Markle's choice to wear a headscarf echoes her mother-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales. Photo / Getty Images
Markle's choice to wear a headscarf echoes her mother-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales. Photo / Getty Images
The Duchess of Sussex has worn a headscarf to South Africa's oldest mosque, as she and the Duke attend talks on interfaith dialogue.
The Duchess, who was baptised in to the Church of England shortly before her wedding to Prince Harry, visited Auwal Mosque - the first and oldest mosque in South Africa - on the second day of the couple's tour.
As they arrived in the Bo Kaap district of Cape Town to raucous cheers of "we love you Meghan", the Duchess stepped out of the official car in a floor-length dress with the cream headscarf already in place, holding hands with her husband.
The visit is designed to promote understanding between the faiths, and will see them meet young people who have taken part in programmes to help them "develop respect for people from different religions, faiths cultures and backgrounds and an appreciation of the value of diversity".
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex visit Auwal Mosque in the Bo-Kaap neighbourhood during their royal tour of South Africa. Photo / Getty Images
The Duchess has previously worked with the women of the Al Manaar mosque's Hubb kitchen in London for her Grenfell cookbook.
Her choice to wear a headscarf echoes her mother-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales. The Duchess of Cornwall and Duchess of Cambridge have also worn the garment during recent overseas tours.
They will go on to meet local faith leaders and view the first known manuscript of the Qu'ran in South Africa, which was drafted by Tuan Guru (first Imam) from memory while he was imprisoned on Robben Island.
Diana, Princess of Wales in Cairo in 1992. Photo / Getty Images
The Duke and Duchess will then meet with the group of faith leaders, including a representative of the Church of England, the Chief Rabbi and Jewish, Christian and Muslim youth leaders, as well as students who participated in the London-Cape Town interfaith exchange.
The "best dad and best mum"
Earlier in the day, the couple visited Cape Town's Monwabisi Beach, taking part in a welcome dance and warning of a global mental health "consciousness crisis".
The Duchess spoke of the importance of convincing people to speak about their mental health, adding it did not matter where they are in the world, "we're all trying to power through and find some optimism."
The couple, who sat on the grass to join young people, were also invited to join a "power hand" activity, where they declared their personal strengths in a bonding activity.
Asked whether she considered dancing her strong point, the Duchess laughed and said no, before disclosing she hoped parenting is a new strength she and Prince Harry are "learning and developing".
Turning to one another, she declared the Duke "the best dad" before he responded to call her the "best mum".
The couple began their morning with a brief on-camera interview as they arrived, saying they had been"doing their best" to keep abreast of South African current affairs in the lead-up to the visit and warning of a global mental health "consciousness crisis".
Asked what it was like being back in Africa, and the first time in South Africa for Meghan, the duke said: "Yesterday was great and to start in Nyanga was amazing.
Harry and Meghan move with dancers on their arrival at the Nyanga Methodist Church in Cape Town. Photo / AP
"I think everyone across the world now has probably heard about what's been happening more recently – that kind of stuff happens all the time, every year, but it really peaked in the last month or so we've done our best to keep track of what's been going on.
"This Africa tour was always going to be fantastic, been looking forward to Cape Town - her first visit, I love this place.
"And again meeting the people, the energy, the fun, again the positivity, the optimism and the hope in the face of such incredible adversity.
"There are young people and older people, men and women trying to change what effectively has become the norm."
On the topic of mental health - the focus of their morning activities - the Duchess said it was key to break the stigma by "just get people to talk about it and talk to each other" no matter where they are in the world.
"If you're in a small community or a township, if you're in a big city, everyone is dealing with a different version of the same thing," she said.
The Duchess of Sussex is all smiles as she visits a Justice Desk initiative in Nyanga township. Photo / Getty Images
"Globally, I think there's a bit of a consciousness crisis and so the fact that we're able to be here together and see on the ground so much good work that's being done... just because people are willing to talk to each other about it and someone is willing to listen is huge.
"And that can apply to being here, certainly can apply to being in London, LA. It doesn't matter where you are, we're all trying to power through and find some optimism."
The Duke added: "I think most of the stigma is around mental illness we need to separate the two…mental health which is every single one of us and mental illness which could be every single one of us.
"But I think they need to be separated, the mental health element touches on so much of what we're exposed to, these experiences that these kids and every single one of us have been through.
"Everyone has experienced trauma or likely to experience trauma at some point during their lives. We need to try, not eradicate it, but to learn from previous generations so there's not a perpetual cycle.
"What's amazing here just in a day and half – barely – conversations keep happening with all sorts of different people. So they've been through it and we can learn so much from that."
The couple are visiting NGO Waves for Change, which combines surfing with evidence-based mind and body therapy to provide a child-friendly mental health service to vulnerable young people.
The Duke and Duchess were greeted by Tim Conibear, the founding director of Waves for Change who gave the couple a briefing on the work of the charity.
Ash Heese, 27, training and partnerships manager at Waves For Change, told how the duchess was asked what her strengths were during an exercise to promote calmness and reflection in young people.
Heese said: "We were invited to share our strengths and identify our strengths.
"And Meghan looked a little but hesitant so one of our coaches suggested that Meghan's dancing was her strength.
"She laughed and said I don't think so but parenting is a new strength that she and Harry are learning and developing.
"She then said that he is the best dad and he said no she is the best mum."
The event took place on a grassy knoll besides Monwabisi beach just outside Cape Town. The event was moved from the beach itself due to high winds that would have disrupted a mindfulness session.
The duke and duchess also heard about the efforts of the Lunchbox Fund, one of four charities to benefit from the public donations made following the birth of their son Archie, who has joined his parents in South Africa for his first official royal tour.
The Fund provides nearly 30,000 meals every day to Waves for Change programmes and schools in South Africa's Townships and rural areas.
Saving the sea snails
Prince Harry got wet on a wild boat ride through the Atlantic waves, in the second engagement of the day.
While the Duchess returned to the High Commissioner's residence to see Archie, the Duke embarked on a lively boat trip with Cape Town's Maritime Police unit to learn about the illegal poaching of the abalone snail.
They are a delicacy in Asia and can command £420 a plate in China: more than the price of gold.
A detachment from the Royal Marines - of which Prince Harry is Captain General - have visited the police unit to help in their fight against poachers.
On arrival at Kalk Bay Harbour, the Duke was greeted by the UK Defence Adviser, Colonel Alan Lister OBE of the Royal Marines.
The Duke was originally supposed to visit to Seal Island to see its population of seals, but the sea was too rough and he was instead taken on an exhilarating ride down the coast of Kalk Bay, south of Cape Town.
Captain Robert Smith said: "We talked about what we did last year. We spent a week here in August 2018 to teach craft handling, hand signals to communicate between the boats and developing tactics with the maritime police unit which will help them out on the water to coordinate missions more effectively
"Harry was very engaged and enjoyed chatting to us. He wanted to get a better picture of how the poachers operate and how sophisticated their operations are."
