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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to use their wedding to help charity

May 19, 2018

Instead of gifts they've asked guests to donate to a number of causes.

The Wilderness Foundation is using nature to turn around the lives of troubled British teenagers - a cause which Prince Harry supports. 

So much so, instead of wedding presents, he and his bride have asked for a donation to either the charity or one of six others.

Jo Roberts, the CEO of The Wilderness Foundation, described the moment "out of the blue came this incredible phonecall".

"Suddenly, all of our hard work over years and years had suddenly been seen by somebody special," said Ms Roberts.

The wedding couple are big supporters of various charities.

Prince Harry is most prominently a campaigner on mental health, and sport for military veterans, while his fiancée, Meghan Markle, was a global ambassador with World Vision.

Their commitment to charity was reflected on their big day.

Two-hundred members of charities the couple are involved with will have had the very first glimpse of the couple as they walk out of St George's Chapel.

More than a thousand ordinary community heroes, including Reuben Litherland - a deaf teenager from Derby, have been invited inside the castle walls.

Mr Litherland, who set up a school club to teach sign language, said he's "really excited to have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go".

Other charities are benefitting, too.

New Zealand's official wedding gift is a donation to "Pillars" - an organisation supporting the children of Kiwi prisoners.

A Windsor charity is also making the most of the tourists by selling memorabilia to raise funds for the town’s homeless.

Murphy James, the project development manager for the Windsor Homeless Project, said the items are "flying off the shelves".

"We thought we'd do it with a bit of a twist so that in years to come, people can remember that on the 19th of May, there were other things happening - not just the royal wedding," Mr James said.

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