Vancouver women's group hopes 'warm and engaged' Meghan comes to visit again

The Vancouver women’s campaign group that hosted the Duchess of Sussex this week is hopeful Meghan will work with them in the future if the royal couple move to British Columbia in western Canada.

Zoe Craig-Sparrow, a co-director of Justice For Girls, told the Telegraph how Meghan - who is staying in nearby Vancouver Island ahead of an expected move to Canada with her husband and son, Archie - put her team “at ease” with her laid-back charm.

“She was really kind and put us all at ease and we had a really engaging discussion about a variety of important issues and Justice For Girls,” she said. “We all sat around a big table and had a nice informal talk.

“Obviously when you hear that royalty wants to visit you, part of you doesn’t believe it’s real until it actually happens. So we were just so surprised and excited.”

The campaigner added: “She was very kind and she put us all at ease. It was casual and she made sure that we were comfortable. And honestly it was just a bunch of women sitting together talking about issues that were important. So we were obviously very excited and nervous, but obviously as soon as she walked in she made us all feel really comfortable. She was really knowledgable about these issues.

“And she was just very calm and well spoken and easy to talk to.”

The group talked about female leadership, climate change, indigenous rights, violence against girls and access to education.

Ms Craig-Sparrow said: “We would love to possibly work with the Duchess again in future on these issues and have more discussions on them.”

Justice For Girls was one of two organisations - the other a shelter for women -  that Meghan met while on a short trip to Vancouver from Vancouver Island.

In first meeting Meghan, Ms Craig-Sparrow said:  “She just came through the door and said: ‘Oh, hi. Hello.’

“We’re a really small organisation and... this is the first time anything like this has happened to us for sure. This is the first time a royal has visited, that’s for sure.” She added: “What I took away from it is she’s serious about helping people and that is important to her.”