Meghan Markle Wears Sneakers For The First Time On Trip To Australia, And They’re Just Not Any Old Kicks

Being royal comes with a whole host of rules for members of the family to abide by, and plenty of these pertain to very specific and formal dress codes that must be observed at all times. But from time to time, there are exceptions that can reasonably be made.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is currently in Australia on a grueling 16-day tour of Oceania with her husband, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, partly to observe the Invictus Games which are taking place in Sydney this year. As Daily Mail reported, the couple watched a sailing race included in the Games from a speedboat out on the water.

Understandably, it would have been ridiculous to expect the duchess to wear her usual sky-high heels on a boat moving about on choppy water, and Meghan instead opted for a pair of sneakers, the first she has ever worn out in public on an official royal engagement. True to form, she found an eco-friendly pair in a bid to continue to show her support for environmentally conscious labels, sourcing these from the French brand Veja.

Veja uses organic cotton for their footwear, vegetable-tanned leather, and “sustainably managed rubber.”

Meghan completed the look with a pair of black skinny jeans, and a black, grey, and yellow waterproof Invictus Games jacket. Both she and Harry wore a pair of dark sunglasses to combat the glare coming off the Sydney harbor’s water. Harry also wore a pair of grey sneakers by Adidas, paired with blue jeans and his own version of the Invictus Games jacket.

The pair were happily congratulating participants in the competition following the race’s conclusion, getting up and shaking hands with competitors’ boats as they passed them by.

The duchess has been noticeably absent from some of the scheduled events in the past few days. Kensington Palace announced last week Monday that she is expecting the couple’s first child in the Spring of 2019, and this has been touted as the reason she has opted to sit some engagements out.

Just yesterday, the Invictus Games opening ceremony ran over by more than two hours, and Harry encouraged Meghan to slow down slightly in order to make sure she is still getting enough rest in between their rigorous schedule. While the duchess is not suffering from morning sickness, she is at the stage of her pregnancy where exhaustion starts to set in, and the duke’s first priority is keeping his wife and baby safe and healthy.

The pair is scheduled to travel to Fraser Island on Monday morning, and while Meghan will accompany Harry to the island, it is understood she won’t be participating in all the engagements due to the uneven terrain.