Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry‘s royal tour of Africa seems like a million years ago when you consider all of the things that have happened since.
WATCH: Meghan Markle reads storybook to baby Archie to celebrate his first birthday
Indeed, just three months after the whirlwind royal tour, in which the family of three travelled to different parts of the African country, Harry and Meghan’s decision to step back from their roles as senior royals was announced to the world – and it marked a significant moment of change.
But looking back, there was a time where all seemed blissfully normal and business as usual for the royal couple – and an unseen photo that’s just surfaced on social media is a jarring reminder of it.
Sharing the snap on Instagram, a South Africa-based company named Concierge Cape Town revealed an image of Meghan and a local cook who looked after the pair while they toured the nation in September 2019.
Meghan is seen with a big smile while the chef looks humbled to be standing beside the well-known royal.
The company wrote: “Our team assisting The Royal Family with their trip in Cape Town. Private Chef and Concierge Services. Chef Lee cooking up some great food for the family.”
At the time the photo was taken, Meghan and Harry were enduring some difficult circumstances and stresses behind the scenes as their plan to leave their positions as senior royals bubbled, but it seems they still found plenty of reasons to smile.
A number of fans flocked to the comments section to share their excitement for the rare snap.
“That’s so cool! Well done team,” one person wrote.
“Fantastic,” another person added.
A popular royal blogger on Instagram known as @harry_meghan_updates also reshared the image over the weekend, stating: “Just discovered now, a throwback picture shared by Chef Lee and his Team, when they assisted The Royal Couple during their trip in Cape Town.”
The re-share was met with thousands of likes and comments.
“I’ve never seen this before. It’s nice and Meghan looked so happy. Miss her so,” one fan commented.
Another important addition to the unseen pic was, of course, basking in Meghan’s chic outfit once again – and it appears she was wearing the very same ensemble we later saw during one of her official engagements, with a few minor tweaks.
Indeed her white linen J.Crew shirt looks to be the same as the one she wore at an event with Harry on Monwabisi beach where they joined in a group bonding activity.
Meanwhile her beloved Mother Denim black jeans were also a winner for the sunny day.
She was also seen wearing an additional brown belt in the unseen picture, which breaks up the chic outfit to perfection.
When we previously saw her don the jeans and shirt get-up at the beach, Meghan also added a blue denim jacket by Madewell.
The new image comes after both Harry and Meghan’s latest project in LA was revealed.
Now that they’re no longer operating under the Sussex Royal arm, the pair’s work for their new foundation, Archewell, has remained under wraps, with only small snippets of info coming through.
Their newest endeavour is nothing short of inspiring – they’re together working on the Stop Hate for Profit Campaign, which is calling on CEOs and people holding high positions across the world to pause their advertisements from Facebook in a bid to shine a light on the detrimental effects Facebook has had on society.
Brands already on board with the campaign include Ben and Jerry’s, North Face, Verizon, Patagonia and more.
A source told PEOPLE: “As we’ve been developing Archewell, one of the areas The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been keen to address is online hate speech, and we’ve been working with civil rights and racial justice groups on it.”
“Over the past few weeks, in particular, this issue has become even more vital and they have been working to encourage global CEOs to stand in solidarity with a coalition of civil and racial justice groups like the NAACP, Color of Change, and the Anti-Defamation League, which are calling for structural changes to our online world.”
With this in mind, it looks like Harry and Meghan’s work is more important than ever – no matter what position they maintain within the royal family.
This article first appeared on Now To Love.
