International Women's Day is just one week away and though she may have a jam-packed jet-setting schedule, many a royal duty and a baby on the way, of course we could count on Meghan Markle to mark the occasion in an important way.

The Duchess of Sussex, an outspoken feminist who campaigned for women and girl's rights long before joining the royal family, will appear on a panel at King's College London on Friday 8 March to discuss a range of issues affecting women today.

She'll be joined by a whole host of powerful women including Eurythmics singer and humanitarian Annie Lennox OBE, model and Gurls Talk founder Adwoa Aboah and the former Prime Minister of Australia, and only woman to have ever served in that role, Julia Gillard.

Adwoa Aboah
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Adwoa Aboah at a Gurls Talk event

The founder of Let Us Learn, a campaign which helps migrants in the UK access higher education, Chrisann Jarrett will also be on the panel as will the executive director of CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education) in Africa Angeline Murimirwa.

The audience will include university students from King's as well as young leaders. The panel will be chaired by Anne McElvoy, the senior editor of The Economist, and hosted by the Queen's Commonwealth Trust, of which Meghan's husband Prince Harry is president. Kensington Palace said the Duchess of Sussex will be discussing the importance of International Women's Day and the obstacles women around the world continue to face including access to education and employment.

meghan markle duchess of sussex 
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Meghan and Harry meeting with students from an education for all NGO in Morocco

Ahead of her marriage to Prince Harry, last year, Meghan spoke at a Royal Foundation event with Harry and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. She addressed then-growing movements like Time's Up and #MeToo stressing that women already have a voice, they just 'need to feel empowered to use it, and people need to be encouraged to listen', signalling the work she'd be doing in an official capacity.

Since joining the family, she's channelled her feminism into supporting women's causes like the Together for Grenfell cookbook and Smart Works - which helps women prepare for employment opportunities - and also visited organisations which support street sex workers.

Prince Harry And Meghan Markle Visit Birmingham
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In Birmingham last year

Last year, on International Women's Day, Meghan and Harry travelled to Birmingham to visit a social enterprise which aims to inspire young women to enter typically male-dominated industries like science, tech, engineering and maths.

We can't wait to hear what this super impressive panel of female powerhouses have to say this year.

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Olivia Blair
Entertainment Editor (Luxury)

Olivia Blair is Entertainment Editor (Luxury) at Hearst UK, working across ELLE, Esquire and Harper's Bazaar. Olivia covers all things entertainment and has interviewed the likes of Margot Robbie, Emma Stone, Michaela Coel and Ryan Gosling over the years.