Prince Harry and Meghan Markle pulled off the surprise of a lifetime for some young poets on Saturday.
In honor of Black History Month, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex dropped into a Zoom poetry class run by the arts education nonprofit Get Lit – Words Unite.
The completely stunned students reacted with wide grins, clasped hands and lots of shocked faces.
“Guess who surprised our poetry class this weekend?! It was the best weekend EVER!” the organization wrote in an Instagram post shared Monday, adding that Meghan “even shared some of her favorite poetry lines” and that the visit “goes down as [the] most epic experience in Get Lit history!!!”
Diane Luby Lane, founder and executive director of Get Lit, said the royals’ team reached out to the organization to get involved. Lane described their surprise appearance as “honestly the most shocking and thrilling moment of our lives.”
“Our Poets’ mouths hit the floor,” she wrote in an email to HuffPost. “After they left, one of the poets started crying and said ‘I need someone to explain what just happened right now.’”
“The Duke and Duchess knew the names of each of the Poets and talked about their lives, which completely blew them away,” Lane said.
“They took music suggestions from the Poets and said it would be their dinner playlist. They both listened so deeply to every word of the 3 poems that they heard,” she said, adding that the couple also “discussed deep things like racism and the importance of listening to one another.”
Mason Granger, manager of public outreach for Get Lit, wrote on Instagram that he appreciated “Meghan echoing so many sentiments we’ve talked about in class, about this particular moment in time/history to be a young person and the ripple effect of a single voice.”
Student Cielo Valenzuela wrote on her Instagram that the royals had her “at a loss for words on how cool and incredible this experience was,” and she called the duke and duchess “super kind, respectful and so genuine.”
Lane said it was difficult to say goodbye to the royals when their time was up.
“When Prince Harry and Meghan left the screen I think we all felt like crying because it was like ‘Noooooooooo, stay a little longer!’” she said, noting that the royals’ visit left the students feeling confident.
“One student wrote in the chat, ‘Invite Beyonce next time because I’m confident now. Meghan knows my name,’” Lane said. ”It’s these small things, to know that you’re worthy of dropping in on that changes and saves lives.”
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