Here are photos of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in Tembisa, South Africa. This is the last part of their African tour, and they have a full day of activities. These photos are from the start of the day, where they toured the Youth Employment Services (YES) Hub, which is all about providing jobs for young people (the Sussexes are Commonwealth Youth Ambassadors). After that, they went to Blossom Care Solutions, which makes compostable & affordable sanitary products – menstruation issues have always been something Meghan has cared about deeply.
Meghan wore yet another shirtdress, and because she hears us talking about her fashion choices, she chatted yesterday about how everything has been scheduled “around Archie’s feeding times. So it’s a full plate.” She’s wearing button-down dresses to accommodate breastfeeding and pumping. And to be fair, this dress was the best shirtdress of the tour! She looks so beautiful in creams and whites.
There’s been a lot of talk about how the Sussexes announced they were suing the Mail on Sunday DURING their tour, while they actually have a press pack following their every move. I think it’s smart? If they had waited to do it until after their tour, the framing of the story would have been much different. I get the feeling that they shocked all of the royal reporters on the tour with them, judging from the overwhelming silence from the reporters on Twitter. Plus, it’s great that the Sussexes dropped the lawsuit news and then… just got on with it, and continued to work. The fact that we have new photos of them just hours after the lawsuit announcement is actually quite brilliant strategically. The message from the Sussexes is: this is what we want to do, we want to do good work, and this group of racist a–holes keep smearing us for it.
Incidentally, the Mail on Sunday issued a statement saying that the paper “stands by the story it published and will be defending this case vigorously” and that they “categorically deny that the Duchess’s letter was edited in any way that changed its meaning.” Hm.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Getty.
She looked lovely and relaxed in that dress. I think I agree with posters who say the shirt dresses are due to her still breastfeeding. I got slammed for saying that on DM and was told she went away for a few days last month so it’s not true. I think she pumps.
Some people are ignorant about the mechanics of breastfeeding. Several mothers pump as well as nurse their babies. Breastfeeding mothers can leave their children for a couple of days. My sister went on a girl’s trip with her friends while her daughter was only a few months old. She just pumped enough milk to feed her baby. When she came back, the baby still latched on to her breasts.
Exactly. I left my 4 month old for a weekend while BFing (to attend a wedding), it was fine, he nursed until he was 15 months. (I’ll say that it was a pain bc I forgot some pump parts, so I had to use a manual pump the entire weekend, and that sucked, but even so, it was okay overall.)
Yes many mothers pump and breastfeed especially working moms! My son was actually hospitalized for 45 days when he was 9 months old. I ended up having to pump for 30 days while he was fed through tubes and we were able to re-establish breastfeeding after that time for another 1.5 years.
I work as an attorney and have breastfed 2 kids and pumped at work. Dresses and shirts with buttons and easy access were key to pumping especially as I was often in court and had to duck in a courthouse bathroom or my car for pumping (don’t get me started on the need for lactation rooms – that’s another story)
It never ceases to amaze me how many people think they can police breastfeeding (and womenxs breasts in general) when they don’t even really know how it all works. The huge majority of women who BF also pump. Not just working mothers (which most of us are nowadays) but also SAHM moms who want a night out once in awhile, or moms who need help with supply issues, etc.
I had to leave my 1st baby for 2 weeks when he was 5mos old (military training). He still hadn’t transitioned to food, so I was still exclusively BFing. I pumped in between feedings for months to build up a freezer supply for my absence. Then while I was gone I pumped every 4 hours wherever I could, in whatever uniform I was wearing, (it SUCKED) and froze it all. When I came home he had a bit of ‘nipple confusion’ but gradually figured it out, and BF’d until he was 18mos, when he self-weaned.
She looks so good in this!! Harry looks like….harry I guess. She is stunning I can’t wait to see the good that comes from her work
This “best” shirtdress looks like all the other shirtdresses! LOL I don’t have a problem with any of her looks on this trip. She is beautiful and looks great in all of them.
The Mail is banking on the subjectiveness of what the meaning was in that letter. But at the same time, they’re openly admitting to editing it down, so that’s not a great move. This is a play to get the public on their side, I suspect. Because regardless of what was adjusted and how that tied into the meaning, they STILL published something they don’t have the right to publish.
They had no choice but to admit the editing since the letter they showed in pictures on the website clearly had blurred and crossed out lines.. I hope it comes back to bite them.
I have a lot of questions about the lawsuit. This isn’t my field of practice and I am American so maybe I’m missing something. Is the crux of the issue that the DM published the letter OR is it that they published only portions of it?
