Meghan Markle and Prince Harry know that there’s a lot of excitement around their wedding. They know that people will probably want to buy them gifts. I hear Meghan already has a blender, so there’s no need to put that on her registry! Anyway, Meghan and Harry are fine. They have all that they need, and if they need anything else, the Queen or Prince Charles will buy it for them. So in lieu of gifts, Meghan and Harry have released a list of charities and organizations which you should donate to instead.
Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle are incredibly grateful for the goodwill shown to them since the announcement of their engagement and are keen that as many people as possible benefit from this generosity of spirit. The couple have therefore asked that anyone who might wish to mark the occasion considers making a donation to charity, rather than sending a wedding gift.
Prince Harry and Ms. Markle have personally selected seven organisations they would like to support, reflecting their shared values.
Prince Harry and Ms. Markle do not have any formal relationships with the charities chosen. The couple have chosen charities which represent a range of issues that they are passionate about, including sport for social change, women’s empowerment, conservation, the environment, homelessness, HIV and the Armed Forces. Many of these are small charities, and the couple are pleased to be able to amplify and shine a light on their work.
The charities chosen by Prince Harry and Ms. Markle are:
CHIVA (Children’s HIV Association)
Crisis
Myna Mahila Foundation
Scotty’s Little Soldiers
StreetGames
Surfers Against Sewage
The Wilderness Foundation UK
If you go to Royal.uk or the Kensington Palace Twitter account, you can see much more about these chosen charities and why Harry and Meghan chose them in particular. The Myna Mahila Foundation in particular is close to Meghan – she visited the foundation’s work in India, and it involves menstruation education and supplying personal hygiene products to school-age girls.
And in case you were wondering, yes, William and Kate did something similar and on a similar timeline too – more than a month before their wedding, Will and Kate asked for people to donate to charity in lieu of sending them gifts. They even created a massive charity list which is bigger than Harry and Meg’s list.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Surfers Against Sewage! Yayyy!!! I’m (sort of) involved with that one. Huzzah, thanks for shining a light on our efforts, Meg and Harry.
Awesome! Fingers crossed it gets some great support. Also, the publicity will be great too.
I now feel guilty I didn’t do this when I got married! I guess the Queen & Prince Charles don’t give me stuff when I ask for it though.
Yeah, beach cleanups, pushing the government to have stronger environmental policies, e.g. bottle recycling/collection, etc. I’m sad to see us leaving the EU, because I don’t trust this government’s environmental bonafides at all.
Surfers Against Sewage is one of Andrew Ridgeley’s (formerly of WHAM!) charities…wonder what the tie is for Harry and/or Meghan.
Wish more people who have what they need (includes baby showers) ask that charitable donations be given. My grandson, who turned 19 this year, asked that donations to the American Foundation to Prevent Suicides be given in lieu of gifts. He was going into the Navy and could not take anything with him. Knowing he would get gifts anyway he went the route of donating to a charity.
Your grandson sounds like an outstanding young man, you must be very proud of him!!
I think all rich couples should do this
My sister did this, she’s not rich but comfortable financially. Her and her then fiancé lived together, so had everything they needed.
Love this, your sister sounds like a giving person
You don’t have to be rich. I heard of someone who had a first birthday party for their kid and asked for no presents but a donation to charity instead. Great idea. It stops you getting lumbered with the type of toys and presents you would normally never choose to give your child.
I remember getting two baby walker’s for my daughter as gifts, which I did not use because I don’t like them, and they were made in China without any child safety mark.
I just did this for my one-year-old’s birthday party invitations! We suggested that friends and family donate to their favourite baby- or child-centred charity, and then listed two that we support as a family. Fingers crossed it does some good!
When will we know the schedule to watch the wedding on TV/stream it? I tried Googling it for William and Kate to figure out a timeline but that was useless because everything I got was about Harry and Meghan’s being televised.
We don’t know how much money the Queen and Prince Charles are spending on the wedding, just figures pulled out of the air.
A tabloid is throwing figures out for the dress, but don’t know who is designing it, so where did they get the cost of the dress from. Come on, think a little.
The wedding is at Windsor, the security cost they’re throwing around are ridiculous, the FA Cup is on the same day, so they’re saying all the security will be in Windsor at noon and none for the biggest sporting event, at Wembley Stadium a few hours later.
That’s not what she asked. That’s a odd and irrelevant reply to this thread/article whatever it’s called.
@Whatever, maybe @Peg was responding to @Skylark and just hit the wrong “reply”. Don’t be to haste to judge; and judge harshly you do my friend!
Those security numbers aren’t ridiculous at all. The actual wedding will probably only cost a few million, but the bigger cost will always be security. Doesn’t matter if the wedding is being held in Windsor, there will still be a huge amount of security from the armed forces and police.
@Peg – please don’t ask people to ‘think a little’ when it comes to the costs surrounding this wedding, as if only you are aware of tabloid speculation/exaggeration.
I don’t care what the Windsor input is but I do care about the elements which the taxpayer will be picking up, costs which to date the Windsors have failed to clarify:
https://www.republic.org.uk/what-we-do/news-and-updates/%C2%A324m-wedding-bill-must-be-paid-royals-say-campaigners
This wedding is a private event and should not be troubling the public purse.
