A royal biographer has reignited discussions about Meghan Markle’s 2016 charity visit to Rwanda, alleging it was strategically planned to bolster her image as a humanitarian. This scrutiny comes amidst recent allegations of racism and sexism against World Vision, the charity involved, which it has denied.

World Vision, an evangelical Christian organization, faces controversy stemming from claims against its British division, though these incidents are separate from Meghan’s past role as an ambassador for its Canadian branch. Her association with the charity concluded nearly ten years ago.

During her ambassadorship, Meghan, now the Duchess of Sussex, participated in a documentary highlighting World Vision’s efforts to construct water wells in Rwanda. This trip, which took place in January 2016, is now viewed under a different light due to the organization’s current issues.

Royal biographer Tom Bower suggests that Meghan’s visit was as much about personal promotion as it was about charity work. He claims she was photographed extensively with local children, with each photo opportunity reportedly accompanied by a change of attire.

In his 2023 book, “Revenge,” Bower describes how Meghan quickly agreed to join the campaign, allegedly setting forth several conditions, including flying first-class. He also claims she requested the presence of Gabor Jurina, a Canadian fashion photographer, and Michael Goyette, an American hair and makeup stylist, during the trip.

‘The actress insisted on flying to Rwanda first-class and be accompanied by Gabor Jurina, a Canadian fashion photographer,’ he claimed. ‘Michael Goyette, an American hair and makeup-stylist was also listed as travelling with Gabor.’ 

Bower claimed that Meghan’s demands sent the production budget through the roof – meaning the film’s producer Brenda Surminski was forced to drop out. 

After the shoot, Surminski reportedly said it was ‘mind-blowing’ to think that someone had staged a photoshoot in an impoverished African village, adding Meghan had ‘opportunistically orchestrated the trip to pose as a philanthropist.’ 

According to Meghan’s bio on the official Sussex website, the Duchess spent her time between filming Suits travelling to other countries like Rwanda and India ‘to support humanitarian missions’ led by World Vision

Before she joined the Royal Family, Meghan Markle was splitting her time between filming new seasons of Suits – the legal drama that made her a household name – and supporting a handful of humanitarian missions. 

In a post on her now-defunct lifestyle blog The Tig, she wrote it was ‘sometimes challenging’ to switch from ‘refugee camps to red carpets’ while reflecting on her work with World Vision that included two trips – to Rwanda and India – as global ambassador. 

‘Guiding my heart through the swinging pendulum from excess to lack of access is sometimes challenging,’ the Duchess reflected, but royal biographer Tom Bower’s scathing account of her Rwandan excursion challenges this sentiment. 

According to Bower, it was neither Meghan’s rising star nor her work with UN Women that helped her land the job at World Vision, but down to her relationship with advertising executive Matt Hassell. 

‘To Meghan’s good fortune, Matt Hassell, KBS’s [former] creative director in Toronto responsible for the UN Women campaign, had fallen under her spell,’ he wrote. 

‘Some would even say he was besotted by her,’ Bower noted, explaining that Hassell ‘insisted’ Meghan was the right person for the job. 

During his time as creative director for the award-winning Canadian advertising agency, Hassell directed Meghan for UN Women’s 2015 campaign titled ‘Leaders’. 

Bower claimed that Hassell was initially unfamiliar with Meghan when they first met over Zoom, adding the ad man was even put off by her ‘insistence’ for complete creative control as the ‘star’ of the campaign. 

The Duchess travelled to Rwanda to be a part of a film promoting World Vision Canada’s work building water wells in the African country – but used the ‘opportunistically orchestrated’ trip to ‘pose as a philanthropist’, writes Tom Bower 

However, their relationship later thawed and, by the time WVC was recruiting its new ‘global ambassador’, Meghan and Hassell were close enough for him to pitch her to the charity’s chief Marketing Officer Lara Dewar. 

Lara, a fan of Suits, was reportedly ‘enthusiastic’ but not more so than Meghan, who ‘had agreed’ to travel to Rwanda to promote its project building water wells ‘within 30 minutes’ of a phone call from KBS producer Brenda Surminski. 

Meghan felt the appointment would be ‘some revenge after the negativity of the UN executives’ and signed the contract to represent WVC as its global ambassador. 

Bower previously revealed the details of Meghan’s ‘unpublicised split’ from the UN after she addressed a UN Women conference in New York as an ‘advocate for women’s leadership and political participation’ in 2015. 

After she addressed the 2,000-strong crowd in a now-infamous speech that was  criticised for plagiarism, Meghan asked UN Women’s executive director Elizabeth Nyamayaro to ‘introduce her to Emma Watson’ in a bid to elevate her advocacy stature. 

‘Nyamayaro refused,’ Bower wrote. ‘Never deterred, Meghan asked Elizabeth Nyamayaro to promote her to UN Ambassador.

