There isn’t really any way to properly prepare for a trip with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
Over the last 10 years of my career, particularly the last five at Harper’s Bazaar, I’ve found myself in all sorts of high-pressure celebrity scenarios. Profiling Bad Bunny? Yep. Covering Beyoncé’s top-secret concert in Dubai? You got it. Interviewing Oscar-winners like Penélope Cruz? Check. Something I often tell myself once drafts are filed and stories go live is, “Well, it can’t get much bigger than that”—but somehow, it still always does. Being on the ground with Prince Harry and Meghan in Colombia for their tour with the Archewell Foundation, however, was easily one of the most eye-opening moments of my career.
The trip felt especially kismet to me because my earliest introduction to Harper’s Bazaar was my mother’s cherished Princess Diana commemorative issue, which she kept displayed in our home. Now, decades later, I found myself charting through Colombia with Diana’s son and his wife. Watching the warmth and compassion with which they approached meeting hundreds of strangers, and then witnessing the way these events were discussed online, made me understand the vertigo that comes with simply existing at Harry and Meghan’s level of fame. Those four days in Colombia weren’t about the pomp and circumstance of celebrity, however; for the Sussexes, everything they do and everywhere they go always circles back to their mission of “showing up and doing good”.
The Sussexes’ visit came courtesy of an official invitation from Vice President Francia Elena Márquez of Colombia, and followed two other trips they made this year, to Nigeria and Canada. Since Harry and Meghan stepped back from being senior working members of the royal family in 2020 and launched the Archewell Foundation in 2021, they’ve been able to focus on the issues most important to them, from speaking out about mental health to helping orchestrate crucial funding toward Covid-19 vaccine research at the height of the pandemic. But at the crux of their advocacy work is the goal of building a better, safer digital world for the generations to come, inspired by their own experience with media mistreatment and digital misinformation.
There’s no doubt that challenging the dehumanising effect of the internet is a lofty goal, especially when the youngest generation is a group that was essentially born with the digital space at their fingertips. But if witnessing the duke and duchess meeting with students, teachers, parents and community leaders on the ground in Colombia showed me anything, it’s that a healthier future for our children — one with less bullying, less toxicity, and less encouragement to troll and react — is possible, simply because it’s what today’s children ultimately want for themselves.
In classrooms across Colombia, Prince Harry and Meghan sat down and listened — and I mean really listened — to what Colombian youth had to say about their evolving relationships with social media and how it affects their daily lives. To me, the Sussexes soar when working with today’s youth; it’s an interaction that once again brings the late Princess Diana front of mind when looking back at her public interactions with youth and AIDS patients decades ago. Maybe becoming parents themselves has helped Harry and Meghan form a more organic connection with children and teens. Whatever it is, their ability to get young people to open up about their lives and goals is commendable. Children were ecstatic to see the couple walking the hallways of their schools, and the Sussexes were quick to pause for each and every hug, hand hold, or selfie request.
The Sussexes’ tour of Colombia was also about shining a light on some of Latin America’s most overlooked communities. As someone who has covered the intersection of AfroLatinidad and culture since the very beginning of my career, at times it was overwhelming to witness the joy that radiated from local children and elders alike at being chosen to share a piece of their world with the duke and duchess. Even in 2024, the mainstream media’s portrayal of Colombians is inherently white (just look at the country’s biggest entertainment exports), but the country’s African and indigenous traditions are rooted in every aspect of its art, music and literature. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t moved by witnessing communities come together to showcase a traditional drum circle, or by chatting with young local dancers in Cali ahead of their performance. Colombians — like so many Latin Americans — manage to find resilience by maintaining their joy, and it’s something we all could learn from.
Meghan even mentioned it herself during a panel conversation for the Afro-Descendant Women and Power: Voices of Equity Summit, which celebrated Afro-Colombian women and leaders. Describing this era of her life as her “chapter of joy,” she said: “The more you are able to look at your life and really, truly recognise and be able to be grateful for your life … you have to be grateful for all aspects of it. My intentionality is to enjoy this chapter and be able to love through every piece of this as best we can.”
I needed that positivity during my time covering the Sussexes, since any sort of association with the couple — even just being a pool reporter sharing basic details and facts about their day-to-day events — means opening yourself up to unwarranted critique from, well, the world. Within hours of the announcement I would be accompanying them on tour, I was called a grifter, a mouthpiece, and a calculated piece of their PR puzzle, among other things — and that was before I even sent out a single pool report. UK reporters specifically were baffled about my being there; I was described as having “no news background,” my entire career discredited because of what I can only assume is the fact that I’m not white and not British. There was no mention of my years-long dedication to uplifting Latino art and culture. Because the Colombian tour was planned to the minute, with essentially zero drama for tabloids to pick up on and sensationalise, I was the next easiest target. It all felt eerily familiar.
The writer alongside local youth in Cali, Colombia, who performed for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
Let me be clear, though: I’m not trying to put forth a woe-is-me narrative or garner sympathy. It’s simply that the experience gave me a deeper appreciation for Archewell’s core mission of building a more fair and equitable digital world, one where we don’t thrive on punching someone’s self-esteem to a pulp. I’m a 30-year-old woman who can recognise right from wrong and know when to log off for the sake of my mental health; our youth don’t all necessarily carry that same strength. It’s up to us — adults, leaders, and yes, even the Duke and Duchess of Sussex — to do our part in minimising online hostility as much as we can.
If anything, what struck me most as a witness to the Sussexes’ operation was the intentionality they bring to the way they use their platform. Regardless of public opinion, the duke and duchess are committed to continuing acts of service. It’s not a requirement for them (after all, plenty of celebrities don’t see service as part of their role), instead, it’s a calling. That acute attention to detail — in the way they marshall their fame, the way they move about the world, and the way they choose whom to collaborate with — is what will help them make the most impact in the future.