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Meghan married Queen Elizabeth's grandson Harry
in May this year, and on Wednesday the couple visited the
so-called Sussex Declaration one of only two known handwritten
parchment copies of America’s formative text, at Edes House in
Chichester.
The manuscript had been stored for more than 60 years in a
strong-room among miles of documents in the West Sussex Record
Office, until its significance was revealed by two Harvard
University researchers last year.
The declaration cast Britain as a tyranny.
"The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history
of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct
object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these
States," it says.
Measuring 24 by 30 inches (60 by 76 cm), the Sussex Declaration
is thought to date to the 1780s and most likely was written in
New York or Philadelphia, and while other copies and printed
versions of the Declaration exist, the only other ceremonial
parchment is the Matlack Declaration, which dates from 1776 and
is kept at the National Archives in Washington.
The trip will also include a visit to the Royal Pavilion in
Brighton as Harry and Meghan pay their first trip to Sussex
since they were made Duke and Duchess of the southern English
county.
They will also visit a charity for survivors of sexual abuse
before discussing mental health and emotional wellbeing with
youth groups.
(Reporting by Peter Nicholls, writing by Alistair Smout; editing
by Guy Faulconbridge)
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