Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have unveiled their newest project under their foundation, Archewell, after completely stepping back from their royal roles and it's based in one of the Commonwealth countries, Dominica.
According to People, the construction of one of four relief centers for World Central Kitchen has been completedthanks to the help of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Harry and Meghan agreed to partner with chef José Andrés, who founded the kitchen, and fund the building of the relief centers via Archewell.
The new World Central Kitchen will help feed vulnerable communities in times of disaster. It has been built next to a school, which is also part of the country's safe shelter program. The center will also be used as a training ground for young and aspiring chefs who will be preparing batches of food for the community in an emergency situation.
In December 2020, Harry and Meghan announced the partnership with Andrés and said that four kitchens will be built in 2021 at various places where food becomes challenging after a hurricane. Dominica was picked as one of the beneficiaries after the country battered stronger hurricanes in the last five years. In 2017, Hurricane Maria left Dominica with only 10 percent of the infrastructure intact.
The new relief center will rely on solar power for much of its operations. The training program for the chefs is set to begin in the middle of the year.
A second World Central Kitchen will be built in Puerto Rico next but it's still unclear if Harry and Meghan will have a chance to visit their projects this year. The Sussex pair have been mostly confined to their home in Montecito, California, because of the pandemic. Meghan is also heavy with their second child and is expected to give birth in the spring or summer.
Harry and Meghan founded Archewell after leaving the royal fold in 2020. The couple also established Archewell Audio as one of their media projects to expand their foundation's portfolio.
But Archewell Audio, which has a multimillion-dollar deal with Spotify, has been heavily scrutinized by United Kingdom officials. The MPs grilled executives of Spotify for giving the Sussex pair a platform when other struggling artists could also benefit from a multimillion-dollar windfall.
Spotify did not confirm how much they gave Harry and Meghan for their podcast deal but sources said it's about $25 million. The media's executive said that they made the deal with Sussexes because they know that the pair will attract more listeners to the platform. It was an economic opportunity that they also extended to other acts or artists who have quite a following.
