Fans gush over Meghan Markle and Gloria Steinem’s New York City lunch date: ‘Two beautiful icons’

The pair got together following Prince Harry’s appearance at the UN.

Fans are showing some love to Meghan Markle and Gloria Steinem after the pair got together in New York City on Monday, dubbing them “two iconic beautiful icons.”

The Duchess of Sussex was spotted having lunch with the longtime activist at the Crosby Hotel in SoHo. For the occasion, Meghan wore a pair of navy blue shorts and a white blouse, while the 88-year-old wore a black long-sleeved shirt and pants. The duo was also pictured hugging and holding hands.

The lunch came after Meghan accompanied her husband Prince Harry at the United Nations on 18 July, where he gave a special address for Nelson Mandela Day.

On Twitter, fans have applauded Markle and Steinem’s friendship.

“This friendship is top tier,” one tweet reads. “These two are some of my dream dinner guests. The conversations would be everything.”

“Two beautiful, strong, inspiring & powerful women,” another added.

A third person wrote: “Meghan Markle and Gloria Steinem, two beautiful icons with hearts of gold and minds of steel.”

Other fans emphasised how much of of “sweetheart” Markle is and called the friends the “queens of getting things done”.

Last month, Meghan and Steinem also worked together for a joint interview with Vogue, following the overturn of Roe V Wade on 24 June, which eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion.

Along with speaking about the importance of women’s health, they talked candidly about how their friendship came to be. Steinem thanked Markle for reaching out to her back in 2020. The pair were apparently neighbours in California.

“Meghan, I owe this friendship to you because I did not realise that in California, where I was sheltering on a friend’s ranch, we were neighbors—or at least what is called neighbors in California, which means you’re, what, a half-hour away,” she explained. “It was you who realized that and came to the farmhouse where I was. Then we sat at the dining room table and made cold calls together.”

The 40-year-old duchess responded in kind, sharing that she was both “thrilled” and “nervous” to meet Steinem.

“I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, how am I going to be in front of Gloria Steinem?’,” Meghan said.

Steinem previously shared how she worked with Meghan to increase the number of voters in the 2020 election. During a virtual chat with Access Hollywood in September of that year, she praised the duchess and described how they “sat at the dining room table” together to “cold-call voters”.

“Meg is herself, smart, authentic, funny, political. She came home to vote,” she said. “And the first thing we did and why she came to see me was we sat at the dining room table here, where I am right now, and cold-called voters. And said, ‘Hello, I’m Meg,’ and, ‘Hello, I’m Gloria,’ and, ‘Are you going to vote?’”