Meghan Markle has been taking a break from the public eye since returning to England from her royal tour of South Africa. But despite being absent from royal appearances this week, the Duchess of Sussex enlisted Prince Harry to help her with a special mission during one of his solo engagements.
On Thursday, Prince Harry visited students at Nottingham Academy as part of his programming for World Mental Health Day. There he met Aleyna Genc, a teenager who is recovering from a brain tumor and has been Markle's pen pal for the past two years. Fourteen-year-old Genc reached out to the royal after she saw a speech that Markle had delivered at the United Nations, the Nottingham Post reports. "I wanted to tell her that she had inspired me and so I sent her a letter," Genc said. "We have been sending letters back and forth ever since then."
All that time writing each other built a special bond between the two—which Genc got to experience firsthand during Prince Harry's visit. After speaking with Genc's classmates, Prince Harry took her aside to deliver a gift: a voicemail from Meghan herself.
Genc didn't reveal the voicemail's specifics, but it sounds like the royal's message was from the heart. "She sent me a voice note, which I got to listen to on Harry's phone. She basically wished me well," Genc told the Nottingham Post.
Genc delivered a gift of her own for the royal family. Prince Harry headed home from Nottingham Academy with a stuffed dog the teen had picked out for baby Archie.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's kind gesture comes amid a difficult few weeks for the couple. Markle and Prince Harry each filed lawsuits against British tabloids this month, accusing some publications of unlawful publishing and phone hacking.
That drama hasn't gotten in the way of the pair's charitable work, however. Earlier this week they appeared alongside Prince William and Kate Middleton in a public service announcement for mental health awareness.
