Meghan Markle's official royal biography mentions menstrual hygiene and female empowerment
In case you were in any doubt that the royal family has entered a new, distinctly modern era thanks to Meghan Markle, you should head over to her brand new biography on the royal family's official website.
Hers is a royal biography like no other. One that mentions menstrual hygiene, feminism, and female empowerment.
The second paragraph of the biography's "about" section makes mention of her "keen awareness of social issues" and activism. "Aged 11 she successfully campaigned for a company to alter their television advert that had used sexist language to sell washing-up liquid," reads the bio.
It's also noted that the Duchess of Sussex, as she'll henceforth be known, volunteered at a soup kitchen in Skid Row, Los Angeles, between the ages of 13 and 17. "These early experiences helped to shape her lifelong commitment to causes such as social justice and women's empowerment," the bio continued.
The bio also talks about her work as an ambassador for UN Women.
In 2015, The Duchess became the UN Women's Advocate for Women’s Political Participation and Leadership. In this role, she gave a speech on the importance of gender equality on International Women’s Day for UN Women in New York City. Ahead of her appointment to this role, Her Royal Highness spent time at the UN's New York office to understand the organisation's day-to-day work before embarking on a learning mission to Rwanda. On this trip The Duchess met female parliamentarian leaders in Kigali and visited Gihembe refugee camp, where women were working on leadership and empowerment at a grassroots level.
Another part of her biography talks about her work campaigning about poor menstrual health management and its impact on girls' education.
In 2017, Her Royal Highness undertook a second learning mission with the organisation when she visited India with World Vision to bring a greater awareness to girls' lack of access to education. In the slum communities of Mumbai, The Duchess witnessed the work of the Myna Mahila Foundation who empower women through access to menstrual hygiene products and employment opportunities. Struck by her experience, she wrote an op-ed for Time Magazine about the stigmatization of menstrual health management and its long term hindrance to girls’ education.
After the new biography went live on the royal website, many were struck by the mention of menstrual hygiene and menstrual health management in a royal biography.
Twitter user Kate Sang asked if any other royals have menstrual health and period poverty mentioned in their biographies? The overwhelming answer to Sang's question was "no".
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Some questioned why any mention of Markle's acting career had been omitted from the "about" section. While her acting career was not mentioned in this section, it is discussed in detail on the "biography" page.
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Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
