Megan Markle Greets Mourners, Stops To Embrace Teen

Video footage taken at Windsor Castle shows the Duchess of Sussex greeting mourners and taking time to speak with and warmly embrace a teenage girl who wanted to pay her respects to Queen Elizabeth II and “show [Meghan] she’s welcome here… after everything that’s happened [with the royal family].”

In the video, Meghan graciously walks toward the crowd, approaches a young woman, greets her, and asks her name. The teen tells her that her name is Amelka, to which Meghan responds “Amelka? Oh, how beautiful.” The Duchess continues, “Thank you for being here; it means so much to the family. We appreciate it,” with an expression of genuine gratitude. She then asks Amelka how long she’s been waiting, when the young lady replies that it had been about two hours, Meghan thanks her again on behalf of the family again.

Amelka quietly asks Meghan, “Can I hug you?,” to which the Duchess responds “Of course!” The two shared a tight embrace that was reminiscent of Princess Diana interacting with the public.

The teen later said in an interview, “It was just quite an amazing moment; I’m still shaking now. I can’t really explain what the feeling was when she did it, but it was really nice.” When asked why she wanted to hug the Duchess, Amelka said, “I guess I just felt like I needed to in a way, like I really wanted to just at least hug her because I look up to her in some ways and it just felt like it was the right thing to do.”

Meghan may have a rocky relationship with the royal family and the UK media, but there’s no doubt that a great many people admire her and want her to know that, like Diana, she’s a princess of the people.