Meghan Markle pays tribute to children with star sign necklaces worn in 40th birthday video
Duchess of Sussex turns 40 years old on 4 August
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Meghan Markle has honoured her children with a sentimental piece of jewellery worn during her 40th birthday video.
On Wednesday, the Duchess of Sussex released a video in celebration of her birthday, in which she and Melissa McCarthy bantered before Meghan announced her new 40x40 initiative, which encourages individuals around the world to contribute 40 minutes to supporting women going back to work.
For Meghan’s portion of the video, which was seemingly filmed at her and Prince Harry’s home in Montecito, California, the duchess can be seen sitting behind a desk in her office dressed casually in a white tank top and a beige cardigan.
Meghan paired the look with a simple updo, a gold bangle and two silver necklaces reportedly featuring the astrological signs of her and Prince Harry’s children, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor and Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.
For two-year-old Archie, who was born in May 2019, the duchess wore a Taurus symbol made of crystals, while Meghan wore a Gemini symbol for her newborn daughter Lilibet, who was born in June of this year.
On social media, fans of the duchess were already eager to purchase their own versions of the accessory, with one person tweeting: “The beauty...unmatched… Have we located the necklace yet squaddies? Sharing is caring.”
On the couple’s Archewell website, the duchess explained she had come up with the idea for the new birthday initiative while contemplating the importance of “time,” which she described as “among our greatest and most essential gifts”.
“In reflecting on my 40th birthday and the many things I am grateful for, I’m struck that TIME IS AMONG OUR GREATEST AND MOST ESSENTIAL GIFTS: Time with our loved ones, time doing the things we love, time spent learning, laughing, growing, and the sacred time we have on this earth,” Meghan wrote on the couple’s Archewell website. “Amongst the most valuable gifts of time is also time spent in service to others knowing that it can contribute to incredible change.
“To that last point, and with my 40th lap around the sun in mind, it made me wonder: what would happen if we all committed 40 minutes to helping someone else or to mentoring someone in need? And then what would happen if we asked our friends to do the same?”
The duchess then revealed that, for her birthday, she has asked 40 activists, athletes, artists and world leaders to participate in the initiative by contributing 40 minutes of their time.
“With this time, I hope they each help someone advance a professional life on her own terms, and, I hope that they inspire countless others to give 40 minutes of their time as well,” she explained.
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