Meghan Markle gave Colombian vice president ‘a personal gift’ as she starts four-day quasi-royal tour in Bogotá with Prince Harry (and the politician expresses her admiration for Princess Diana!)
Meghan Markle greeted Colombia’s vice president with a gift as she and Harry landed in the country’s capital for the start of their four-day quasi-royal tour.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, was invited to the country by vice president Francia Márquez after the politician saw the couple’s two-part Netflix documentary.
As Megan and Harry, 39, greeted Ms Márquez and her partner, Rafael Yerney Pinillo, they gave them a personal gift.
Then the quartet shared a conversation, during which Ms Márquez is reported to have told the former senior royals that she admired Prince Harry‘s late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
According to Harper’s Bazaar, the four had tea and coffee at Ms Márquez’s residence, during which the politician said she believes she shares the same goals when it comes to creating a safer online world for children as the Sussexes.
Meghan and Harry have arrived in Colombia for their four-day visit – landing in capital city Bogota
After the meeting, Harry and Meghan were pictured smiling and walking hand-in-hand in Bogota.
Mother-of-two Meghan wore a navy blue £596 collared vest from New York-based brand Veronica Beard.
She teamed her sleeveless, buttoned garment with matching navy, ankle-grazing trousers from the designer, priced at £349.33.
The ensemble was paired with black Manolo Blahnik high heels and a cream $4,700 handbag from Italian company Loro Piana.
The couple have a busy schedule for the days ahead on the royal-in-all-but-name tour three months after their Nigeria visit – starting with a visit to local children’s school, the Colegio Cultura Popular, for a tour and meeting with its headteacher.
It is their second so-called quasi-royal engagement after a trip to Nigeria earlier this year.
Across the next four days, the Sussexes will take in the city of Bogotá before heading off to Cartagena and Cali as part of a ‘cultural and social’ visit.
Harry will also meet members of the Team Colombia squad participating in the Invictus Games, who are gearing up for the 2025 games in Whistler, Canada.
Meghan is pictured embracing the Colombian vice president Francia Márquez, who invited the Sussexes to the country after seeing their Netflix documentary
Officials have kept the itinerary a closely guarded secret as parts of the country are described as ‘best avoided’ due to ongoing internal conflicts.
Colombia, like Nigeria, is seen as a high risk destination in parts by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.
‘FCDO advises against all but essential travel to parts of Colombia,’ the government agency says, adding that many armed groups remain active in the country despite a 2016 peace deal between the government and revolutionary outfit FARC.
Marquez told reporters earlier today the purpose of the visit was to ‘build bridges and open doors’ in order to tackle the problem of cyberbullying and discrimination online, particularly for young people.
She is reported to have told Harry and Meghan that they share the same goals when it comes to safety and mental health on social media.
However, she did not disguise that the trip will serve as a way of showing Colombia on the global stage – leading to fears that the Sussexes are being manipulated to shore up the vice-president’s reputation following a number of scandals.
Colombian president Gustavo Petro has a 34 per cent approval rating among voters and he has sacked centrist figured in his cabinet who opposed his expensive healthcare and pension plans.
Prince Harry shakes hands with the VP as the Sussexes kick off their four-day trip to Colombia, arriving in the nation’s capital today
Marquez has been accused of using helicopters like taxis in order to shuttle herself back and forth from work. In the past, when asked why she used them so frequently, she is reported to have said she was the vice president, so ‘too bad.’
The VP says the visit has been on the cards for a year after she invited Meghan to the country a year ago on July 25, International Afro-descendant Women’s Day.
Ms Marquez said today: ‘We wanted to invite Meghan, an Afro-descendant woman, to participate in that meeting and share her experiences.
‘At that time we sent her a letter inviting her and she responded to us – the letter said that she couldn’t come but she was eager to visit and get to know our country.
‘Since then we have been working for a year to achieve this visit, which is so important and good.
According to reports, Ms Marquez, said she believes she shares the same goals when it comes to creating a safer online world for children as the Sussexes.
‘(As for) how I met Meghan and Harry, well, I met them in the media but above all I saw the series on Netflix about her life and her story and that moved me and motivated me to say: this is a woman who deserves to come to our country and tell her story.
‘Without a doubt it will be a strengthening for so many women in the world.’
She also said of the visit: ‘I also want to take advantage of the media, of national and international communication, to invite the world to visit our country.
‘Colombia is a country with enormous cultural wealth, with unique biodiversity and strong people who want to get ahead.
‘Colombia, the country of beauty, wants to be the best host and so it will be.’
For Ms Marquez, part of the reason for the trip may be that she sees Meghan as an ally in cyberbullying.
They were invited to the country by vice-president Francia Marquez (pictured), who was ‘moved’ by Meghan’s story as relayed in the Netflix documentary released in 2022
She is the first black vice-president of Colombia and last year a woman was convicted after making a racist rant in which she called Ms Marquez an ‘ape’.
The Associated Press reported the woman, Luz Fabiola Rubiano, said: ‘Francia Márquez is an ape … what education can Black people have, they steal, attack and kill.’ She pleaded guilty to the charges in April 2023.
Ms Marquez claims she was the victim of over 12,000 racist comments on social media last year.
She told the press conference: ‘I think I have told the story, the history of racism and racial discrimination from when I was a child, I’ve been aware of it since I was 13.
‘For women today that are involved in politics in the world, we are exposed to a level of violence on social networks that affects our wellbeing (and) our dignity.’
