Meghan Markle: Insider discusses Duchess’ ‘political ambitions’

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex made the donation to the charity through their non-profit Archewell foundation. The PressPad Charitable Foundation, which received the payment, gives students from different socio-economic backgrounds a foothold in the industry by providing grants, training and support in order to lower the financial barrier for young people wanting to be journalists.

In an exclusive interview with Express.co.uk, CEO Olivia Crellin expressed her reaction to the Sussexes’ donation.

“I was totally shocked,” she said, “It was surreal.”

“They approached us, so it wasn’t something that I had seen coming.”

PressPad announced they had received a donation from the Archewell foundation just five days after the bombshell tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The couple told Ms Winfrey of the relentless treatment they received from the British media, citing it as a factor in their decision to step away as senior royals.

During the interview with Ms Winfrey, the Duchess described perceived differences in media coverage between herself and Kate Middleton.

In an interview with James Corden a fortnight earlier, Harry blamed the “toxic” British press for his departure from royal life.

PressPad confirmed the donation in a tweet, writing: “We are delighted to announce that we have just registered a sister charity, The PressPad Charitable Foundation, and are thrilled that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their Archewell Foundation will be among our first donors.

“We look forward to continuing to make positive and lasting change to improve social mobility in the UK media.”

Ms Crellin added: “I think we’d been on the radar of some members of their team for a while and I think having had a look at their priorities for their foundation they thought we’d be a good fit.

“When I got the email asking for a chat with the foundation I definitely thought twice about whether it was real or not, but it was, and we’re thrilled.”

Ms Crellin said that it was too early to tell what the impact on the charity will be, however she did say that every donation was positive.

“Any donation allows us to carry on our work in particular following an incredibly difficult year,” said Ms Crellin.

“With some tough months ahead, any help that can be given in these moments is appreciated.”

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The PressPad Charitable Foundation, founded only last month, is an offshoot of PressPad Ltd which works to provide accommodation and networking opportunities for aspiring journalists.

Like many companies, PressPad was forced to shift their efforts into an online format due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Crellin said: “We had to drastically pivot our model to an online format to make sure we could still continue to keep our community feeling positive and allow them to continue to develop their careers while everything else was on pause.”

She added: “Once face-to-face schemes are running again we’re looking forward to launching our host-mentorship platform.”

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