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On Sunday Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped out for the London premiere of The Lion King, which sees Beyonce and Donald Glover take on the Disney classic.

The pair, who lent their support to The Lion King’s conservation campaign #ProtectThePride, were seen greeting celebrities including Billy Eichner and Beyonce. However, one exchange the Duchess and Prince Harry had with Pharrell is making the rounds online.

Touching on the importance of representation, the short exchange was captured and transcribed by Twitter user @royal_suitor online, who shared a clip of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry greeting Pharrell.

After Pharrell curtsied to Prince Harry and was complimented on his shorts, the exchange quickly moved into deeper territory as the singer seemingly touched on the importance of their biracial relationship to the world at large.

In the video, the Happy singer can be heard saying to them, “So happy for your union. Love is amazing. It’s wonderful. Don’t ever take that for granted but what it means in today’s climate, I just wanted to tell you it’s so significant for so many of us. Seriously.”

Clearly moved by Pharrell’s words, both Harry and Meghan reached out to him as he continued, “I mean this. It’s significant. We cheer you guys on.”

Meghan responded, “Thank you. They don’t make it easy.”

Pharrell nodded and said, “So you understand then... so you understand the significance.”

At one point, Prince Harry leaned forward and whispered something into Pharrell’s ear which made the crowd laugh.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s relationship is one that has been heavily scrutinised, with many celebrating their biracial marriage and the fact that a woman of colour is now a major part of one of the most photographed families in the world.

Even prior to her relationship with Prince Harry, Meghan discussed the significance of being a mixed race woman in Elle in 2015 and dealing with the “Pandora’s box of discrimination”.

Most notably in the piece, she talked about the racist backlash that emerged after Wendell Pierce, a black actor, was cast as her onscreen father in Suits.

She wrote, “The reaction was unexpected, but speaks of the undercurrent of racism that is so prevalent, especially within America. On the heels of the racial unrest in Ferguson and Baltimore, the tensions that have long been percolating under the surface in the US have boiled over in the most deeply saddening way.”

“And as a biracial woman, I watch in horror as both sides of a culture I define as my own become victims of spin in the media, perpetuating stereotypes and reminding us that the States has perhaps only placed bandages over the problems that have never healed at the root,” she continued.

In 2016, Prince Harry released an impassioned statement - highly unusual for a Royal Family member - after his relationship with Markle became public knowledge. In the statement, he said via his Communications Secretary that “a line [had been] crossed” and said that he was “deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her”.

The statement read, “Meghan Markle has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. Some of this has been very public - the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments.”

Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding was particularly notable for being a celebration of both of their heritages. Beyond the trappings and traditions of the British Royal Family, Meghan’s mark was clearly felt on the proceedings as the couple chose Reverend Michael Bruce Curry - a prominent activist and the first black Episcopalian bishop - to give a sermon alongside performances by a black gospel choir and cellist prodigy Sheku Kanneh-Mason.

Earlier this April, Sky also published an in-depth report on the level of racist abuse levelled at Meghan Markle and stated that she was the “subject of frequent conspiracy-led and racist attacks on social media sites”. They also cited one specific instance when the Sussexes visited the sex worker charity One25, in which Meghan signed a number of bananas with inspiring messages to put into lunch boxes. This led to racist trolls calling her the “banana baroness” and one user writing that she was “like a monkey”.

Other prominent figures have defended the couple, including Meghan’s close friend Priyanka Chopra. Asked about negative stories in the press, Chopra said, “If there's anyone who can handle it, it's her. Of course it has to do with racism, it's an obvious reason. But the beauty of Meg is that she's been herself through all of this.”

Beyonce and Jay-Z also famously accepted their Brit award in front of a portrait of a crowned Meghan Markle, a portrait that was created by Meghan’s former sorority at Northwestern University Kappa Kappa Gamma. Beyonce doubled down on the night of the premiere - when she saw Meghan she was reportedly heard greeting her “my princess”.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle revealed on Instagram that they were at the premiere to support Disney’s #ProtectThePride campaign, which aims to “support efforts protecting the rapidly diminishing lion population across Africa”.

In fact, they also revealed in the same post that Disney had donated funds to their “upcoming environment & community initiative” and continued that the couple were “committed to advancing conservation efforts across Africa and around the world”.

To learn more about the #ProtectThePride campaign and to lend your support, you can read more about it on Disney’s official page here.

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