Ripple of Hope award

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex Harry and Meghan Markle have received the Ripple of Hope Award from the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation for Human Rights of America (1925-1968) for their efforts in the fight against racism. It was announced on Wednesday by the BBC Broadcasting Corporation.

A spokesperson for the foundation and Robert Kennedy's daughter Kerry said the couple had shown "incredible courage" in speaking out on issues of racial justice. The awards ceremony, hosted by American actor Alexander Baldwin III, was held in New York.

The pair also announced that they were teaming up with the RFK Foundation to launch a new student film award called the Archewell Foundation Award for Gender Equity In Film.

Before presenting the award, Kerry named all of the royal couple's awards that led to them being honoured.

Senator Robert Kennedy, brother of the 35th US president John F. Kennedy, was the victim of an assassination attempt 54 years ago. Jordan Sirhan Sirhan shot and killed the senator on June 5 1968, just after he had won the California primary for the Democratic presidential nomination.

The Ripple of Hope award is named after Robert Kennedy's famous "pulse of hope" speech in 1966 in Cape Town, the then apartheid regime. Meghan Markle had previously spoken in an interview with TV journalist Oprah Winfrey about racism by the royal family, particularly against their son Archie.

As of March 31, 2020, Prince Harry and Meghan have lost the ability to officially represent the monarch on trips, perform other ceremonial duties and use the title of Their Highnesses. They have moved to the US, where they are raising two children. The couple have signed contracts to produce and produce audio and video content with Swedish service Spotify and US-based Netflix.

It is worth noting that Penguin Random House will publish Prince Harry's memoirs, titled Spare, on 10 January 2023.