Meghan Markle puts on a stunning display in a silky ensemble as she takes center stage at SXSW for star-studded International Women’s Day panel – after cozy date night with Prince Harry

Meghan Markle put her most fashionable foot forward as she marked International Women’s Day in true Hollywood style by appearing on a celebrity-studded panel at SXSW. 

The 42-year-old Duchess of Sussex joined actress Brooke Shields and longtime news anchor Katie Couric on-stage at the prestigious festival, where she was leading a panel discussion about ‘breaking barriers’ and ‘women’s representation’.  

Beaming with pride as she walked out on stage, having been introduced to the crowd as Megan, the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan then took her seat alongside her fellow panelists, before launching into a passionate discussion about the importance of more gender equality. 

The Duchess began by gushing about her ‘excitement’ to be joining the panel, before going on to tout the many female-focused initiatives that she and Prince Harry work on through their nonprofit, the Archewell Foundation.   

‘I’m so excited to be here and to be with such incredible women, so much brilliance on this panel and this is just such an amazing way to celebrate IWD,’ she said. 

When asked about the Archewell Foundation’s decision to fund a recent report calling for ‘true representation’ for mothers on TV, Meghan explained that she and Harry had chosen to get involved with the project for ‘three key reasons’. 

‘My husband and I, our foundation helped to fund it because I think from our standpoint, and certainly from mine, there are three key reasons why it felt vital to see the information they were going to be pulling from this report,’ she said. 

‘On a personal level, I’ve just always loved understanding women and our stories and our lived experiences and our shared experiences so I was really curious to see what the report was going to uncover. 

‘Oftentimes as women, the way that we see ourselves is reflected back to us, sometimes accurately, and sometimes, much to our disservice, inaccurately, in what we see in media. So to be able to have the findings to propel that, to make sure women are really being seen in a way that is reflective of who and how we are and how we move through the world, felt important. 

‘From a philanthropic standpoint there is obviously a lot of work to be done in supporting women and moms. You can begin with paid leave.’

The festival announced Meghan’s involvement in the panel earlier this week, billing the Duchess as a ‘visionary female leader’, while noting that she and her fellow guests would discuss ‘breaking barriers’ and ‘challenging stereotypes’ while speaking about ‘women’s representation in media and entertainment’. 

‘Women’s representation in media and entertainment has come a long way, but there’s still much to be done, especially for women of color and mothers,’ the SXSW blurb about the panel – entitled Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen – read. 

‘Social media’s omnipresence has raised the stakes, creating an often dangerous environment which has led to serious mental health issues for teenage girls in particular. 

‘On International Women’s Day, we’ll hear from feminist and champion of human rights and gender equity, New York Times bestselling author, and co-founder of The Archewell Foundation and Archewell Productions Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex; Emmy Award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Katie Couric; two-time Golden Globe Award-nominated actress, model, entrepreneur, and New York Times bestselling author Brooke Shields; and author, sociologist, pop culture expert, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Consultant at Peoplism Nancy Wang Yuen.’

South by Southwest, which is widely known as SXSW, is an annual festival that celebrates the convergence of technology, film, music, education and culture, and runs from March 8 to March 16. 

Meghan’s panel session is, according to the organizers, being presented by her and Harry’s Archewell Foundation in collaboration with The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom that reports on gender, politics, and policy. 

Meghan and Harry are understood to have arrived in Austin on Thursday – when they were spotted grabbing dinner at the city’s Soho House location in a sweet throwback to their first date, which was enjoyed at one of the private members’ club’s London venues. 

The happy couple were seen by onlookers, who told People that they seemed ‘happy and in great spirits’ during their dinner. 

‘Harry was very animated throughout the dinner. They were super low key and seemed happy to be around the upbeat vibes at the lively venue,’ the anonymous passerby told People.

The Sussexes’ night out came almost exactly eight years after they enjoyed their first rendezvous at Soho House in London, a night they enjoyed so much, they even returned the following day, when they are believed to have snapped some intimate black-and-white photo of themselves laughing together in a photobooth. 

Harry opened up about his first date with his wife in his bombshell memoir, Spare, admitting in the tome that he had actually arrived late at the venue, much to his horror. 

‘Red-cheeked, puffing, sweaty, half-an-hour late, I ran into the restaurant, into the quiet room, and found her sitting at a small area on a low velvet sofa in front of a low coffee table,’ he wrote, before going on to gush how ‘beautiful’ he thought Meghan was upon seeing her for the first time. 

‘I’d seen so many photos of her from fashion shoots and TV sets, all glam and glossy, but there she was, in the flesh, no frills, no filter… and even more beautiful,’ he said. 

Harry’s appearance at the festival came just one day after a judge ordered that the Department of Homeland Security hand over sensitive material about the Duke’s immigration papers so he can review them and decide whether to make them public.

The development came after a hearing at the court in Washington, D.C. last month in which Judge Carl Nichols heard from the DHS and the Heritage Foundation, which is seeking to release the material. 

The Heritage Foundation is seeking the release of the documents as part of a Freedom of Information request it filed last year following Harry’s confession in his memoir and in the Sussexes’ Netflix documentary that he had done drugs. 

His admission sparked questions about whether the Duke was entirely truthful on his immigration paperwork – which requires entrants into the US to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question: ‘Are you or have you ever been a drug abuser or addict?’ 

If the Duke did not tell the truth on his entry forms then he could be removed from the US or barred by a border agent. 

In the latest update, Judge Nichols told the DHS that its arguments so far were ‘insufficiently detailed’ for him to make a decision. 

He asked the agency, which oversees immigration, to give him declarations explaining the ‘particular harm’ that would arise from the disclosure of the Duke of Sussex’s visa application.