Prince Harry and Meghan Markle touched down in Fiji earlier this week as they continue their first royal tour together. They've embarked on most of their engagements together so far, though, today they each took on their own solo ventures. Meghan's first solo engagement in Fiji didn't go according to plan, however, and she ended up being rushed out of a Market due to security concerns.
The Duchess of Sussex visited Suva Market to meet with female vendors as part of a United Nation's Women's project "Markets for Change," according to People. This project promotes women's empowerment in marketplaces across the South Pacific. Women's empowerment is a cause near and dear to Meghan's heart, so, this was the perfect choice for her solo engagement in Fiji.
The Associated Press reported that Meghan's tour, unfortunately, had to be cut short in order to ensure the Duchess's safety. Due to crowd management issues, Meghan's security team rushed her out of the market after only six minutes. She was scheduled to appear for twenty minutes.
A royal aide explained the situation, saying:
The event was hot, humid and uncomfortably busy and there were far larger crowds than expected. She met everyone she was meant to meet and left. There would have been a lot of people who would have been keen to meet her but she did met those who had hoped to. On advice she was taken out due to crowd management issue.
Rebecca English, Royal correspondent for the Daily Mail, complained about Meghan's departure on Twitter:
The Duchess spent just six minutes in the market and only met a handful of people. She should have been there around 20. There were huge crowds but they were being kept back by the police. It was very hot and humid, however, so perhaps that played a part in their decision. Personally, it looked like an overreaction to me. I’ve seen far more chaotic crowd scenes. But, and this is a big but, she is pregnant so it could be that the palace were being cautious.
At the end of the day, it's always better to be safe than sorry.
Photo: Getty