--- title: Teen Apologizes to Prince Harry for Cuddling Meghan Markle description: A British student wrote a light-hearted apology note after giving Meghan Markle a big embrace canonical: https://time.com/5800191/student-hilariously-apologizes-to-prince-harry-for-the-warm-moment-he-shared-with-meghan-markle/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-03-10T16:17:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:01:21.808Z og:title: Teen Has a Lighthearted Apology for Prince Harry After His Moment With Meghan Markle og:description: The student wrote a light-hearted apology to the Duke og:url: https://time.com/5800191/student-hilariously-apologizes-to-prince-harry-for-the-warm-moment-he-shared-with-meghan-markle/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43738e789dd50614/698a0b5a457a5239f5d63abe/MeghanMarkle-Student.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: The Duchess Of Sussex Visits The Robert Clack Upper School In Dagenham og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Teen Has a Lighthearted Apology for Prince Harry After His Moment With Meghan Markle twitter:description: The student wrote a light-hearted apology to the Duke twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43738e789dd50614/698a0b5a457a5239f5d63abe/MeghanMarkle-Student.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Student Hilariously Apologizes to Prince Harry For the Warm Moment He Shared With Meghan Markle > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 10, 2020 4:17 PM UTC  Meghan, Duchess of Sussex smiles as the student Aker Okoye speaks during a special school assembly at the Robert Clack Upper School in Dagenham ahead of International Women’s Day (IWD) held on Sunday 8th March, on March 6, 2020 in London, England. Meghan, Duchess of Sussex smiles as the student Aker Okoye speaks during a special school assembly at the Robert Clack Upper School in Dagenham ahead of International Women’s Day (IWD) held on Sunday 8th March, on March 6, 2020 in London, England. Photo by Ben Stansall-WPA Pool/Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 10, 2020 4:17 PM UTC A British high school student wrote a handwritten apology to [Prince Harry](https://time.com/5284344/royal-wedding-meghan-markle-prince-harry-time-cover/) after he hugged his wife, [Meghan Markle](https://time.com/5583876/prince-harry-royal-baby-comments/) when she visited his school. On Friday, during her final tour of official royal duty, [Meghan, Duchess of Sussex](https://time.com/5624491/meghan-markle-beyonce/) visited the Robert Clack Upper School in London. After a brief talk, she asked if there was a “brave young man” willing to step on stage to talk about the role of men and boys during events like International Women’s Day and 16-year old Aker Okoye accepted the challenge. In a clip shared on the official Instagram account of the [Duke and Duchess of Sussex,](https://time.com/5583876/prince-harry-royal-baby-comments/) Okoye can be seen taking the stage and remarking, “She really is beautiful, innit?” At that, Markle laughed and wagged her finger at the young man. At the end of his brief remarks, Okoye turns to the Duchess who throws open her arms and gives him a big hug. Okoye may have had doubts about the possible breach of royal etiquette, though. He wrote an apology note to the Duke of Sussex, which was shared in the British tabloid, [_The Sun_](https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11127078/meghan-student-hug-harry-letter/), this week, and [confirmed by Entertainment Tonight,](https://www.etonline.com/meghan-markles-teen-fanboy-dishes-on-why-he-apologized-to-prince-harry-exclusive-142822) who also interviewed the student. “I hope you didn’t mind me cuddling your wife,” he reportedly wrote to Prince Harry, explaining that he was “just overwhelmed and shocked to see her arrive at my school” and he was “starstruck” by the encounter with the former actress. He added that Meghan Markle is “inspirational” and hoped to meet her husband one day. As for why he felt the need to write the note, he told _ET_ that he “thought it was polite to do so.” While it’s unlikely that the Duke would take umbrage at the good-natured hug, in Aker’s defense, it is clear that the Duchess initiated the friendly embrace, welcoming it with open arms. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5800191/student-hilariously-apologizes-to-prince-harry-for-the-warm-moment-he-shared-with-meghan-markle/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5800191/student-hilariously-apologizes-to-prince-harry-for-the-warm-moment-he-shared-with-meghan-markle/"},"headline":"Student Hilariously Apologizes to Prince Harry For the Warm Moment He Shared With Meghan Markle","datePublished":"2020-03-10T16:17:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:21.808Z","description":"A British student wrote a light-hearted apology note after giving Meghan Markle a big embrace","url":"https://time.com/5800191/student-hilariously-apologizes-to-prince-harry-for-the-warm-moment-he-shared-with-meghan-markle/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Brief","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43738e789dd50614/698a0b5a457a5239f5d63abe/MeghanMarkle-Student.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43738e789dd50614/698a0b5a457a5239f5d63abe/MeghanMarkle-Student.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Duchess Of Sussex Visits The Robert Clack Upper School In Dagenham","caption":"Meghan-Markle-student","creditText":"Photo by Ben Stansall-WPA Pool/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5800191/student-hilariously-apologizes-to-prince-harry-for-the-warm-moment-he-shared-with-meghan-markle/","name":"Student Hilariously Apologizes to Prince Harry For the Warm Moment He Shared With Meghan Markle"}}]}] ```