Baby Archie is already a little philanthropist! This week his parents, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, made a huge gesture of kindness toward Love the Oceans, a marine conservation nonprofit—and they did it all in the name of their five-month-old baby.
According to *Harper's Bazaar*, the royal parents donated $5,440 to the charity in mid-August under the name Archie HMW. Love the Oceans had been running a monthlong justgiving.com fundraiser at the time and still needed a substantial amount to reach their goal. The organization was able to sleuth out who the money was from because the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had recently highlighted their work in an Instagram post. Once they confirmed that the gift was indeed from the royal family, they were reportedly "blown away" by their generosity. We have to say, we're also blown away by their creativity of putting it under Baby Archie's name—he's not even a year old and he's already giving back to the world!
Love the Oceans works to conduct research on marine life in the region and also runs a community outreach program to combat a high number of drownings in Guinjata Bay, Mozambique. They also help locals get acquainted with the ocean and are working to open a swimming pool to teach kids to swim—something which Archie's donation helped make possible. Their mission lines up with conservation efforts with which both Prince Harry and Markle have been involved: They've both worked to preserve animal habitats in Botswana, and their upcoming tour in Africa with Baby Archie will include several outreach efforts to discuss wildlife and forest protection.
"Without that donation and support, this would not be happening," Adam Knight, a swim coach and partner with Love the Oceans tells Harper's Bazaar. "Now that we’re able to go ahead with this, we will all be thinking of Archie when we open the pool next August. What started out as a passion project is now transforming a community and beyond."
In an Instagram post six weeks ago, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle shouted out several organizations doing similar work, including Love the Oceans. They wrote in the caption, "We were so happy to learn about them and are now able to share them with you!" they wrote. "Thank you for being part of this collective conversation with us; we hope everyone has enjoyed discovering many of these accounts and engaging with each other on how we can all be Forces for Change."
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The organization was so touched by the royals' social media recognition that it announced on Instagram that it had named one of its sharks after the littlest royal. "As a thank you we have just named one of our juvenile whale sharks ‘Archie’! Welcome to the Love The Oceans family Archie," they shared alongside an image of the animal.
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And Archie's donation has inspired many others to do the same. Since news of the littlest royal's efforts make headlines, the justgiving.com fundraiser page has been flooded with royals fans pledging money and thanking Love the Oceans for their work.
