The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are in Brussels today for the latest opening of the Lost Screen Memorial, this time at European Parliament. They announced this trip last week, days before Thomas Markle was arrested but after the story broke about Markle’s possession of child abuse images. Still, I would imagine the Brussels trip had been planned for weeks, if not months. The realities of Markle’s arrest and the charges against him have taken a real toll on Meghan though. On Monday, the day before the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial, Team Sussex confirmed that while Meghan would still attend the opening, she would no longer give a keynote speech alongside her husband.

The Duchess of Sussex was expected to introduce her husband and was thought likely to refer to the need to support all vulnerable children. The Duchess of Sussex will no longer deliver a planned speech on Tuesday about online child safety as she is “not strong enough” after her father’s arrest.

The Duchess and the Duke had been due to deliver the keynote address at the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial at the European Parliament in Brussels. The Duchess was expected to introduce her husband and was thought likely to refer to the need to support all vulnerable children. The comment would probably have been interpreted as a thinly veiled response to allegations made against her father, Thomas Markle, 82.

But following his arrest by the FBI on Friday and his subsequent appearance in a Florida court charged with the possession of child abuse images, the Duchess has decided not to speak at the event.

“She’s just not strong enough, emotionally, to be doing any public speaking right now,” a source told The Telegraph.

The Duke will deliver his speech as planned and is said to hope his words will be understood in the context of the arrest of his father-in-law, whom he has never met. He will be accompanied by the Duchess, in her first public appearance since the allegations about her father surfaced last month.

After the Duke’s speech, the couple will walk through the Lost Screen Memorial, an art installation honouring children who have died after being subjected to harm online, before the Duke will take part in a panel discussion. The memorial depicts 50 phones, each with a lock-screen with a picture of a child who died after being exposed to the harmful side of social media.

[From The Telegraph]

I think it’s totally understandable that Meghan would feel too emotional and like her world has flipped upside down. It’s also understandable if Meghan was stepping back because she didn’t want her speech and presence to be a distraction to a cause she and Harry care about deeply. Because that would absolutely happen. I’m not saying I agree with that, but that’s how it would be reported and written about. They would center Meghan and “her first appearance since her father’s arrest,” and people would jump down her throat regardless of what she said. The people who gave Thomas Markle thousands of dollars to publicly disparage Meghan for years are now the same people screaming 24-7 about how Thomas’s depravity is entirely Meghan’s fault. It’s really sick, twisted stuff in all directions.

I’m including some pics from Brussels today, and we’ll have more coverage in other posts. Meghan looked beautiful, but also stressed, somber and sad. The past month has been hellish.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.