The Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle was honored as one of this year’s Woman of Vision Award honorees for her global advocacy to empower women and girls.
Markle stepped out in New York City on Tuesday accompanied by her husband, Prince Harry and her mother Doria Ragland for the Ms. Foundation 2023 Women of Vision Awards: Celebrating Generations of Progress & Power.
The event reunited Meghan with her friend Gloria Steinem, Co-Founding Mother of the Ms. Foundation, who presented her with the award.
During her acceptance speech, Meghan thanked Steinem “for the inspiration that you are, for your mentorship, your sage advice, your extraordinarily cheeky sense of humor and for your incredible friendship.”
The 41-year-old spoke of the mark left on her by Ms. magazine when she was a young child.
“As a young girl, I would come home, I’d settle in after a day of school, pull up my TV tray with dinner and I would turn on my evening ritual: Jeopardy! And I’d glance at the coffee table, where I’d see an array of things: it could be the cat’s collar, my homework, some mail that had just been brought in — and some magazines,” the Duchess of Sussex said in her speech.
Meghan and Steinem, 89, joined forces in 2020 to have a “backyard chat” about the importance of voting.
Later that year, Meghan “came over to the little farmhouse” where Steinem was staying, and they cold-called voters together from her dining room table.
Last year, the pair was seen together leaving a lunch date in New York after Meghan joined her husband Prince Harry as he gave an address at the United Nations in honor of Nelson Mandela Day.
At the Women’s Media Center’s 2022 Women’s Media Awards, Steinem told PEOPLE that Meghan is a “great human being.”
