Duke and Duchess of Sussex celebrate Commonwealth Day with maple taffy

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex celebrated Commonwealth Day over "maple taffy" with young Canadians.

The royal couple visited Canada House to mark the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the modern Commonwealth, speaking to young people about their experience as expats.

Before marrying Prince Harry, Meghan Markle lived in Toronto, Canada, as she worked on legal drama Suits.

During their visit to Canada House, the Duke and Duchess watched a demonstration of making maple taffy, a Canadian spring tradition in which maple syrup is cooled on snow to make sweets as part of a traditional ‘Cabane à sucre’ or a ‘Sugar Shack’.

“Does anyone want one?” the Duchess asked the 30 children vying to see how many they could eat of the sweets, which are made by pouring hot maple syrup on ice and then rolling it onto a stick.

“How many have you had?” she asked one little boy. “Seven? Oh my goodness.”

She gave her taffy to a nine-year-old girl, Elodie-Rose Duguay-Inegbese, from Shippagan, New Brunswick, who had only eaten two.

“It was really fun and Meghan’s really pretty. She was very kind and I liked talking to her,” the little girl, whose mother Sylvie works at the high commission, said.

The Duke and Duchess, who wore an outfit by the Canadian fashion firm Erdem, spent more than a hour at Canada House, meeting mostly young people from among the 500,000 strong Canadian expatriate population in Britain.

The royal couple, whose first child is due at the end of next month, were escorted around the grand Greek Revival building on Trafalgar Square by the Canadian High Commissioner Janice Charette, who said she kept dropping hints about them visiting Canada soon but got no firm commitment.

“I think their priority is the baby first,” she said.

The High Commissioner told the royal couple: “We trust that your visit to Canada House today has served as a reminder of happy times spent in Canada.

“We do kind of claim you," she told the Duchess.

“I’ll take that!” said Meghan, laughing. She reminisced about her time in Toronto, asking all the young people she met where they came from and which districts if they were from the city.

“Everyone here seems to be from Toronto,” Harry said.

“It’s such a great place," his wife replied.

The couple, who have been given special responsibility to focus on young people in the Commonwealth, met young entrepreneurs, academics, and others working in the arts, telling them all how important their work was.

When they met Michelle Keller-Hobson, who works for a Canadian investment firm, Wealthsimple, that encourages people to save and invest with as little as £1, Meghan asked what proportion of customers were women.

Ms Keller-Hobson said 38 per cent in the UK but explained the figure was higher in Canada. She said women in Britain often had less money to invest because of the gender pay gap and other factors.

The Duchess told her: “It’s so important what you are doing. Keep it up.”

She and Harry were given an outfit for their baby before they left as a present from the high commission.

The gift set included a Hop and Moo organic maole leaf design baby bodysuit, Manitobah Mukluks leather moccasins,  and a hat and mittens from the Hudson’s Bay company.

Father-to-be Prince Harry made staff laugh by sniffing inside the moccasins. “I’m sniffing the insides to check if they are leather or not, not because they are smelly,” he said.

Later today, the Queen, senior members of the royal family and leading figures from national life will attend the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey.

In her message to mark Commonwealth Day, the head of state has praised how the family of nations inspires its member states to find ways of protecting the planet and its citizens.

Millions of people are "drawn together" because of the collective values shared by the institution, the Queen says in her address to the 53 countries of the Commonwealth.

The written message is featured in the order of service for the annual Commonwealth Day service being held at Westminster Abbey.

The Queen, who is head of the Commonwealth, says in her message: "In April last year, I welcomed the leaders of our 53 nations to Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and we all witnessed how the Commonwealth vision offers hope, and inspires us to find ways of protecting our planet, and our people.

"We are able to look to the future with greater confidence and optimism as a result of the links that we share, and thanks to the networks of co-operation and mutual support to which we contribute, and on which we draw.

"With enduring commitment through times of great change, successive generations have demonstrated that whilst the goodwill for which the Commonwealth is renowned may be intangible, its impact is very real."

The Queen will be joined at the Commonwealth Day service by the Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Duke of York.

Other guests among the 2,000-strong congregation will include Prime Minister Theresa May, the Commonwealth Secretary-General Baroness Scotland, alongside high commissioners, ambassadors, faith leaders and more than 800 schoolchildren and young people.

Commonwealth Day has a special significance this year, as 2019 marks the 70th anniversary of the modern Commonwealth - a global network of 53 countries and almost 2.4 billion people.

The theme for this year's service is "A Connected Commonwealth" which highlights the co-operation between the culturally diverse family of nations who work together in friendship.

Highlights of the service include performances by Grammy-winning group Clean Bandit and tenor Alfie Boe.

A reflection will be given by Lewis Pugh, an endurance swimmer, ocean advocate and the UN Patron of the Oceans.

Later in the evening, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall will be guests of the Commonwealth Secretary-General at the annual reception which traditionally takes place on Commonwealth Day at Marlborough House, the home of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the institution's civil service.