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Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Gave Donations From Archie's Birth To A Heartwarming Cause
It's safe to say that motherhood changes a person in a slew of ways. For many of us, it makes us think pretty deeply about how we look at the world, and perhaps more importantly, the way we want that world to look for the little people we're going to be raising. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were already people who considered everyone on the planet before they became parents, but it seems welcoming their son Archie did sort of re-energize their charitable focus. In fact, Meghan Markle used donations from Archie's birth to support several charities, and one of those charities appears to have a particularly emotional connection to their new roles as parents.
Markle and Prince Harry welcomed their first child together, little Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, on May 5 of this year in London, England. Millions of royal watchers around the world were excited to share a little in the joy of the newest member of the royal family, and many people sent donations to the couple in honor of Archie's birth. And one of those deserving charities was the WellChild Awards, according to People, which Prince Harry has been patron of since 2007.
The WellChild Awards is an incredibly special event on the United Kingdom, where seriously ill children and the people who work so hard to take care of them are given a well-deserved spotlight and even feted by royalty. As Prince Harry himself noted on WellChild's website, "These awards were created to shine a bright light on an amazingly brave group of children and young people. Life for families caring for seriously ill children is exceptionally tough. And without WellChild it is even tougher."
Of course, this isn't the first time Prince Harry has shown up to support the WellChild Awards; he's been doing it for 12 years. And even Markle was on hand to celebrate these inspiring children at last year's event.
But I suspect this year could perhaps feel a little different for both of them. Not only did they use donations from their 5-month-old son's birth to help the organization, being parents presumably makes them even more aware of how important it is to support struggling children and their caregivers. Because as so many parents already know, everything ends up relating back to your own child. So imagine being presented with young children who are displaying such amazing courage and fortitude... it must have been an especially emotional event for the new parents this year.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are both philanthropists. Both people who want to make the world a better place. This is who they were before they became parents. But now that they are mom and dad to little Archie, they both seem to be more focused on exactly what they want to do. They are both working on mental health awareness campaigns, climate change activism, and humanitarian efforts at home and abroad. Because they want Archie to grow up in a world that they left a little better than they found. And they're already doing a pretty great job of it.