Because I would think that the publication itself is “ok” because Thomas Markle gave it to them, right? He was the letter’s recipient. I would think he can do whatever he wants with the letter because it’s his. Now, if they had stolen the letter from the mailbox, then that’s different. But I would think the distinction that the recipient shared the letter is significant.
As for the selective publication of only portions of the letter… I can only presume that H&M kept a copy of the entire letter. How else would they be able to prove it had been edited.
@nola – there is a lot more commentary on this issue on the other post about the lawsuit, but basically Meghan still retained the copyright to the letter. The MoS shouldn’t have printed it bc Thomas had no right to sell it to them. I think UK law is different here from US law.
I mean, he would probably be fine showing people, or lending the letter to people because the physical letter is his. The problem really starts because the letter was published, and Meghan retains the copyright because she wrote the letter. So while his copy is physically his, the content of the letter remains Meghan’s.
Think of it this way. You can buy an art print from an artist. You own that physical print. You can gift it to someone, hang it up, burn it, whatever because it’s your physical property. But you wouldn’t then be allowed to take it, and start publishing new prints of it because the copyright remains with the artist.
The UK copyright law gives ownership of the content to the author of the letter, not the receiver, so whether Thomas gave/ sold or DM stole the letter, it’s neither here nor there. Daily Mail needed Meghan’s permission to publish it. The suit has 3 parts; Breach of Copyright, Breach of Privacy and Breach of Data Protection. So either way DM is screwed, but they are bluffing, to sell more papers.
She looks great in this dress (and look Kate, you CAN wear a slip underneath and live to Duchess another day!). Her makeup is perfection.
Personally not crazy about tassel fringe earrings (looks like they should be hanging on some drape ties or an ottoman, but that’s my taste. The coral color is pretty with Meg’s skin tone).
She’s got to work on Harry’s clothes next! Lol
I assume it might not be a slip, but a lining on the dress.
There are pics where the dress blows up and you see lace so I’m assuming it’s a slip.
Interesting, Enn. It seems a little sheer, so I assumed it was a lining in the dress.
This dress looks so good on Meghan due to the length of the dress.
So I own two tassel earrings and they have come from South Africa so I think that may be her silent tribute to the host country?
I like the white dress with the flowers that one of the other women is wearing. And oh to be a fly on the wall amidst the press pack this AM!
Chris Ship is on twitter saying it’s tense. Gosh, I wonder why! Imagine being slapped down after bullying someone for years… The audacity!
I love that dress, too! It’d look great on Meghan or Kate. Very fresh and spring/summery.
I love shirt dresses, so maybe that’s why in general I have loved so many of her looks this tour, since I like the dresses themselves?
But I do think this is one of her better looks this tour – the pop of color in the earrings, the dress itself etc. She looks happy too. And I’ll say that this is a great look for a working duchess – she looks classy and professional.
I love her entire look here, the tasseled earrings are the perfect, pop of color. The casual jewelry is perfect, and maybe is African made?
She has outsmarted her critics with her clothes on this trip. Personally I’ve loved most of her looks, even the unpopular khaki dress. Her casual looks have been perfectly suited to the work she showed up to accomplish.
I don’t know what the British tabloids would do without the royal family. I wish they would stop focusing on Meghan and turn their attention to Andrew because there is a real story there.
Of all of her dresses on the tour, this is my least favorite. Liked the other dresses much better. And I really like the fringey earrings, so cute! As for Harry, why is looking down like he stepped in something, lol! I’m glad everything worked so well for them on this tour. Go Sussexes!
A few months ago, I was at the gym at work (far from my house) and realized after I had already worked out and sweated my ass off that I had forgotten to bring my dress for work that day. I had to jet to Walmart to buy a dress. I picked up an olive colored shirt dress that has ended up being one of my go to outfits. Every time I think of it I think about Meghan. So now I might have to go buy a cream shirt dress.
The earrings are pretty popular at the moment here, she must’ve picked them up here? Like the dress, hate the shoes.
Weird that government is only acknowledging them on the last day of their tour. Can’t wait to see Dr. Tshepo- the woman’s my personal, personal inspiration.
And a little tidbit about SA that you have no absolute interest in: First ladies aren’t a thing. She’ll show up for some major events like SONA, she’ll probably be present when the president of Nigeria, Buhari (sp) visits but otherwise, Dr. Tshepo maintains her job as a doctor and does charity with her own office.
Thanks for sharing. My friend owns her own business and sells tassel earrings she imports from South Africa so I thought it was a SA thing. I have two of them.
@Royal Blue
I personally love tassel earrings, it would be cool to get some handmade ones from SA but unfortunately I won’t be traveling there any time soon. Does your friend have a website or an Ig account you could share? (With their permission of course), i’d love to see the collection they have.
