Meghan Markle puts on a stunning display in a $2,000 silky ensemble as she takes center stage at SXSW for star-studded International Women’s Day panel – as adoring Prince Harry watches on from the first row

Meghan Markle put her most fashionable foot forward as she marked International Women’s Day in true Hollywood style by appearing on a celebrity-studded panel at SXSW – while her husband Prince Harry cheered her on from the front row.

The 42-year-old Duchess of Sussex joined actress Brooke Shields and longtime news anchor Katie Couric on-stage at the prestigious festival, where she was leading a panel discussion about ‘breaking barriers’ and ‘women’s representation’. 

Beaming with pride as she walked out on stage, having been introduced to the crowd as Megan, the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan then took her seat alongside her fellow panelists for the discussion – during which she candidly opened up about the ‘hatred’ she received while pregnant with her children.  

The Duchess of Sussex, who traveled to Austin from her $14.65 million home in Montecito on Thursday, looked radiant in a silver-beige $1,000 Giuliva Heritage silk maxi skirt and matching $975 button-up shirt, a look that she accessorized with some chunky gold earrings.  

Throughout the panel discussion, Harry, 39, was seen gazing up at his wife from the front row, joining his fellow guests in applauding Meghan – whom he joined for a date night on Thursday at the Austin venue of private members’ club Soho House.  

Prince Harry was joined in the front row by the couple’s very close friend, Soho House mogul Markus Anderson, who was instrumental in bringing the Sussexes together in the early days of their relationship.  

The Duchess began by gushing about her ‘excitement’ to be joining the panel, before going on to tout the many female-focused initiatives that she and Prince Harry work on through their nonprofit, the Archewell Foundation.   

‘I’m so excited to be here and to be with such incredible women, so much brilliance on this panel and this is just such an amazing way to celebrate International Women’s Day,’ she said. 

She then went on to discuss a wide range of topics, including: 

• Hatred she has received on social media, particularly when she was pregnant with her children, Archie and Lilibet 
• The need for more inclusivity and accurate representation of women and mothers in media  
• Fighting to protect children and young people from dangers of social media while praising Prince Harry for being an ‘incredible partner’ and ‘hands-on’ dad
• Retold her story about leading campaign to change ‘sexist’ soap commercial when she was 11 years old 

FIGHTING FOR BETTER REPRESENTATION OF MOTHERS IN MEDIA  

When asked about the Archewell Foundation’s decision to fund a recent report calling for ‘true representation’ for mothers on TV, Meghan explained that she and Harry had chosen to get involved with the project for ‘three key reasons’. 

‘My husband and I, our foundation helped to fund it because I think from our standpoint, and certainly from mine, there are three key reasons why it felt vital to see the information they were going to be pulling from this report,’ she said. 

‘On a personal level, I’ve just always loved understanding women and our stories and our lived experiences and our shared experiences so I was really curious to see what the report was going to uncover. 

‘Oftentimes as women, the way that we see ourselves is reflected back to us, sometimes accurately, and sometimes, much to our disservice, inaccurately, in what we see in media. 

‘So to be able to have the findings to uncover what we can do to propel that, to make sure women are really feeling seen in a way that is reflective of who and how we are and how we move through the world, felt important. 

‘From a philanthropic standpoint with our foundation, there is obviously a lot of work to be done in supporting women and moms. You can begin with paid leave.’

She went on to note that Archewell’s production arm is focusing more on its own representation of women and mothers ‘as it expands its slate’ of projects, both on-screen and in podcasting. 

Meghan has her own female-focused podcast, Archetypes, which began as part of the Sussexes’ lucrative deal with Spotify, but has since moved to Lemonade Media, after the couple parted ways with the popular streaming company. 

‘IT’S NOT CATTY, IT’S CRUEL’: OPENING UP ABOUT ‘HATRED’ SHE RECEIVED DURING HER PREGNANCIES 

Meghan went on to open up about the hatred she received online while pregnant with her children, Archie, now four, and Lilibet, now two. 

‘I keep my distance from [social media] right now for my wellbeing but the bulk of the bullying and abuse I was experiencing in social media and online was when I was pregnant with Archie and with Lili, and with a newborn, with each of them,’ she said after being asked about the trolling she has faced.

‘You just think about that and to wrap your head about why people would be so hateful. it’s not catty it’s cruel. Why you would do that when you’re pregnant or as a mom at such a tender and sacred time.’ 

She questioned how anyone could ‘do that’ to a an expectant or new mother – noting that much of the vitriol she was seeing online was coming from women trying to take down other women. 

‘[It’s] women completely spewing that to other women and I cannot make sense of that,’ Meghan continued. 

MEGHAN PRAISES HARRY FOR BEING AN ‘INCREDIBLE PARTNER’ AND A ‘HANDS-ON’ DAD 

Having discussed the toll that online ‘hatred’ had on her throughout her pregnancies and in the early stages of motherhood, Meghan went on to discuss the ways in which the Archewell Foundation is working to ensure that women and mothers can feel safer and more supported online. 

While opening up about the ‘dizzying’ impact that social media can have on a new mom, Meghan praised the ‘support’ that she receives from Prince Harry, describing him as an ‘incredible partner’ and a ‘hands-on dad’ to their two kids.  

‘The effect that social media can have a new mothers… even just the lack of sleep because they spend all this time scrolling and scrolling,’ she said. 

‘But it can also be really dizzying for them to see this portrayal of motherhood that looks so perfect, when we all know that it’s not perfect. We all know that it’s messy. 

‘I’m fortunate in that amongst the privileges that I have in my life, I have an incredible partner. My husband is such a hands-on dad and such a supporter of me and of my family, and that I don’t take for granted, that is a real blessing. 