‘Whatever the reason, Nyamayaro refused Meghan’s request to be promoted to be ambassador,’ Bower claimed. 

He added that Meghan’s cause was not helped by the impression that her ‘apparent all-consuming passion’ for women’s empowerment was ‘focused on self-promotion and the empowerment of Meghan Markle’ instead. 

Meghan, before she was Duchess of Sussex, pictured in Rwanda. Tom Bower claimed she ‘disappeared with [photographer] Gabor Jurina’ for hours to take pictures that were later published on his website 

Her other demands in exchange for participating in the film included first-class tickets to Rwanda, a dedicated hair and makeup team, and ‘several suitcases’ of clothes 

After these back-to-back snubs, Meghan stepped down from her role at UN Women and grabbed the opportunity to be elevated to ambassador for World Vision with both hands.   

Surminski agreed to produce the film depicting her visit to Rwanda without realising she was to receive a long list of demands from Meghan that would send ‘costs well above the budget’. 

‘The actress insisted on flying to Rwanda first-class, and be accompanied by Gabor Jurina, a Canadian fashion photographer. 

Other members of her entourage included Michael Goyette, an American hair and make-up stylist, Meghan seems to have since distanced herself from. 

At the time of the Rwandan trip, however, Meghan insisted ‘only Michael’ knew how to style ‘my Black hair’ – but the fees of her ‘glam squad’ and the inclusion of a Canadian cameraman meant Surminski was forced to drop out of the trip. 

Upon their arrival in the village, Bower described how Meghan ‘disappeared with Gabor Jurina’ as he wrote: ‘For hours Jurina photographed the perfectly coiffured actress hugging, squeezing, and smiling with the village children. 

‘Each pose was followed by a change of clothing.

‘”Meghan is a true humanitarian,” Lara Dewar would say. Speaking of Meghan’s “authenticity”, Dewar praised her involvement with the children, letting them sit on her lap with the photographer.’ 

After she returned to Toronto, where Suits was being fimed, Meghan organised a fundraiser at Lumas gallery where she displayed the children’s watercolour paintings in a bid to raise money for another well. 

The charity’s British arm has been hit with allegations of sexism and racism – which it denies – as 11 current and former staffers told the Third Sector website what it was like working in the ‘toxic’ and ‘hostile’ UK office

This account was published three years before reports of allegedly racist and sexist behaviour at World Vision’s British arm surfaced

Meghan’s party, which was attended by the Duchess’ former best friend Jessica Mulroney, raised around £9,000 that was used to ‘build another well’ and the ‘box was ticked’. 

Surminski would later conclude Meghan had ‘opportunistically’ used the trip to ‘pose as a philanthropist’ as she insisted on ‘several suitcases’ full of outfits be carried for the four-day visit to the impoverished village in January 2016. 

‘At the end, Surminski was puzzled. Celebrities using a desolate African village as the backdrop for a fashion shoot was “mind-blowing”,’ an excerpt from Revenge read.

‘Meghan, she concluded, “had opportunistically orchestrated the trip to pose as a philanthropist.”

‘Moreover, her ambitions were so obvious. She was “on a path with visions of something good happening at the end, but her destination was unknown.”‘ 

Jurina would later post the fashion photographs on his website, with Bower noting they would be ‘more valuable’ eight months later – when she and Prince Harry made their relationship public.

This account was published three years before reports of allegedly racist and sexist behaviour at World Vision’s British arm surfaced. 

A group of past and current employees claimed the charity’s human resources team mispronounced the names of non-white employees while colleagues imitated their accents.

The website was told how the HR department allegedly confused two black female workers, and how female employees were being patronised in meetings.

The Charity Commission is currently reviewing a complaint against World Vision, but the charity said the false allegations were made by a ‘small number’ of former staff who have since left the charity amid a wave of job cuts.

It is understood that Meghan has had no formal relationship with World Vision since 2018.

A World Vision UK spokesperson previously said: ‘We are not currently under investigation by the Charity Commission. If the Charity Commission contacts us in relation to this, we will fully cooperate.

‘We don’t believe the allegations made by a small number of former employees who have recently left the organisation are true.

‘Our talented and dedicated staff are hugely important to us. We provide various mechanisms for dealing with any staff complaints and if these are upheld, we act immediately to put things right and take action following our policies which are robust and fair.

‘The international development sector has faced a number of challenges which has led us to restructuring the organisation. We remain committed to our goal to help the millions of children across the world facing hunger, poverty and threats to safety.

‘We recognise such challenges, which have involved job losses through redundancy, are painful for us all as many valued employees have had to leave World Vision UK.’

A Charity Commission spokesperson said: ‘We can confirm that, in line with our guidance, World Vision UK has submitted a serious incident report relating to media reporting of concerns around the charity’s workplace culture.’