The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are on the first day of their Colombian tour, which they kicked off by greeting their host, Vice President Francia Marquez, who invited them to her country after watching the couple's Netflix documentary. But Marquez is no typical dignitary or career politician, coming from humble origins and surviving multiple assassination attempts on her way to the top.
The 42-year-old made history in 2022 when she won election as Colombia's first-ever black VP, in a country with a large and often discriminated against black population. To win, the left-wing environmental activist mobilised scores of disenfranchised voters to become what the New York Times described as a "national phenomenon."
Francia Marquez said a major reason for inviting Prince Harry and Meghan was that their story "moved" her. She said: "I saw the Netflix series about their life, their story and that moved me and motivated me to say that this is a woman who deserves to come to our country and tell her story and her exchange will undoubtedly be an empowerment to so many women in the world ."
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Ms Marquez' rise to the second-highest office in Colombia is made all the more remarkable by where she started from, with a wealthy background and a formal education often being a pre-requisite in the country's politics. But Marquez did things differently.
First working as a cleaner and housekeeper, she rose to local prominence in the south of the country while campaigning for the rights of Afro-Colombian miners when international corporations tried to exploit their land. Then, after years of campaigning, which started when she was just 13, Marquez organised a march on the capital, Bogota, bringing national attention to their plight.
By 2014, Marquez was using her platform to be a voice for Afro-Colombian women and to bring about an end to the decades-long conflict between the Colombian government and Marxist FARC guerrillas. Speaking at the Havana peace conference in 2014, she highlighted how black women had been disproportionately affected by the violence, which claimed the lives of more than 220,000 people.
Eight years later, Marquez announced that she was running for Vice President at a feminist conference, with a platform of environmental justice and to protect black and indigenous communities, who have long been discriminated against in Colombian society. Because of this platform, she received a number of death threats which resulted in an attempt on her life during a campaign event.
While speaking, she was targeted by "laser beams" thought to be directed from weapons. She was swarmed by security agents and bundled out of the event.
In a second assassination attempt after she was elected as Vice President, a bomb was planted by the side of a road that she would drive down to get to her home. At the time, Marquez said: "Members of my security team found a device with more than 7 kilos of explosive material on the road leading to my family home in the village of Yolombó, in Suarez, Cauca. It was destroyed in a controlled manner."
With Meghan Markle , Duchess of Sussex, often the target of rumour and critique, but never afraid to raise her head above the parapet to speak her mind, perhaps Marquez recognises similar values in the royal couple, as she hinted at in her invitation.
After their first meeting, Marquez was asked about a trip Harry's late mother Diana had planned to make to Colombia shortly before she died in 1997.
She said: "I think that Prince Harry being here today after that dream of his mum’s of visiting this country is an opportunity to show the best of our nation, to show who Colombians are.
"We are people who in the midst of adversities do everything possible to give the best of ourselves."
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