Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s final set of official royal engagements in 2020 included a memorable moment from an honoree at a London awards presentation, eliciting a joyful reaction from the duchess that has since resurfaced on social media.
On March 5, 2020, Harry and Meghan attended the Endeavour Fund Awards ceremony as part of their final set of royal engagements before leaving for California. The couple has been attending the awards since 2018.
Harry launched the foundation in 2012 to assist wounded, injured, and ill service members and veterans. With the declaration that Harry will no longer be working for the monarchy in 2020, the fund was moved from the Royal Foundation, which had been the charitable output of Harry, Prince William, Kate Middleton, and latterly Meghan, to the Invictus Games Foundation.
Danny Holland, a veteran of the Welsh Guards regiment, used the chance onstage during the 2020 awards event to propose to his fiancée Lauren Price, much to the joy of the royal couple in the audience.
Video footage shot on the night, uploaded to TikTok by user a.jmxn, showed Meghan’s eyes filled with tears as she celebrated the accepted proposal with Harry. Since it was released on May 25, the video has been seen over 250,000 times and has earned over 13,000 likes.
Holland was on stage at the awards presentation, receiving the Recognizing Achievement award for his career as a racecar driver after being involved with an improvised explosive device bomb while serving in Afghanistan.
Meghan and Harry made speeches later in the evening during the concert. Meghan awarded the Celebrating Excellence Award to Lee Spencer, a former Royal Marine who completed a solo crossing of the Atlantic in 2019 in 60 days, breaking the world record in the process.
During his statement, Harry paid respect to the service members and their families who have dedicated their lives to helping others, as well as mentioning his own military experience and his desires for the future of the Endeavour Fund.
After quitting the service in 2015, the prince worked closely with British military organizations and veterans. When he graduated from high school, Harry began military training at the famous Sandhurst Academy before joining the British Army’s Blues and Royals cavalry unit.
Harry returned to Afghanistan in 2012 after retraining as an Apache helicopter pilot with the Army Air Corps, where he served as a co-pilot and gunner before returning to the United Kingdom.
In his 2023 memoir, Spare, the prince wrote extensively about his military time and his interactions with veterans. Though commended for his open explanation of the mental health consequences of active military service, the monarch received criticism for a number of his comments, particularly the news that he had killed 25 Taliban fighters.