I think she just loves shirt dresses and buttoned white shirts. She was wearing them long before Archie was born.
I, for one, have loved the shirt dresses. I think she looks casual but still professional and the silhouette compliments her new figure.
And like previously discussed, I think she’s trying to take the wind out of all the commentary about her ‘excessive’ wardrobe. She’s doing exactly what the press keep badgering her about and seeing what else they can throw at her – I think it’s another power play. Guess it’s working because The Daily Fail are now shrieking about the fact that H&M supposedly shipped Land Rovers in for this tour because they’re divas or whatever.
I read the piece about the range rovers and no doubt the fail is trying to stir the pot yet again – due to the environmental impact.
I wonder why they couldn’t use vehicles provided by the host countries as they did on the previous tour?
Trump never goes anywhere without his Chevy suburban- no matter where he travels that behemoth is flown in. 🤪
That’s for every president and really not the same thing.
Meghan and Harry aren’t heads of state.
I’m sure the cars were a call that their security team made and it had nothing to do with the Sussexes but that wouldn’t satisfy their rabid readership would it? 😉
I can’t over the fact that the Fail’s article generated over 4k comments. Do real people actually take the time to create a Fail account and comment on trash articles like this or do they use bots or is compensation provided?
One Sussex article I read in The Daily Fail about 9:00 am EST this morning had 8.7K comments.
I saw an article with over 13K comments. The rabid rabble were lining up to slam her.
Also here for the shirt dress love!! I too would like to have a shirt dress for every day of week, hell every month!
I think the shirt dress hate is getting a little old. She is clearly still struggling with her new body and it was super smart to pack dresses that leave some room for movement in all directions. I can imagine that her body actually still fluctuates a lot between feedings and with the hormonal chaos in general.
I’m not a fan of her in a belted shirtdress, honestly. I feel like it chops her up and gives her a chunky appearance.
Edited in any way *that changed its meaning*
that’s there the bullshit parsing will come in.
Assholes.
She looks great, and I love that they went to 2 organizations that do such good work.
She looks great and I love the pop of color with the earrings. That burnt orange color is so nice this time of year.
Piers Morgan was screeching on Twitter and in the Fail about the suit. The hit dog hollered. I think he and other RRs are afraid if MoS looses in court it opens the door for individual distorters to be sued. I still think the Fail is afraid Tom Sr is a liability now and he could expose a lot of DM and Morgan dirt.
Wouldn’t that be sweet! The trial should be interesting. Or perhaps the Fail will settle.
The Andrew thing is far from over too. Rose seems to have gone to ground. Wonder whether they are still carrying on!
It looks like a bathrobe, sorry, not feeling it.
Beautiful dress! I have loved all Duchess Meghan’s tour outfits, she has great style.
Agree completely, she has looked elegant but relaxed. How inappropriate it would have been for her to show up dressed in couture, clanking with expensive jewelry and blown out hair?! I applaud her choices!
What’s nice is how relaxed her dressing has been on this tour. Looks smart but not uptight, fussy, drowning in awful patterns.
She looks lovely in the dress. Would love an ID on her earrings.
Bravo to Blossom Care. I’ve purchased reusable pads, but these pads seem more affordable than those.
Harry got new shoes?!? I don’t remember seeing those before.
I love this dress on her. Actually looks really good. This is more her style than those awful khaki dresses. The fabric is very nice. Glad they dropped the lawsuit when they did because it left the press flat footed. They did some really great work on this tour. They knew this was going to drop from the get go. No wonder they looked so confident and so much energy.
Her hair. I’d die for hair like that. You go, Meghan!
I’ve liked most of her choices on this tour, but I don’t like this dress. The fabric is too flimsy, and you can see her slip through it. She also needed to button the last button because I have seen lots of photos of her walking where you can see the bottom of her slip. Not exactly scandalous, but I want her to be more polished than that. But the color looks amazing on her, she can rock a cream!
I like that the dress is from a South African designer. I’d been hoping for another local designer.
I could live without so many shirtdresses – buttons just lead to trouble! I think separates are easier for nursing myself, much less skin needs to be exposed and baby can nurse fast. I do like this one better than prior ones though – better length and color.
I think she picked smart choices because she’s still working through a postpartum figure (which is totally fine!!!) and a shirt dress with belted waist allows for adjustment for a varying waist. I’ve not been a fan of EVERYTHING she’s worn and some of the shirt dresses didn’t seem super well tailored but the white one is a win for me.
Dressing for breastfeeding convenience is so annoying! I can’t wear most of my clothing anymore. I’m giving her a huge pass now that I realize that is why she chose her current wardrobe!