Meghan Markle joined Hollywood actress Priyanka Chopra and former first lady of the United States Michelle Obama to be a part of the 2020 "Girl Up" Leadership Summit. On Tuesday, the Duchess of Sussex gave a keynote speech virtually to more than 40,000 young people across 172 countries.

Meghan Markle delivered the address from her Los Angeles home in the virtual version of the Girl Up Summit 2020, a leadership summit for women across the globe. Her speech was a closing address for "The Time Is Now" Women in Leadership Plenary whereby she talked about "building each other up" in an endeavour to bringing positive changes to the world. She urged young people to "support each other" and voice out using "on-and offline" mediums.

"So, use your voice both on-and-offline to do just that – build each other up, support each other. There will always be negative voices and sometimes those voices can appear to be outsized, and sometimes they can appear to be painfully loud. You can and will use your own voices to drown out the noise. Because that's what it is - just noise. But your voices are those of truth. And hope. And your voices can and should be much louder," she said in the speech.

In addition, she talked about socio-political issues, racial injustice, and the Black Lives Matter movement. The former royal also addressed issues like climate change and the power of internet as part of her speech to the attendees belonging to the age group of 13 to 22 years.

"Believing in true equality is not enough — it's going to take more than belief, we have to work for it every day; even when it's hard and even when it makes others feel uneasy. We have to speak up for ourselves and we have to speak out for others who struggle to be heard," the 38-year-old added.

During her speech, the mother-of-one revealed that Girl UP is organising Black Lives Matter protests around the world. Additionally, they are creating films and documentaries to educate and encourage youth to participate in the movement to bring about positive reformations.

She said words of encouragement and appreciation and concluded saying: "It's in looking at the aggregate, looking at the big picture, that you can see how far we've progressed. I am extraordinarily proud of what you've already accomplished. Please, continue to honour the conviction and compassion that's awoken within you. I will be cheering you on, so will my husband, so will Archie, as you continue marching, advocating, and leading the way forward."

A source close to Meghan told Harper Bazaar that the duchess' Girl Up summit speech was "unscripted and from the heart on issues of gender equity, racial injustice, youth empowerment, and the importance of creating a healthy digital community during her address."

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
Canada will no longer pay the security costs for Britain's Prince Harry and his wife Meghan in the country, where they have been living part time since pulling back from their royal duties. Photo: POOL / TOBY MELVILLE

Girl Up is an initiative by United Nations Foundation established in the year 2010 to support United Nation agencies working toward empowerment of adolescent girls. Apart from Meghan, Priyanka Chopra and Michelle Obama, Hilary Clinton, Abby Wambach, Monique Coleman, Bebe Rexha were other special guests and speakers of the summit addressing the attendees over the three-day event

Meghan Markle