How Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Honored Princess Diana For Pride Month
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Instagram account may still be relatively new, but they’ve already dedicated their social media presence to supporting a range of important causes. On June 1, the couple posted a collage of photos to honor Pride Month, announcing that they plan to shine a light on the LGBTQ+ community.
“Continuing with our tradition to rotate the accounts we follow based on causes and social issues that matter to us: For the month of June we ‘proudly’ shine a light on PRIDE,” the caption read. “This month we pay tribute to the accounts supporting the LGBTQ+ community - those young and old, their families and friends, accounts that reflect on the past and are hopeful for a deservedly more inclusive future. We stand with you and support you. Because it’s very simple: love is love.”
One of the photos featured showed Harry’s mother Princess Diana during her monumental 1996 visit to the London Lighthouse, a hospice center for people with AIDS. During her lifetime, Diana made a conscious effort to abolish the stigma associated with the disease, opening up the UK’s first HIV unit at London Middlesex Hospital. In a now-historic photograph, Diana is shown shaking hands with a patient, a move that shocked the world during a time when many still believed the disease could be passed on through skin-to-skin contact.
“If a royal was allowed to go in shake a patient’s hands, somebody at the bus stop or the supermarket could do the same," a nurse who was there during Diana’s visit told the BBC. “That really educated people.”
In 1991, Diana spoke on her visit during the Children and Aids Conference, saying, “HIV does not make people dangerous to know, so you can shake their hands and give them a hug. Heaven knows they need it.”
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