On a brilliant, sunny September morning—a minor miracle, as the forecast had predicted heavy rain—the Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at P.S. 123’s playground in Harlem. A group of fourth and fifth graders greeted them. They stood in a formal straight line at first, but that formality fast fell away as they chatted eagerly with the pair about a mural they’d made. Meghan peppered them with praise—“Beautiful!, oh, I love that!”—as they pointed out their colored paper flowers and ladybugs. Soon there were hugs, even tears.
Then the couple walked over to a turfed outdoor reading room filled with second graders. Harry plopped down next to them on a leaf-shaped cushion. Meghan, dressed in a maroon suit, took a seat facing the class with her children’s book, The Bench, in hand. “I wrote this when we just had our little boy, and I haven’t read it to any other kids but you,” she told them.
She then read from The Bench—“This is your bench/Where you’ll witness great joy/From here you will rest/See the growth of our boy.”
“It’s really about—who is the person in your life who is so special to you? Where is the place you find to be your happy place?” she said. “I’d love to hear from you.”
Hands shot up. Some with answers—“My brother at my nana’s house!” Others, with requests: One boy just wanted to know if he could have his own copy of The Bench.
Harry, meanwhile, gently encouraged shyer students to participate (“Shout it out!” he told one girl, after she whispered her response to him.)
P.S. 123 has students from 12 area shelters—five of them are for temporary housing, and seven house women and children who have experienced domestic abuse. Through their foundation, Archewell, Meghan and Harry stocked P.S. 123’s pantry with free cleaning and hygiene products from Procter & Gamble. They also donated a washer and dryer so students can wash their uniforms, as well as two garden boxes filled with fresh vegetables and herbs. The Duchess also partnered with Graham Windham, a family services nonprofit founded in 1806 by Eliza Hamilton, to put several reading nooks in public schools across the city.