We do not remain silent in the face of injustice and we raise our voices wherever we are.”
The country’s first black female vice president had earlier revealed that she was prompted to invite the couple after watching their six-part series on Netflix.
Harry and Meghan’s decision to travel to Colombia, for what has been dubbed a do-it-yourself royal tour, has raised eyebrows in light of Harry’s previous comments about security concerns in the UK.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs advises against travel to certain regions of the country.
The couple began their four-day trip in the capital Bogota, where Harry spoke about the dangers of the internet in comments that appeared to be a thinly veiled attack on Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X.
They also visited a school in the Santa Fe area.
On Saturday, the couple traveled to San Basilio de Palanque, a fortified town about 30 miles south of Cartagena that was founded by escaped slaves.
They visited what is considered the first free city in South America and is considered an important part of African heritage and resistance.
They were also treated to musical performances and a visit to the statue of Benkos Biohó, the founder of the city.
The trip was tightly controlled with limited press access and an intense security operation.
