Harry and Meghan’s Archewell foundation donates £10,000 to get diverse book in every UK secondary school

‘A Colourful View From The Top’ is a novel which features entrepreneurs, executives and ‘thought leaders’ from ethnic minority backgrounds

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s foundation has donated £10,000 to a fundraiser aiming to get a book of “raw” and “inspirational” stories from ethnic minorities into every state secondary school in the UK.

A Colourful View From The Top is a novel which features entrepreneurs, executives and “thought leaders” from ethnic minority backgrounds, and aims to help “change the narrative” for their communities.

The book’s curator, Jonathan Mildenhall, co-founder of marketing company Twenty First Century Brand, has said he “won’t rest until I know that there is a copy of this book in every single high school in the UK” and a GoFundMe has been set up to achieve that goal.

With a target of £82,000, more than half the money has been raised thanks in part to a £10,000 donation from the Archewell Foundation on Monday, before Prince Harry’s appearance at the High Court in London to give evidence in his claim against the publisher of the Mirror over alleged unlawful information-gathering.

An update from Mildenhall on the GoFundMe page on Wednesday read: “Hello and thank you to our amazing donors. We’re more than halfway there at £42k raised!

“For now, we want to ask our donors to share this with your networks again with the good news that we’re at the halfway point!

“The more this fundraiser is shared the closer we can get to our target and inspire the next generation of young people in the UK – and maybe even beyond.”

Mildenhall also confirmed that the National Literacy Trust had agreed to distribute the books, using money from the fundraiser.

At the end of 2022, Harry and Meghan Markle took “full lead” of their Archewell company after senior aide Mandana Dayani stepped down from her role as president.

The duke is currently in the UK to give evidence in court in his lawsuit against the Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) over allegations of phone hacking.

Harry is suing MGN for damages, claiming journalists at its titles - which include the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People - were linked to methods including phone hacking, so-called “blagging” or gaining information by deception, and use of private investigators for unlawful activities.

The duke alleges that about 140 articles published between 1996 and 2010 by MGN titles contained information gathered using unlawful methods, and 33 have been selected to be considered at the trial.

Follow The Independent’s liveblog for all the latest updates on the trial.