Why Meghan Markle is Writing Positive Messages on Bananas

A sweet gesture on a sweet fruit.

Date February 1, 2019

Growing up, I was fortunate to have a mother who would wake up every morning to pack my school bag with over-the-top, gourmet lunches. They weren’t quite on the level of Jenny Mollen’s Dictator Lunches, but I would on occasion open my Tupperware to find a heart shaped sandwich—and almost always, an encouraging message scribbled on my napkin. The thoughtful gesture was cute when I was in second grade, but as I entered my angsty adolescent years, I’d crumple the love notes and push them to the bottom of the my backpack. Ninth graders, in case you hadn’t heard, can be very mean.

Now, as I pull my lunch out of the office fridge, I wish I still had someone sending mid-day positivity my way. Meghan Markle, it seems, shares this sentiment. When the Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited charity One25 in Bristol this morning, they were shown food bags being prepared for sex workers. Hannah Furness, a royal correspondent, tweeted that when Markle saw the bags, she said, “I saw this project this woman had started somewhere in the States on a school lunch [program]. On each of the bananas she wrote an affirmation, to make the kids feel really, like, empowered. It was the most incredible idea—this small gesture.” The Duchess grabbed a sharpie, and got to work sprinkling some Markle Sparkle all over the yellow fruit.

…some of the women working on Bristol’s streets this evening will receive these messages from The Duchess in their food parcels. #RoyalVisitBristol pic.twitter.com/A3i2r1sTYT

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) February 1, 2019

“It sounds really cheesy, but little things like that when you are out, especially tonight, just to get that little thing that Meghan took her time out to write that one, it’s lush,” Sam, a former sex worker and CharityOne25 volunteer, told HELLO Magazine.

The positive banana affirmations (which include YOU ARE STRONG, YOU ARE SPECIAL, YOU ARE LOVED, and YOU ARE BRAVE) seem to span two of Markle’s greatest passions: charity work, and bananas. It seems worth mentioning that, back in October, the Duchess baked a loaf of banana bread for an Australian farm during the royal tour. It was also rumoured that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding cake would be banana flavoured. And then there was the photo she posted on her now-defunct Instagram in the early days of her and Harry’s romance…