Life

Prince Harry Just Revealed What Meghan Markle’s Job Will Be After She Joins The Royal Family

by Brittany Bennett
Chris Jackson/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

In the biggest reveal of Meghan Markle's upcoming duties as a member of the royal family yet, the future Mr. Markle, Prince Harry, announced on Apr. 16 that the future Duchess will be taking on a role within Britain's Commonwealth countries after the two of them exchange vows on May 19. So, what is Meghan Markle's Commonwealth role? According to Prince Harry during a speech at the Commonwealth Youth Forum on Monday, the soon-to-be British royal will join him as a Commonwealth Youth Ambassador.

Considering Markle has dedicated much of her life to charity work, this makes total sense — in fact, giving back is something that Prince Harry and Markle bonded over during their courtship, because it's mutually important to both of them. Prince Harry, fifth in line to the throne, spent 10 years serving in the British Army. Since, according to the home of the Royal family, "he has worked to bring wider public attention to the support that wounded, injured, and sick servicemen and women need through their entire rehabilitation process. That includes long-term support for each person and their family for both physical and mental injuries."

And now, he and Markle will help give a voice to the youth of the Commonwealth. Which I'm sure they'll both accomplish with humor and grace. Have you not seen all their joint public appearances? Their every move is genuine — remember when Meghan Markle broke royal protocol to dish out a hug to a young, aspiring actress, encouraging her to follow her dreams? That was a real boss-princess move proving that both Prince Harry and Markle couldn't be more perfect for this job together.

In their role as Commonwealth Youth Ambassadors — a title named by the Queen — Prince Harry and Markle will be supporting the youth across the Commonwealth. In case you're unfamiliar, the Commonwealth is an association of 53 independent states that are headed by the royal family. Of the 2.4 billion people who populate the Commonwealth, over 60 percent are under the age of 30, so to represent all those voices is no light duty.

In his speech, Prince Harry acknowledged that he, the Queen, his father the Prince of Wales, and his brother William know that "young people are the answer to the challenges of today." He continued to announce that he was "incredibly grateful" that Markle will be "joining me in this work." So, how does Markle feel about this? Prince Harry said that Markle is "hugely excited" before pausing and smiling, causing the entire world to partake in a collective swoon.

The job will include Markle and Prince Harry traveling to the Commonwealth countries together in order to hear the voices of the young people, and create connections between them and leaders in an effort to find solutions to social, economic and environmental issues. Prince Harry revealed, "My duty will be to ensure that your ideas, concerns, thoughts, and hopes are heard. And my commitment will be to work with you to build better platforms for your leadership, and to help you collaborate and form partnerships with your peers across nations."

Of course, I have no doubts Markle will shine in this role: She is, of course, no rookie when it comes to advocacy. And this is something Markle has been looking forward to. After their engagement, Markle shared with the BBC, "What’s been really exciting, as we talk about this as the transition out of my career... is that the causes that have been very important to me, I can focus even more energy on." Even along with her career as an actress, Markle was committed to using her voice to speak up. According to Harper's Bazaar, she's worked as a Global Ambassador for World Vision, supported the Myna Mahila Foundation, and was a counsellor at One Young World Summits in both 2014 and 2016.

To further add polish to her impressive humanitarian resume, Markle also gave eloquent speeches at the UN Women's Conference in Beijing in 2015. Needless to say, she's royally qualified for the job.