PS. This is not about Meghan, this is about the royal family and the continued indulgence of their quite outrageous entitlement.
Well, good, I suppose, re the list (and it does seem a thoughtful one) although there’s still a disconcerting if not actually disturbing disconnect between this gesture and the ridiculous amount of money they’re (and we’re) spending on their wedding.
I’m most pleased to see Crisis on their list. Never has this amazing organisation been more in need of every bit of support it can get.
William and Kate had a public registry of charities and a private registry with expensive things. Uncle Gary outed it by talking about what he bought. Meghan and Harry probably have the same.
I’d like to imagine that Harry and Meghan are more self-aware, but that’s just my preference for Harry and Meghan talking and you’re probably right.
Well I hope they have a private registry they will need it especially if they eventually move into Princess Diana’s apartment. Harry and Meghan will be entertaining on a large scale for a long time and will need linen, glassware, dinner services, etc etc. I am sure that Meghan will get some jewellery too. They will also get their ‘hice in the country’ which will need to be furnished, a huge expense. This young couple need stuff, especially when they move out of Not Cott.
They have plenty money and they are not even remotely ‘young’.
Agree, ABC. I hope they don’t have a private registry. Also, I’d hate to hear later about lavish gifts some questionable heads of state of other countries might give them. Let all the money people are willing to spend go to charity. PH should have enough money of his own to cover entertainment and decorating expenses. Also, I’m guessing there are enough household items (including furniture, art, etc.) in storage somewhere to get the couple started. Between TQ and PC, I don’t think they’ll want for much.
I absolutely hate recieving gifts, more of than not real thought hasn’t gone behind it or tastes differ or its a regift or its just filler. Like you can check off oh I brought a gift. Most people are cheap with gifts.
I did this for our wedding because frankly I didn’t want 10 blenders or 15 serving platters.
We chose 2 charities ( grassroot ones) and asked our guests to donate as they wished.
I also hate surprises.
I LOLed at “they are KEEN”, geez big eye roll ?at the misuse of that word keen by KP.😩😩
I’m so glad they’re making homelessness one of their passions. Children living with HIV, Animal conservation and Men, woman and children of the armed forces are all already established as areas prince Harry is passionate about, ditto women’s empowerment being Meghan ‘.
I have a good feeling about this couple.
They seem to be more aware than most people I know.
I wish them the best.
When we got married, we had nothing, only our education.
But we didn’t want any gifts, we had no wedding registry and we purchased things we needed as we went.
We asked for people to donate to charities instead.
Luckily neither of us are greedy, consumer types and that certainly helped us very much in life.
We live by : collect memories, not stuff.
Love her outfit.
When my cousin got married she asked me to organize a system for the guests to donate to some of the local animal welfare groups I volunteer at. I talked to 4 organizations and tried to make it easy for people by including a wish list for items from 2 local animal shelters, a list of gift cards for local pet stores that can be given out to no income and low income pet owners who bring their animals to a no cost vet clinic that happens twice a month, and information how to donate money directly to one organization in the bride and groom’s names ( this organization was amazing about keeping track of everything to pass on to the bride for her thank you cards and sent thank you cards on their own as well). I set up a gift table with literature from all of the organizations for the adults and cute pictures of cats, dogs and critters; sticker books; coloring books; small animal related puzzles and little stuffed animals, etc that the kids at the wedding could play with at the reception and then take home. I think people enjoyed donating to charities and my cousin was thrilled to bring their gifts to the two shelters and the free vet clinic.
Kate’s and Williams was actually different. For them they asked to donate it to a fund and then it was donated.HM are asking for people to donate directly to the charity and cutting out the middle man. And any costs that would have been deducted by setting up a fund.
I actually love that prince Harry and Meghan are leaving the option to whatever charity one wants to donate to to the donor. I might not necessarily feel passionate about animal conservation but actually just want to donate to Crisis, the homelessness charity. With prince William and & Kate “pool of charities” option, donor’s money went where ever, but with prince Harry and Meg, the donor specifically donate to their charity of choice, I like that.
I love the charities they picked. They clearly put a lot of thought into who they picked and it support causes that they both care very deeply for. They touched women’s issues (the charity is one Meghan went to in India), homeless, vets, HIV/AIDs, Youth, and the environment. This couple is very aware of things and the global community and I look forward to them tackling these issues in the future.
I see a lot of potential with them.
They also need to kill the word keen. Eliminate it completely from any and all press releases.
I do like that they picked groups that may not have gotten a lot of attention up to now. I liked that when William and Kate did it too.
Patrick J Adams (Mike Ross on Suits) has a wicked 😆 sense of humour. When asked if he had his invite and what gift he was going to give Meghan, he didn’t say anything about the invite but said with a straight face that he was definitely going to get her a Vitamix blender……😂.
The Vitamix blender thing will follow Meghan around for the rest of her life.
No, but roasted chicken will!!
Has anybody else noticed that both Harry and Meghan have the exact same shape of nose? Hers is smaller, of course, but even in profile they look the same. A weird thing to notice I guess, but that’s me.
I have noticed it, well any kids they have may have that distinction.
Did you see her nose before she had it tweaked, will see how her kids noses turn out!!!