Royal Family recap: Prince Harry delivers powerful speech on World Mental Health Day

Happy Friday! We have a lovely lineup of royal outings today. Firstly,  the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are set to attend Project Healthy Minds World Mental Health Day Festival. Their outing comes after the pair to accept Humanitarians of the Year Award from Project Healthy Minds Gala in NYC.

Meanwhile, Princess Anne will be heading to Aberdeenshire where she will be carrying out official engagements.

The Prince of Wales paid an emotional visit to a widow who lost both her baby son and her husband within five days of each other. The future King, 43, was visibly emotional as Rhian Mannings recalled how her husband Paul took his own life after their one-year-old son George died from pneumonia.

The conversation between William and Rhian was released on World Mental Health Day, a cause he and his wife, the Princess of Wales, have been passionate about supporting in recent years.Rhian told William she wished her husband had been able to open up to her, and that she had been given the chance to reassure him their family would be ok. See the full video here.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were recognised as Humanitarians of the Year at the Project Healthy Minds gala on Thursday night. Held at Spring Studios in New York City,  the annual Gala "unites cultural, artistic, business, and civic leaders to champion mental health awareness" with the goal to highlight "the transformative power of community in fostering new conversations about mental health and shaping cultural perspectives." 

The pair have been advocating about the dangers of social media, and while receiving their award gave a speech which included references to their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

"Our children Archie and Lili are just six- and four-years-old. Can you believe it? Luckily, still too young for social media but we know that day is coming, and like so many parents, we think constantly about how to embrace technology's benefits while safeguarding against the dangers."

Before William's moving Mental Health Day video was released, the Prince of Wales, and his father, King Charles, stepped out for a rare joint engagement at the Natural History Museum in London. The father-son dup attended the 'Countdown to COP30: mobilising action for climate and nature', an event that sees changemakers tackling climate change and nature loss all come together ahead of the COP30 Summit. This year, the summit is set to be held in Belém, Brazil on 6 November.

Harry and Meghan stepped out hand-in-hand at the event. During the evening, HELLO! caught Harry's cheeky gesture for his wife of seven years.  As the pair walked the red carpet, the Duke of Sussex cheekily grazed Meghan's bottom, before a word from Meghan saw him smiling and lifting his hands higher on her hip for pictures.

Queen Letizia of Spain made a meaningful outing in honour of Mental Health Day. The Spanish royal attended the Hotel Elba Madrid Alcal, wearing a beautiful red dress. Sharing a series of photographs from the event, the official X account for the Spanish royal family penned: ""The Queen presided over the institutional event organised by @Consaludmental on the occasion of #WorldMentalHealthDay 2025. Under the slogan "We share vulnerability, let's defend our mental health," the aim is to raise awareness of mental health in emergencies and disasters."

Good afternoon, I'm Danielle Stacey, bringing you all of the latest royal news and updates.

After receiving the Humanitarians of the Year award at the Project Healthy Minds gala in New York last night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have reappeared for a number of panel discussions today. 

Our US Royal Correspondent, Alexandra Hurtado, is there in-person... stay tuned for images and video.

The first panel Harry and Meghan have attended is Surviving or Thriving: How are young people doing in the digital age?.

Harry was introduced on stage to deliver a speech before the panel discussion began. 

You can hear his remarks below, but he reflected on the past five years since the pandemic, saying: "The past five years have taught us painfully that crises rarely arrive in isolation. The global pandemic stripped away the ordinary scaffolding of life and brought a measurable surge in anxiety, depression and loss of connection war and displacement from Ukraine to Gaza, Sudan to the DRC and many places in between, have created waves of trauma for those defending their countries and their way of life, for civilians, for families forced to flee."

During his speech, Harry commented on the impact of the digital world on our young people, saying: "Our digital world has fundamentally changed how we experience reality, young people exposed to relentless comparison, harassment, misinformation and an attention economy designed to keep us scrolling at the expense of sleep and real human contact."

Both Harry and Meghan have been really engaged with the discussion throughout, and applauded the panelists after it ended.

The Sussexes are now at their next panel discussion - How the great rewiring of childhood caused an international mental health crisis - and how we can reverse it.

The talk is being moderated by American journalist and presenter, Katie Couric. 

