Meghan Markle to work alongside Harry in exciting new role announced on International Women's Day

It’s been a busy week for the Duchess of Sussex…

Just one day after her appearance at WE day alongside Prince Harry, Meghan Markle continues to surprise fans with exciting news of her new royal role.

Earlier today (March 8) Kensington Palace announced, in honour of International Women's Day, that the Duchess will become the Vice-President of The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust, in which she'll be working alongside the Queen, the trust’s Patron, and husband Harry, the trust’s President, to help nurture, fund and connect young leaders around the world.

Kensington Palace shared via social media, ‘On #InternationalWomensDay The Duchess of Sussex has become Vice-President of The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust. The @QueensComTrust, of which The Queen is Patron and The Duke of Sussex is President, exists to champion, fund and connect young leaders around the world #TeamQCT’.

Explaining what Meghan will be doing in her new capacity as Vice-President, the QCT revealed that she will be focusing her work on young people across the Commonwealth, and in particular "its work supporting women and girls". The perfect role for IWD!

On top of new mum duties and her other patronages, Meghan is certainly set for an incredibly busy year!

The Duchess, who is known as an advocate for women's rights even before marrying into the royal family, will also be hosting a star-studded panel discussion for this year's International Women's Day later this afternoon.

Taking place at King’s College London, the speakers include Annie Lennox, model Adwoa Aboah and former Australian Prime Minister Juila Gillard, who will be discussing female empowerment to an audience of students, young leaders and opinion formers.

Sadly, tickets aren’t available to the public and you won’t be able to watch the panel live streamed. However, updates will be posted via the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram while the event is happening. You’ll later be able to watch the whole panel after it’s finished on the trust’s website – hooray!

For her first International Women’s Day as a royal family member, Meghan will be joined by singer-songwriter Annie Lennox, who founded women’s rights group The Circle in 2008, model Adwoa Aboah, who co-founded online community Gurls Talk, and Australia’s first female Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Other panellists include Let Us Learn founder Chrisann Jarrett, Angeline Murimirwa, executive director at the Campaign for Female Education. Anne McElvoy, senior editor of The Economist, will chair the event.

Kensington Palace revealed the event will be “a special panel of female thought-leaders and activists to discuss a range of issues affecting women today” – we can’t wait!