‘But a lot of people don’t have that same level of support. So for us, it’s just trying to put the safeguards in so women, and moms especially, can not feel like they’re even more vulnerable when they go online, so they can somehow feel like they are going to a safer place.’

KATIE COURIC ASKS MEGHAN TO RETELL SEXIST P&G SOAP CAMPAIGN STORY FROM HER CHILDHOOD

One topic of conversation was how society can work towards making ‘the world more equitable’, a discussion that Meghan began by noting the importance of representation for ‘young girls’. 

‘If you’re a young girl and you see yourself in a position of power or strength or leadership, you can believe that is possible,’ she said. 

‘If you look out on the screen, or you look out in the world, and you see no one that looks like you, it is incomprehensible for most people to imagine that they can have that level of success or joy or strength.’

Former Today anchor Katie then asked Meghan if she would ‘retell the story about when you wrote that letter to P&G’, referring to an anecdote that the Duchess has told on multiple occasions about fighting against a ‘sexist’ Procter & Gamble commercial when she was 11 years old. 

‘I don’t know if anyone… if everyone’s heard it, but it’s such a great story at a very young age,’ Katie went on, before apologizing for ‘disrupting the flow’ of the panel. 

Beaming with pride, Meghan happily agreed to share the story with the crowd – having mentioned it at multiple events over the years. 

‘I was 11 years old, about 11 years old, and I had seen a commercial on TV for a dishwashing liquid, and the boys in my class at the time… you know it said, “Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans,” and the boys said, “Yeah that’s where women belong, in the kitchen,”‘ Meghan recalled. 

‘And at 11, I just found that infuriating, and [so] I ended up writing lots of letters, I put pen to paper, and they ended up changing the commercial to “people all over America”.

‘It’s funny to look back at it now, because that was before social media where you have a reach that is so much greater, it was just an 11 year old with a pen and paper. 

‘But it just goes to show that if you know that there’s something wrong and you’re using your voice to advocate in the direction of what is right, that can really land and resonate and make huge change for a lot of people.’

Meghan then concluded: ‘Your voice is not small, it just needs to be heard.’ 

The festival announced Meghan’s involvement in the panel earlier this week, billing the Duchess as a ‘visionary female leader’, while noting that she and her fellow guests would discuss ‘breaking barriers’ and ‘challenging stereotypes’ while speaking about ‘women’s representation in media and entertainment’. 

‘Women’s representation in media and entertainment has come a long way, but there’s still much to be done, especially for women of color and mothers,’ the SXSW blurb about the panel – entitled Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen – read. 

‘Social media’s omnipresence has raised the stakes, creating an often dangerous environment which has led to serious mental health issues for teenage girls in particular. 

‘On International Women’s Day, we’ll hear from feminist and champion of human rights and gender equity, New York Times bestselling author, and co-founder of The Archewell Foundation and Archewell Productions Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex; Emmy Award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Katie Couric; two-time Golden Globe Award-nominated actress, model, entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author Brooke Shields; and author, sociologist, pop culture expert, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consultant at Peoplism Nancy Wang Yuen.’

South by Southwest, which is widely known as SXSW, is an annual festival that celebrates the convergence of technology, film, music, education and culture, and runs from March 8 to March 16. 

Meghan’s panel session is, according to the organizers, being presented by her and Harry’s Archewell Foundation in collaboration with The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom that reports on gender, politics, and policy. 

Meghan and Harry are understood to have arrived in Austin on Thursday – when they were spotted grabbing dinner at the city’s Soho House location in a sweet throwback to their first date, which was enjoyed at one of the private members’ club’s London venues. 

The happy couple were seen by onlookers, who told People that they seemed ‘happy and in great spirits’ during their dinner. 

‘Harry was very animated throughout the dinner. They were super low key and seemed happy to be around the upbeat vibes at the lively venue,’ the anonymous passerby told People.

The Sussexes’ night out came almost exactly eight years after they enjoyed their first rendezvous at Soho House in London, a night they enjoyed so much, they even returned the following day, when they are believed to have snapped some intimate black-and-white photo of themselves laughing together in a photobooth. 

Harry opened up about his first date with his wife in his bombshell memoir, Spare, admitting in the tome that he had actually arrived late at the venue, much to his horror. 

‘Red-cheeked, puffing, sweaty, half-an-hour late, I ran into the restaurant, into the quiet room, and found her sitting at a small area on a low velvet sofa in front of a low coffee table,’ he wrote, before going on to gush how ‘beautiful’ he thought Meghan was upon seeing her for the first time. 

‘I’d seen so many photos of her from fashion shoots and TV sets, all glam and glossy, but there she was, in the flesh, no frills, no filter… and even more beautiful,’ he said. 

Harry’s appearance at the festival came just one day after a judge ordered that the Department of Homeland Security hand over sensitive material about the Duke’s immigration papers so he can review them and decide whether to make them public.

The development came after a hearing at the court in Washington, D.C. last month in which Judge Carl Nichols heard from the DHS and the Heritage Foundation, which is seeking to release the material. 

The Heritage Foundation is seeking the release of the documents as part of a Freedom of Information request it filed last year following Harry’s confession in his memoir and in the Sussexes’ Netflix documentary that he had done drugs. 

His admission sparked questions about whether the Duke was entirely truthful on his immigration paperwork – which requires entrants into the US to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question: ‘Are you or have you ever been a drug abuser or addict?’ 

If the Duke did not tell the truth on his entry forms then he could be removed from the US or barred by a border agent. 

In the latest update, Judge Nichols told the DHS that its arguments so far were ‘insufficiently detailed’ for him to make a decision. 

He asked the agency, which oversees immigration, to give him declarations explaining the ‘particular harm’ that would arise from the disclosure of the Duke of Sussex’s visa application.