Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, declared her life’s purpose is to defend the downtrodden and speak for the voiceless as she accepted the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Award on Tuesday night at a gala dinner in New York.
“It’s never too late to start,” Meghan declared before guests dining in the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Manhattan. “You can be the visionary of your own life… There is still so much work to be done.”
The former TV actress used her acceptance speech to close out the annual gala, part of the nation’s oldest women’s foundation celebration of its 50th anniversary.
The evening also launched the feminist foundation’s largest fundraising campaign ever — $100 million over the next 12 months — that will be used to further its self-defined mission of “advancing women’s collective power.”
With her mother, Doria Ragland, in the audience alongside her husband Prince Harry, Meghan recounted how Ms. Magazine was always in their house and how it affected her world view:
I am a woman who remains inspired and driven by this organization.
It allowed me to recognize that part of my greater value and purpose in life was to advocate for those who felt unheard, to stand up to injustice, and to not be afraid of saying what is true and what is just and what is right.
The Montecito, California, resident also thanked feminist writer and pioneer Gloria Steinem, who presented her with the award, for “[being] the inspiration that you are, for your mentorship, your sage advice, your extraordinarily cheeky sense of humour and, of course, for your incredible friendship.”
AP reports that although the event was her first public appearance since she skipped the coronation of her father-in-law King Charles III earlier this month in order to stay at home in California for her son Archie’s fourth birthday, she made no mention of the ceremony.