Here's why Harry and Meghan made a secret stop at Stanford University in California

Harry and Meghan made another secret stop in the US recently, following their appearance in Miami.

The couple visited Stanford University in California, reports People, where they met with professors to discuss a new charitable foundation they intend on launching. A palace source confirmed the news to HELLO! Magazine saying, "As part of their ongoing work to develop and build their new charitable organisation, they had a brainstorming session and meetings with academics and professors."

Education is an important focus for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – Meghan, specifically, has spoken about the empowerment of women and girls through education.

Even before becoming a member of the royal family, Meghan worked with organisations in developing countries to ensure girls have access to education. To further the cause, Meghan made a poignant trip to Rwanda in 2016, one to India in 2017, and of course, one to South Africa in 2019.

While at the University of Johannesburg, Meghan, Patron of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) at the time, announced three new gender grants that will be given to researchers at the University of Johannesburg, the University of Stellenbosch and the University of the Western Cape.

Being a known advocate for women's rights, Meghan said, "The goal here is to be able to have gender equality, to be able to support women as they are working in research and higher education roles, and also to have workshops to convene things that are really helping people understand the importance of gender equality."

"When a woman is in power," Meghan said, "it changes absolutely everything in the community and starting in an educational atmosphere is really a key point of that."

Whether their new initiative will have anything to do with the ACU is unclear, but their meeting did have more to do with the launch of their "new charitable entity" independent of the monarchy that they announced with their decision to step down as senior members of the royal family.