The Duchess of Sussex spoke at The New York Times' DealBook online summit to discuss how women can achieve economic and professional parity. Meghan, who is living in California with Prince Harry after quitting royal duties, wore a Remembrance poppy pinned to her black outfit.

       The poppy could be a nod to Her Majesty, who leads the UK in marking Remembrance Sunday every year.

       The monarch has previously worn five poppies for the service at the Cenotaph in London.

       During the event on Tuesday, Meghan repeated calls for paid family leave in the US.

       The Duchess has recently written to and phoned US politicians about the issue.

       Meghan said: "I've been gone from the US for a really long time, I lived in Canada for seven years for work and then moved to the UK.

       "And to come back and now be a mother of two and to see that the US is one of only six countries in the entire world that doesn't offer any form of national paid leave just didn't make sense.

       "So I guess my approach was the same as it's been since I was really young.

       "When I was 11 I saw something that was wrong on TV, I put pen to paper and wrote a letter about it.

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       "So on this I said well let me write a letter and pick up the phone and make some calls to see if I can help.

       "To me it seems like a really logical and obvious thing to do and I'm happy that I'm able to support it."

       Meghan added that men "need to be part of the conversation" on paid family leave.

       She added: "I think it takes strong men and modern men frankly to really understand that they benefit from it as well.

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       "Paid parental leave is really important, it's not just about the mum being home. How it connects you as a family unit is really key.

       "But equally it incentivises you to be able to go back to work if you know that you can have that quality time and you're not sacrificing your job, or that you have to choose between your family and putting food on the table, the ripple effect of that is huge.

       "But men have to be a part of that."

       Meghan also discussed her and Harry's Archewell Foundation, which they set up after quitting as working royals.

       She said: “We just try to lead by example, we’re a small company, but we have the policies that we would like.

       "So if I was an employee at our company, we have 20 weeks of paid leave because if it's not being provided by the government at this point, hopefully that will change, we want to be a company that provides that for your employees."