The speech came a week after the publication of an interview with The Cut magazine, in which he again criticized the way he and Harry were treated by the royal family, causing a stir in British newspapers.

“It’s great to be back in the UK,” Meghan said in a keynote address at the One Young World Summit in Manchester, Northern England, which was also attended by Harry, Queen Elizabeth’s grandson.

“You are the future, but I want to add that you are also the present. You are driving the positive and necessary change that is needed around the world right now, right now.”

Meghan spoke about her first experience at the Summit in 2014, when she was invited to be a counselor at One Young World.

“I’m so happy that my husband can join me here this time,” she said, drawing cheers from the room. “To meet again here on English soil with him by my side completes the circle.”

Harry and Meghan retired from their royal duties more than two years ago, and only made their first public appearance in the UK in June as part of Elizabeth’s Platinum Birthday celebrations.

However, they continue to attract huge media attention, not least because of the strained relationship between Harry and his older brother, Prince William, and his father, Prince Charles, his heir.

According to British newspapers, there are no plans for Harry to see William on his travels, suggesting that the siblings have not been able to resolve their differences. Although Harry and Meghan live in their former home near Windsor Castle, it is only a stone’s throw from the cottage where William and his family moved last month, the paper said.

Harry is also in a legal battle with the British government over his safety, and was released in July to challenge a decision denying him and his family police protection while they were in England, even if he himself supported it.

Harry and Meghan have registered a private security team since moving to California, where they live with their two young children.

Following the Manchester event, the pair will attend an event in Germany on Tuesday to mark one year before the Invictus Games for injured veterans in 2023, and an awards ceremony for terminally ill children in London on Thursday.