Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are set to receive a new award for their humanitarian work.
It has been revealed that the couple's Archewell Foundation is to receive the gong from the Human First Coalition for its work advocating for Afghan refugees. The organisation points out that Archewell had offered generous financial support for at-risk Afghans as well as military veterans who served in Afghanistan. The awards ceremony will take place in New York City on Monday - the year-anniversary of the Taliban takeover of the country. However, Harry and Meghan won't be there to receive the award, instead, executive director of the Archewell Foundation James Holt will accept the honour.
Mr Holt said: "It's an honour to be recognized by Human First Coalition, whose steadfast work in Afghanistan has played a critical role in delivering much-needed aid and resulted in the successful evacuation and resettlement of thousands globally.
"We share a commitment to supporting families and veterans and are grateful for their partnership."
Also picking up an award at the ceremony will be US Senator Richard Blumenthal for his work advocating on behalf of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers.
And Safi Rauf, who established the Human First Coalition said: "Both Sen. Blumenthal and the Archewell Foundation were instrumental in assisting us as we organized efforts to assist Afghans who were left behind when the Taliban took Kabul.
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"We cannot thank them enough for their support."
Harry, who spent 10 years in the British Army, completed two tours of duty in Afghanistan.
He later helped to found the Invictus Games especially for injured and wounded service men and women.
And at the time of the Taliban's rapid takeover of Afghanistan one year ago, he and Meghan released a statement commenting on how "exceptionally fragile" the world is.
The statement also touched on a deadly earthquake that hit Haiti and the continuing Covid-19 pandemic that left them "scared".
On their Archewell website, the home of all their post-royal projects, they wrote: “The world is exceptionally fragile right now.
"As we all feel the many layers of pain due to the situation in Afghanistan, we are left speechless.
"As we all watch the growing humanitarian disaster in Haiti, and the threat of it worsening after last weekend’s earthquake, we are left heartbroken.
"And as we all witness the continuing global health crisis, exacerbated by new variants and constant misinformation, we are left scared.
"When any person or community suffers, a piece of each of us does so with them, whether we realize it or not. And though we are not meant to live in a state of suffering, we, as a people, are being conditioned to accept it. It’s easy to find ourselves feeling powerless, but we can put our values into action — together."