Stay tuned for Meghan's remarks from this one! 

During her remarks, Meghan spoke about the Archewell Foundation's The Parents Network, which supports parents impacted by social media harm.

"Three years ago, we had met with families whose world had been absolutely shattered, parents who had lost children to social media driven suicide, others who had lost so many of their children to struggles with depression, anxiety, self harm, all inflicted by online harms," she said, as she gave a shout out to Katie, a youth advocate, backstage.

"What we learned in these moments is that these parents, they didn't just need therapy, they needed other parents who understood their very specific grief," Meghan continued. "And when they came together, they weren't just sharing stories, they were creating a movement."

Watch below

The Duchess of Sussex looks chic in a striped blue and white shirt, which appears to be the same style as one worn to Wimbledon in 2018.

She's teamed it with a pair of navy high-waisted trousers and a chunky tan belt. 

Accessories-wise, Meghan has kept it simple with a pair of oversized gold studs, and an armful of bracelets. 

After rocking a ponytail for the gala last week, today's opted for a sleek bun, with defined brows, smokey eye makeup and a sweep of bronzer.

A look to the European royals now, and Queen Letizia has stepped out in a red midi dress with flutter sleeves to attend a World Mental Health Day event at the Hotel Elba Madrid Alcalá. 

Meghan appeared emotional during some moments while listening to the panellists. 

The Duchess told the crowd before introducing her panel:  @For this next panel we're going to turn to one of the most urgent questions facing families today: what's happening to childhood and how and what do we do to allow our children to just be children.@

Harry is sitting in on The Mental Health and Psychosocial Response to Humanitarian Crises panel - but Meghan has not joined him for this one.

"This session will highlight how preparedness, early intervention, and culturally grounded approaches can and must be integrated into humanitarian response," the itinerary shares.

"Experts will share strategies for stabilizing individuals, supporting frontline workers, and building local capacity, enabling communities to recover with dignity, resilience, and collective healing."

This panel has been created in partnership with Harry and Meghan's Archewell Foundation. 

The Swedish royal visited the  Expo 2025 World Exhibition Osaka in Japan. The royal chose a bold green two-piece for her outing.

During the day, the Crown Princess visited the Nordic Pavilion to take part in its exhibition and meet parts of the staff. 

Victoria also visited the pavilions of the United Nations, Japan, South Korea and Peru.

That's all from me in London this evening, I'll now be handing over to our LA Correspondent, Rebecca Lewis.

Have a good weekend, wherever you are!

Did you recognize the Duchess of Sussex's outfit from Friday? Meghan stepped out in a very familiar ensemble, donning a striped blue and white button-down shirt from Ralph Lauren that she first wore at Wimbledon 2018 when she joined sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, for a girls' day out.

Take a look back at that moment here...

From Princess Kate’s gap year to rare photos of the late Prince Philip, how many of these younger royals can you recognize? 

I love this fun gallery from Danielle Stacey, our online royal correspondent, looking back at royals from across their teenage years.

Longtime mental health advocate Katie Couric spoke exclusively to HELLO! at the 2025 Project Healthy Minds World Mental Health Day Festival, where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were honored.

"[They're] not just giving it lip service, but getting to know these families, telling their stories, and helping to build a community around this issue. I really deeply admire their work in this area," she said.

Read more here.

Meghan has shared this sweet video to honor World Mental Health Day, and praise the 'man who always keeps me laughing'.

Toney and Brandy Roberts' daughter Englyn Maydisyn Roberts took her life five years ago, and they have told HELLO! how Prince Harry and wife Meghan's support has helped the grieving father "to survive".

“Because I'm normally quiet to myself,” he explained. “If it's not me, it's my wife and the kids, but their support has helped me become more open to talking about how I feel to other men and women, other families that again, I normally would never have met, shouldn't have met, but I don't mind sharing my love and my care with them and receive the same in return."

Read more from Toney here.

Project Healthy Minds’ annual World Mental Health Day Festival has concluded for another year, but what a day it has been. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex both hit the stage to share stories and call for more advocacy; one community manager for The Parents’ Network told HELLO! that Prince Harry and Meghan “use their status for good, and that’s what people around the world need to realize.”

Thanks for reading along with us, see y'all Monday!