A teenage girl has spoken of the 'amazing' moment Meghan Markle hugged her during a royal walkabout following the death of The Queen. Amelka Zak, 14, said she wanted to show the Duchess of Sussex she was "still welcome here" in the UK.
On Saturday, crowds of well-wishers had gathered outside Windsor Castle as members of the Royal Family did a walkabout to look at the floral tributes and to speak to those who had gathered, the Mirror reports. The Prince and Princess of Wales were joined by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as people shook their hands, handed over flowers and gifts, and took pictures.
Amelka spent time chatting with Meghan before asking her if she could have a hug and to her delight, the royal agreed. Speaking to CNN, Amelka said: "We were just waiting for her to come and she came near me and asked my name and how my day was, how long I was waiting.
"And I asked her if I could have a hug, and she hugged me back. It was quite an amazing moment. I'm still shaking now."
The 14-year-old said she wanted to offer a warm welcome to the American because of "everything that's happened".
"Everyone was kind of cheering me on and I guess I felt I needed to in a way because I look up to her and it felt like the right thing to do.
"I just wanted to like show her that she's, like, welcome here, I guess. And wanted to hug her after everything that's happened."
It was the first time the four had been seen together publicly since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from their roles as senior working royals and moved to America. It was also Prince William and Kate's first official appearance since being given the title of Prince and Princess of Wales.
William and Harry have a well-documented troubled relationship but the death of their grandmother saw the rivals shelve their differences when, with their wives, they viewed floral tributes left to the late Queen at Windsor Castle. A royal source said: “The Prince of Wales thought it was an important show of unity at an incredibly difficult time for the family.”
It has been two years since William, Kate, Harry and Meghan were together side-by-side in public, during the 2020 Commonwealth Day church, service and they appeared at ease driving off together with William at the wheel of a Range Rover after their walkabout lasted just over 40 minutes.
The future king extended the olive branch to his brother, asking him and his wife to join them for a tour of the floral tributes. They also walked part of Windsor’s famous Long Walk, shaking outstretched hands, sharing jokes, receiving flowers for the late Queen.
