Meghan Markle says 'George Floyd's life mattered' in speech on US protests at her former school in LA and waited until now because she 'wanted to say the right thing and I was really nervous'

Meghan Markle today broke her silence on the murder of George Floyd, declaring that ‘black lives matter’ and revealed that she had not spoken about his death before because she had been ‘nervous’.

The Duchess of Sussex gave an address to graduating pupils at her old school, Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, where she also named other African Americans who were killed in the US by police in recent years.

The 38-year-old former actress, who attended the school from the age of 11 to 18, said: ‘George Floyd’s life mattered and Breonna Taylor’s life mattered and Philando Castile’s life mattered and Tamir Rice’s life mattered’. 

The other three people Meghan mentions were killed by US police over the past six years. Meghan also referred to Los Angeles as the family’s ‘home town’ after moving there with husband Prince Harry, and their son Archie.

On speaking out about Mr Floyd, she said: ‘I wasn’t sure what I could say to you. I wanted to say the right thing and I was really nervous that it would get picked apart. And I realised the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing’.

Meghan made the six-minute virtual speech yesterday before the video was released to black women’s lifestyle magazine Essence, which published it on its website today saying ‘courtesy of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’. 

It comes as demonstrations continue to build around the world after Mr Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died after white police officer Derek Chauvin put his knee on his neck in Minneapolis on May 25 for nine minutes. 

Meghan Markle pays tribute to George Floyd and Black Lives Matter

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