Meghan Markle’s Middle School Graduation Speech at Age 14 Proves She’s Always Used Her Voice for Change

A lot has been said about Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Despite her track record as a philanthropist and an advocate for women and girls, naysayers have tried to label her as an opportunist who took Prince Harry away from his family.

However, the truth is, the duchess has always been an advocate for the voiceless. As a young girl, she prompted a company to change its commercial to include girls. Throughout her career as an actor, she was also outspoken on and offset, visiting unrepresented communities across the globe.

Now, a video of Meghan giving a stunning speech at age 14 has just resurfaced, proving the duchess has always used her voice for change.

Meghan Markle has been speaking out against injustices

As a senior working member of the British royal family, Meghan had to adhere to certain royal rules. This included being neutral when it came to political matters and being extremely careful about the things she’s advocated for.

However, in the past several months, now that she is no longer beholden to certain royal restrictions the duchess has been making her voice and opinion known. She’s prompted women to vote in the upcoming Presidential Election — voicing her excitement for Vice Presidential nominee, Senator Kamala Harris.

She’s spoken up about the failings of colonialism and spoken against racism and for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Meghan Markle gave a compelling speech to her old high school

In early June 2020, Meghan gave a graduation address to her former high school, Immaculate Heart High School,  virtually in LA. This happened amid calls for justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

Though the duchess said that she was terrified about giving the speech because she knew she would be scrutinized and pulled apart on the internet, she decided that using her voice and speaking out was more important. She said in part,

What is happening in our country and in our state and in our hometown of L.A. has been absolutely devastating. I wasn’t sure what I could say to you,.“I wanted to say the right thing and I was really nervous that I wouldn’t, or that it would get picked apart. And I realized the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing because George Floyd’s life mattered and Breonna Taylor’s life mattered and Philando Castile’s life mattered and Tamir Rice’s life mattered, and so did so many other people whose names we know and whose names we do not know.

Meghan Markle’s middle school graduation speech proves she’s always used her voice for change

Meghan has a long history of speaking up herself and for her peers. Daily Mail obtained footage from 1995 of the then 14-year-old Meghan speaking at her graduation from Immaculate Heart Middle School.

In the speech, she spoke confidently about leaning on the community of women and how much they leaned on each other to learn and grow, physically, academically, emotionally, and spiritually. She said in part,

We had culture days to share, celebrate, and demonstrate our ethnic and cultural differences. We learned about each other and made many new friends. We also had disagreements and altered relationship, but we created many new lasting bonds. Both the painful and happy times we shared here at Immaculate Heart will always be deeply valued.

No matter what others have said, it’s clear that Meghan has always been an outspoken leader and advocate.