Meghan Markle Stuns in Red Gown During Surprise Appearance at Children’s Hospital L.A. Gala

Meghan Markle looked glamorous as ever during a surprise appearance at the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles 2024 Gala on Saturday, October 5.

The Duchess of Sussex, 43, wore a plunging red Carolina Herrera gown and matching shoes to the event, which honored the CHLA’s patients and hospital pediatric workers. Markle paired her dress, which she previously wore to the Salute to Freedom gala in New York in 2021, with a simple hairdo.

The mother of two walked the red carpet without her husband, Prince Harry, who was in the small mountain kingdom of Lesotho in southern Africa this week — having co-founded a youth charity there in 2006 in honor of his late mother, Princess Diana.

Markle did, however, pose with many of her friends inside the event, including Alliance of Moms cofounder Kelly Mckee Zajfen, whose charity supports pregnant and parenting teens in the foster care system. Markel has been by Zajfen’s side after she tragically lost her 9-year-old son, George, to a viral illness in 2022.

Markle praised the CHLA in an interview posted to Instagram, calling it the “best place in the world” for children to receive medical care.

“Oh my goodness, the work they do at Children’s Hospital L.A. is otherworldly, and I think from my standpoint as a mother, no one wants to be in a position where you need to go to a place like this, but if you have to, the best place in the world you could go would be Children’s Hospital L.A.,” she told reporters.

She went on to share that close friends of hers, including friends from high school, have children currently undergoing treatment at the hospital.

“The staff is incredible, and the amount of work they do for families that really could not afford this level of care is something I think should never be overlooked,” she concluded. “So I’m just grateful for everything they do, happy to be here to support.”

Inside the gala, Markle — who shares son Archie, 5, and daughter Lilibet, 3, with Harry, 40 — took photos with a family whose children are patients at the hospital and spoke to nurses.

The event was hosted by Joy Cryer and Lisa Joyner and honored television producer and writer Chuck Lorre, former boxing champion and Sugar Ray Leonard and his wife Bernadette. Other celebrities at the gala included Jamie Lee Curtis, Kaley Cuoco, Colin Hanks, Jimmy Kimmel and his wife Molly McNearney, and performer Demi Lovato.