Prince Harry and Meghan Markle began their royal tour of Morocco on February 23 – their last official tour before they welcome their first child, reportedly in April.
Their three-day tour began in Casablanca, with the couple greeted by the British ambassador to Morocco, Thomas Reilly, and his wife, Alix, who hosted an official reception.
Seven months’ pregnant Megan, 37, made a stylish entrance, dressed in a stunning red Valentino dress with cape, while the prince, 34, looked dapper in a light grey suit.
That night, at the official reception where they met influential local women, charity workers and disabled athletes, the couple opted for more formal wear, with the duchess sporting a custom-made Dior gown and a favourite pair of Birks Snowflake Snowstorm diamond earrings (she also wore them on tour last year in Australia).
The royal tour, though short, saw the couple do a variety of activities, including visiting the nearby Atlas mountains, as well as the country’s capital, Rabat.
On Sunday February 24, the couple helicoptered their way into the Atlas mountains, where they visited a remote boarding house for girls, sponsored by the charity Education For All.
The charity builds boarding houses for girls aged from 12 to 18 to ensure that young women from rural communities in the Atlas mountains are able to access secondary education.
“It’s a dream for us to have the couple here. The girls are so, so happy,” one of the boarding house “mothers”, Khadeja Oukattou, told WHO.
During her visit, the Duchess received a traditional henna tattoo on her hand and forearm, for “luck” and to mark seven months of her pregnancy.
“It’s for when we have a big party,” Oukattou explained. “Now she is pregnant we do the henna to keep her happy with the baby. For good luck.”
Looking relaxed and stunning in a blazer from Alice + Olivia over a fitted black top, black pants and her faithful, comfy Birdies flats, the duchess also took time to greet the students, visit their school and watch a soccer match.
She also met some of the attending crowds, including two young girls who had travelled from Marrakech with their Northern Ireland–born mother to catch a glimpse of the princess.
Dressed in gorgeous red party frocks, the girls, Rania, 5, and Rayhana, 2, waved Moroccan and British flags, catching the eye of the royal couple, who went over to say hello.
Although the duchess has copped flak in the British press in recent times, she was her usual relaxed self, bending down to talk to the girls about her “pretty” henna tattoo.
Earlier this month, five of Meghan’s friends went on the record to say the way she behaves at public meet-and-greets is very much the way she is in her personal life.
“Who you see at walkabouts, when she crouches down to talk to the kids and genuinely has real conversations with people, that’s Meg,” a former co-star told WHO’s US sister magazine People. “That’s how she crouches down with our kids at home; how she plays with them.
“That’s how she engages with people and how she always has. She asks their names, she listens to their stories. And she’s genuinely interested. We see a person who treats everyone the same.
And she is the same person, though everything around her has changed.”
During this trip, a source said “medical provisions” were made for Meghan, who is in her third trimester. “There’s a heavy baby in there!” Harry was reportedly overheard telling one invitee at the official reception.
Meanwhile, Meghan kept a hand close to her baby bump and said about her husband, “He’s going to be the best dad.”
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