Meghan Markle headlines Indiana event for women’s empowerment

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Meghan Markle is advocating for women’s empowerment. The 41-year-old was the featured guest at the Women's Fund of Central Indiana event on Tuesday.

The Duchess of Sussex appeared at the sold-out Indianapolis event, where she spoke with moderator Rabbi Sandy Sasso about the importance of supporting young girls along with women’s empowerment. 

The discussion was hosted by the Women’s Fund of Central Indiana, which has also brought in speakers like former first lady Michelle Obama, Brooke Shields, Andrea Jung and Soledad O’Brien.

The organization, which was recognized by The White House and the Clinton Global Initiative in 2015, focuses on disrupting the cycles of poverty for women and creating measurable, sustainable solutions that can be replicated across the country. 

MEGHAN MARKLE FACED ‘DISGUSTING’ THREATS IN THE UK, FORMER COUNTERTERRORISM HEAD SAYS: ‘VERY REAL’ 

Meghan Markle spoke at an event hosted by the Women's Fund of Indiana on Tuesday.  (Archewell)

Sasso is the first female rabbi ordained by the Reconstructionist movement.  

The Women’s Fund described Meghan as a "mother, feminist and champion of human rights," on its website. "She is a lifelong advocate for women and girls, a constant thread she weaves through humanitarian and business ventures." Markle and her husband Prince Harry have started a variety of new projects since leaving the U.K. and settling in California after stepping down as senior royals in 2020. 

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Meghan Markle spoke to Rabbi Sandy Sasso Tuesday in Indianapolis.  (Archewell)

Markle's visit to the Midwest came a day before Prince William and Kate Middleton flew to Boston Wednesday for a three-day trip culminating in the ceremony announcing the winners of William's Earthshot Prize environmental grants. 

The Prince and Princess of Wales, who have been at odds with Markle and Harry since they left the U.K., reportedly have no plans to meet with the Sussexes on their first trip to the U.S. since 2014. 

"William simply can’t forgive [Harry], not just for his behavior and what he’s done and how he’s done it, but look at how much now rests on William," Vanity Fair’s royal correspondent Katie Nicholl said on "Dan Wootton Tonight" in September. "He always thought Harry would be his wingman. Now he’s doing it on his own. Thank goodness he’s got Kate by his side."

On an episode of her podcast, Archetypes, Markle said an "inspirational" woman who she didn’t name asked her to keep up her activism as she prepared to marry Harry and enter royal life in 2018. 

Meghan Markle has been involved in activism for women and girls for years. In 2019, she joined a conversation to discuss the nature of violence against women and girls in South Africa.  (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage)

"And I kept doing the work for women and girls because it matters, yes. But also because she encouraged me to do so," she said, People magazine reported. "And the collective voice of all of us telling each other that matters is perhaps the point. There's safety in numbers. But there's also strength in numbers."

Markle’s Indiana talk also came on the same day Neil Basu, the former head of counterterrorism for the Metropolitan Police, went on TV in the U.K., to describe how the Duchess of Sussex faced "disgusting and very real" threats to her life before she left the country. 

"We had teams investigating it," he said, explaining that Markle had more than one credible threat to her life. "People have been prosecuted for those threats."

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He added, "And if you’d seen the stuff that was written and you were receiving it… the kind of rhetoric that’s online… you would feel under threat all the time."

Fox News Digital's Tracy Wright and Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.