Meghan Markle was effortlessly stylish in a floral ensemble as she visited Children’s Hospital.
The Duchess of Sussex, 42, who lives in Montecito, appeared delighted as she joined children for a special storytime appearance on March 21, when she led a ‘Literally Healing’ workshop.
Mother-of-two Meghan added a touch of springtime joy to her outfit and donned a chic flowery $3,490 (£2,776) Oscar De La Renta silk-chiffon landscape shirt dress with long cuffed sleeves and a sash belt.
The outing marked the second occasion that Meghan has donned the piece, having previously worn the dress in photographs displayed in the Sussexes docuseries in 2022, Harry & Meghan.
For her recent engagement, she paired the outfit with a classic pair of £595 ($747) ‘Love Affair’ black pumps with a delicate strap from Italian brand Aquazzura – an item Meghan has sported on numerous occasions.
Meghan wore her glossy brunette tresses loose and kept her make-up simple and understated to complement her lively ensemble.
A touch of rosy pink blusher and a sweep of eyeliner across her eyelids was enough to enhance the mother-of-two’s complexion.
The Duchess added to her outfit with a pair of simple yet elegant chunky gold hoop earrings.
In footage of the visit, Meghan greets the group of children as they meet to hear her read the stories, including Rosie Revere, Engineer, which she labels as ‘one of my favourites’.
Gesturing and changing the sound of her voice to add more to the characters’ quotes, Meghan’s acting roots were clearly paying off.
‘Children were laughing and singing as The Duchess turned into character with every page as she read patient favourite books like Rosie the Riveter, Pete the Cat and I Saw a Cat’, read a statement.
It also isn’t the first time that the Duchess has connected with kids through stories; she’s authored a children’s book, The Bench, and to mark Archie’s first birthday in May 2020, the mother and son appeared in a clip where she read Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld.
During her visit in March, Meghan also shared hugs with the children and staff, as well as taking photographs with them.
‘With literacy development and fun in mind, the mother-of-two also helped kids with STEAM activities tied to each book that let patients explore counting, colours, problem solving and more,’ a statement added.
The Duchess is a children’s book author after releasing The Bench, a story inspired by Archie’s relationship with his father, Prince Harry.
‘The Bench started as a poem I wrote for my husband on Father’s Day, the month after Archie was born,’ Meghan said in the press release from publisher Random House Children’s Books. ‘That poem became this story.’
The book was dedicated by Meghan to Harry and Archie: ‘For the man and the boy who make my heart go pump-pump,’ the dedication read.
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ Literally Healing is a reading programme that gifts families at the hospital more than 65,000 books annually.
Meghan’s storytime was part of the Make March Matter campaign, an annual fundraiser at the hospital that aims to create hope and build healthier futures with the help of ‘celebrities, business and the greater community’.
More than $10million for the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has been raised by the campaign since 2016.
Meghan isn’t the first celebrity to visit the hospital to support patients, with , and providing the children with a special advanced screening of Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019.
It comes after it was revealed that Meghan hopes to sell products from bird seed to pet treats and gardening shears to napkin rings with her new lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard.
The has listed a range of items in documents sent to the US Patent and Trademark Office, also including bath soaps, curtains and yoga blankets.
Other items in the papers – which were submitted on March 13 but have only now emerged – are ketchup, incense burners, flower pots, pet food and recipe books.
The 42-year-old Duchess wants to market fragrance sachets, bath and shower gels and salts, hand soaps, body creams, bath oil, body lotions and other cosmetics.
Meghan is also hoping to sell scented oils, reed diffusers, fragrances and non-medicated pet grooming products such as shampoo and conditioner for dogs.
And the listing for ‘pet food; edible pet treats; bird seed’ is notable given that the Princess of Wales’s brother James Middleton owns the upmarket dog food brand Hello Ella, reported.
Meghan’s trademark application also appears to extend to a physical shop where items could be sold.
A vintage-style video of Meghan cooking and arranging white hydrangeas and roses was posted to the American Riviera Orchard Instagram account.
The brief video was set to Nancy Wilson’s I Wish You Love and closed the brand’s logo written in fine gold script above the word ‘Montecito’ – the celebrity enclave in California where the Duke and Duchess live.
The trademark application later revealed a series of products the company wishes to offer including books, table wear, textiles and jams and marmalades.
Meghan has not run an Instagram account since the Sussexes stepped back from royal life four years ago. Previously, they ran a joint account @sussexroyal but announced they would stop posting in March 2020.
It is believed Meghan will film a cooking series for Netflix, as well as sell products on the back of it such as utensils and jams.
Some believe such merchandising could breach Harry and Meghan’s agreement with the late Queen Elizabeth II not to commercialise their royal connections.
At the time of the launch, an insider told the Mail: ‘The brand is meant to coincide with the launch of a new cookery show for Netflix. Meghan will be making, and selling products such as jams. At some point there will be a book and a blog.’
The brand is expected focus on home, garden, food and lifestyle wares – and it is set to be an extension of Meghan’s former lifestyle blog The Tig, an insider told Page Six, adding: ‘She’s been working on this for over a year and it’s all the things that are close to her heart.’
Meghan’s lawyer has applied to trademark the American Riviera Orchard brand in the US for various goods, including cutlery, tablecloths, napkins, jams, edible oils, vegetable-based spreads and dairy-based spreads.
Last month, Meghan condemned women ‘spewing hate’ about other women while speaking at a festival in Texas to mark International Women’s Day.
She also revealed that most of the abuse she received online was when she was pregnant.
She has not made many public speaking appearances since the cancellation of her podcast series Archetypes.
Spotify, which paid a reported £15million for the deal, axed the series in 2022 after 12 episodes ‘by mutual agreement’. She has since struck a deal with another platform.
It comes after Meghan’s sister-in-law Kate released an emotional video message last month revealing she has cancer and has started a course of preventative chemotherapy.
Kate, the Prince of Wales and their children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis missed the Easter service at Windsor Castle on Sunday. The King and Queen attended.
The Prince and Princess of Wales and their children are spending the Easter holidays together as they adjust to Kate’s diagnosis, which was discovered in post-operative tests following her major abdominal surgery.
The King’s own treatment for cancer was announced at the start of February.
The Duke and Duchess wished Kate ‘health and healing’ following her announcement, saying they hoped the Princess and her family would be ‘able to do so privately and in peace’.
In February, Harry returned to the UK after making an emergency dash from the US to see the King following his cancer diagnosis.
The Duke cleared his diary and made the journey alone, with Meghan and their children Archie and Lilibet remaining at home in California.
But there was no reconciliation between Harry and his brother William during the visit, after the Duke spent around 45 minutes at Clarence House seeing Charles.
He last appeared alongside the Windsors and the Waleses at the King’s coronation, but hurried home immediately afterwards to mark his son’s fourth birthday.
Since stepping down as working royals in 2020 and moving to California with their family, the Sussexes have aired allegations and grievances against the monarchy and members of Harry’s family.
The Duke’s allegations against his family appeared unrelenting in the aftermath of Megxit with his Oprah interview in 2021, and, in the months following the Queen’s death in September 2022, his Netflix documentary and memoir Spare.
While Charles and Harry were said to still speak, William has reportedly not been in contact with his brother for an extended period of time.