Meghan Markle Says Conservationist Jane Goodall Is Her ‘Idol’

Meghan Markle says famed conservationist Dr. Jane Goodall is her ‘idol’.

The pair met last month, at the Royal Couple’s home Frogmore Cottage, ahead of yesterday’s Roots & Shoots Global Leadership Meeting, an initiative created by Dr. Goodall, bringing together students from 26 countries from around the world to work together on various environmental projects.

An Instagram post shared by the Sussexes shows Prince Harry embracing Dr. Goodall, and reenacting how chimpanzees meet each other (below).

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A couple of captured moments between The Duke of Sussex and Dr. Jane Goodall at today’s event. The pair share an impromptu dance and ‘Chimpanzee Greeting’ which Jane taught The Duke when they first met. Today’s event was full of education, inspiration and fun. Because working hard and playing hard are not mutually exclusive… ? For more information on today’s special event on Roots & Shoots, please see previous post.

A post shared by The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (@sussexroyal) on Jul 23, 2019 at 12:33pm PDT

‘Idol’

Dr. Goodall – who has been described as the ‘perfect woman’ by musician Moby for being ‘beautiful, erudite, vegan’ – shared some of the details of her visit with reporters, revealing that she gave baby Archie a cuddle, and some of the things she discussed with the royal couple.

“[Meghan] told me she’s followed me all her life,” Dr. Goodall revealed. “She told me ‘you’ve been my idol since I was a child. I’ve hero worshipped you all my life’.

“She came in at the end with Archie and I got to cuddle him. He’s very cute and very gentle.”

‘Kindness, warmth, and immense knowledge’

Prince Harry revealed that he too has long admired the conservationist, saying at the Roots & Shoots Global Leadership Meeting: “She is a woman of kindness, warmth, immense knowledge and a softness that’s needed by mankind just as much as it is chimpkind.

“I’ve been admiring her work since I was a kid, and it was so wonderful to find that she was even more amazing in person.”