By Dimple Mistry and Jessica Green For Mailonline
18:32 17 Apr 2024, updated 18:35 17 Apr 2024
Prince Harry has showcased a sweet tribute to his wife, Meghan Markle, during a surprise appearance by video link at the annual general meeting of eco-tourism firm Travalyst.
The Duke of Sussex, 39, who is the company’s founder, made a virtual appearance at the meeting from his home in Montecito, California, which he shares with the Duchess and their two children, Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet, two.
Harry was filmed sitting in front of a shelved unit, in which several decorations were placed – including what is thought to be a framed sketch of Meghan.
The artwork is by Connecticut-based artist and illustrator Jennifer Vallez, who specialises in sketches of the Royal Family. It shows the Duchess in four of her elegant ensembles from recent years.
In the first drawing of Meghan, she sports a black Emporio Armani coat, polo neck and wide-legged trousers that she wore when joining Harry at One World Observatory and the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Center in New York in September 2021.
The next sketch of the Duchess shows her wrapped up in a tan blouse and trousers with a Max Mara camel coat. She sported the fashionable outfit during her New York trip as she met with UN officials on the importance of vaccine equity.
Jennifer also pencilled the colourful magenta outfit that the mother-of-two sported during a visit to Harlem’s PS 123 Mahalia Jackson school, where 94 per cent of the pupil’s have free school meals.
The occasion was also part of the 2021 New York visit and saw Meghan sport a £4,274 ($5,840) Loro Piana cashmere coat, matching £1,231 ($1,685) wide-leg trousers, and red £424 ($581) Manolo Blahnik pointed-toe pumps.
The royal accessorised with a £5,042 ($6,900) Cartier ‘love’ bracelet which seemed to be her jewellery of choice during the trip – and completed her outfit with a £566 ($775) belt by Loro Piana.
Finally, the sketch included a drawing of Meghan sporting a white San Gallo Couture Mini Dress designed by Valentino (priced at $4,516 (£3,300)). She donned the outfit when attending the Global Citizen Live festival during her New York trip with Harry.
Another of Jennifer’s work – an adorable sketch of Harry and Meghan’s 2021 Christmas card – has previously been spotted in the Duke’s office.
An eagle-eyed royal fan posted a screenshot on X/Twitter and noted the piece of art in a frame on the shelf behind Harry in the study of his Montecito mansion. It is unclear when the video was filmed.
It was accompanied by other sweet tributes to the Duke’s family, including a black-and-white photo of Prince Archie, and another snap from Harry and Meghan’s engagement photoshoot.
After the royal fan spotted Jennifer’s sketch, the chuffed artist revealed she sent the couple the sketch around a year ago – and confirmed they didn’t ask for any freebies.
Writing on Instagram, Jennifer said: ‘Omg. I am DYING!!!! A year or so ago, Meghan’s assistant requested prints of some of the drawings I created of her and Harry. I never expected to see that they REALLY have them in their house.’
Many people left comments underneath the post congratulating Jennifer on her work and gushing over the ‘adorable’ piece.
In a post on her Instagram story on her other account, @sophieandlili, Jennifer confirmed that the Sussexes had paid in full for the sketch, after some people had asked if it was a freebie.
She revealed: ‘I’ll just say that no one on M’s team asked for anything for free.’
As she replied to congratulatory comments, Jennifer said: ‘I knew [Meghan] had them because she sent a beautiful thank you card, but you just never know if they actually frame anything. I’m honored.’
In a further post, the artist revealed she sent a number of sketches over to the Sussexes, which included depictions of Meghan with her mother Doria, the couple’s stunning outdoor photoshoot to announce the Duchess’s second pregnancy, and an official royal photo from Prince Archie’s Christening.
Other sketches in her portfolio include sweet depictions of the Princess of Wales, King Charles and Queen Camilla, and Princess Anne.
Prince Harry has made a surprise appearance by video link at the annual general meeting of eco-tourism firm Travalyst.
The Duke told bosses it was crucial the travel industry did better by local communities in vacation destinations.
He told the board: ‘Travel and tourism relies on destinations, held together by communities, without which we have nowhere to travel to.
‘Communities are the beating heart of travel, and we must do better by the people who are the custodians of the places we visit.’
Harry’s address comes as a surprise after rumours circulated last year that the Prince had relinquished his role with Travalyst after the company announced it had entered an ‘incredibly exciting’ era with no mention of the royal.
Harry launched the independent non-profit organisation based in London in 2019, when he was still a working royal, with wife Meghan.
Like his father King Charles, who has spoken out for more than 50 years on issues such as sustainability and climate change, Harry has also been a vocal champion of environmental causes.
He spent three years as the public face of the initiative to encourage the tourism industry to become more sustainable – despite a furore over his use of private jets.
In the same year of Travalyst’s launch he and Meghan faced intense criticism after reportedly taking four private jet journeys in 11 days.
The Duke defended himself at the time, saying ‘no one is perfect’ and that what is important is ‘what we do to balance’ out negative effects.
Harry flew to the Netherlands on a commercial plane for the launch event in Amsterdam, having spent three years working on the initiative, which was founded along with brands including Booking.com, Skyscanner, Tripadvisor, Trip.com and Visa.
Then in February 2020, in one of his last events as a working royal before stepping down and moving to the US with Meghan, he spoke at a Travalyst event in Edinburgh in which he memorably asked to be introduced just as ‘Harry’.
The conference was organised for Harry and his Travalyst team to gain feedback from the travel industry on new ideas for sustainability, with about 100 people from the tourism and travel industries invited to join the working summit.
In April 2020, Harry was listed on Companies House under the name of ‘Henry Charles Albert David Duke of Sussex’ as an ‘individual person with significant control’ when Tavalyst was incorporated as a company.
Documents confirmed the Duke held 75 per cent or more of the shares and voting rights.
At the time there were two company directors listed on Companies House – James Holt and Heather Wong, who worked as Harry’s assistant private secretary at Kensington Palace for three years before he quit the Royal Family. She left Travalyst in March 2021.
Sally Davey, who is now Travalyst’s chief executive, was appointed as a director one day later on Companies House.
In February 2021, he wrote the foreword to a report by Travalyst in which he suggested that Covid-19 offered the travel industry the chance to ‘jump-start a wholescale realignment’ towards a sustainable future.
And then in May 2022, Harry played a starring role in a sketch for a new initiative in New Zealand for Travalyst in which he jogged through a forest before being accused of dropping a lolly wrapper four years earlier on a trip to the country.
The Duke delivered several phrases in Te Reo Maori for the clip, which he launched on Maori Television’s current affairs programme Te Ao with Moana.
This week Meghan launched her new lifestyle brand American Riviera Orchard, sending jars of strawberry jam to a small number of selected recipients, including influencers and friends.
Parenting campaigner Kelly McKee Zajfen, Argentine socialite Delfina Balquier and stylist Tracy Robbins are the three to have so far posted a picture of it on Instagram.
Meghan’s jam had the American Riviera Orchard logo and ‘Montecito’ underneath – the celebrity enclave in California where she lives with Harry in a £12million mansion.
Meghan announced her new lifestyle brand last month with an Instagram teaser video, showing her cooking and arranging white hydrangeas and roses, posted to the new American Riviera Orchard Instagram account.
