Meghan Markle recalled that she had to flee incognito to New York City to find “safety” during her tenure as a senior member of the royal family.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, made a surprise appearance at the grand opening A book purchased over the weekend at Godmothers Bookstore located near Montecito, in Summerland, California.
The former “Suits” star gave a brief speech on stage at the star-studded event, which was also attended by her friend Oprah Winfrey.
Markle recalled the last time she visited a bookstore – telling listeners it was during a quick trip to the Big Apple back in 2019 to see her close friend Serena Williams play at the US Open.
“Going undercover in New York five years ago was a big deal for me,” he said, adding that he wore a hat and kept his head down to avoid being recognized.
“I was still very uncomfortable being out in the world. The security I was craving I could find in the bookstore.”
A photo shared on social media by author Laura Lynn Jackson saw the former actress speaking on stage at the event.
“The most illuminating evening of speakers…,” Jackson wrote alongside the photo.
The event was a star-studded affair, as Winfrey, author Shaka Senghor and astrologer Jennifer Freed were also present at the inauguration.
The store's co-founders Jennifer Rudolph Walsh and Victoria Jackson were also in attendance.
Though Markle's husband, Prince Harry, was not in attendance at the event, the Duke of Sussex's jaw-dropping memoir “Spare” was featured on the “hometown authors” display shelf.
According to Town & Country, Harry was the one who came up with the name for the bookstore.
At his party for “Spare” in Beverly Hills, Duke thanked Winfrey, Jackson and Rudolph Walsh for their support, calling all three his “fairy godmothers”.
When planning was underway, Winfrey told the two founders, “There's really only one thing you can name: godmother.”
The bookstore's display includes Gwyneth Paltrow's “It's All Easy” as well as Markle's children's book “The Bench,” which she released in 2021.
“We honor our hometown authors as if they were our hometown heroes, because to us, they are heroes,” Walsh said in a video following the store's opening.
