Meghan And Harry Continue Princess Diana's Legacy With Donation To Ukraine
The Archewell Foundation announced that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have made donations to a number of organizations working on the ground to support the people of Ukraine.
The groups the Sussexes donated to include The HALO Trust, which trains and employs the residents of war-torn communities throughout the world to remove landmines and dangerous explosives.
In the 1990s, Princess Diana worked with HALO in the fight against landmines.
The Archewell Foundation announced today that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have made donations to a number of organizations working on the ground to support the people of Ukraine.
The groups the Sussexes donated to include The HALO Trust, which trains and employs the residents of war-torn communities throughout the world to remove landmines and dangerous explosives. HALO is an organization that has a personal meeting for Prince Harry. In the 1990s, Princess Diana worked with HALO in the fight against landmines. At the time, Diana's support for an international treaty banning landmines—and her public work with groups seeking to eradicate them—was seen as a political stance.
Diana insisted that her interest in the cause was not politically motivated, saying in June 1997, “I am not a political figure. As I said at the time, and I'd like to re-iterate now, my interests are humanitarian. That is why I felt drawn to this human tragedy. How can countries which manufacture and trade in these weapons square their conscience with such human devastation?"
Prince Harry has continued his mother's legacy of working with HALO—he has served as their patron, and has visited Angola to see the work they are still doing.
"[Twenty years ago], the attention my mother brought to this issue wasn’t universally popular; some believed she had stepped over the line into the arena of political campaigning—but for her this wasn't about politics; it was about people,” he said in 2019. “There is no question that a huge amount has been achieved in the last 20 years...But in marking how far we have come, we must also acknowledge that there is much more which needs to be done."
A few weeks ago, Prince Harry spoke with HALO volunteers on the ground in Ukraine, telling them, "You are saving lives every single day. I know that you're going to continue the work that is so desperately needed. For HALO, for your families, and your country."
With their Ukraine relief efforts, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle also donated to HIAS, which was founded in 1881 as the Hebrew Immigrant Society to assist Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Europe and now more broadly serves as a refugee support organization, and Are We Europe, a non-profit currently working to support Ukraine’s local and independent media organizations and journalists.
HIAS, the international Jewish humanitarian organization, gained national prominence due to horrific tragedy four years ago. In 2018, the antisemitic Pittsburgh synagogue shooter posted on social media that HIAS "likes to bring invaders in that kill our people," and targeted The Tree of Life synagogue for their work with the organization, murdering 11 Jews during Shabbat services.
In addition to HALO Trust, HIAS, and Are We Europe, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are also continuing to support World Central Kitchen, led by Chef José Andrés, the World Health Organization, and Project Healthy Minds—all organizations that are joining Ukrainian relief efforts.
Meghan and Harry were the first members of the British royal family to release a message in solidarity with Ukrainians, writing "Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and all of us at Archewell stand with the people of Ukraine against this breach of international and humanitarian law and encourage the global community and its leaders to do the same."
They were soon followed by a message from Prince William and Kate Middleton. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the Cambridges for their support, tweeting. Queen Elizabeth also made a "generous donation" to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)'s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, set up to aid Ukrainians amid the Russian invasion.
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