Meghan Markle's Personal Connection to the Women Handpicked for Cover of Her British Vogue Issue

From The Tig to British Vogue: Meghan Markle has a new creative outlet!

The Duchess of Sussex, 37, has been tapped to serve as guest editor of the September issue of British Vogue, selecting 15 women making a difference in the world to grace the magazine’s “Forces for Change” cover. In another history-making move, Meghan became the first guest editor of the September issue in the magazine’s 103-year history.

Many of the faces featured both on the cover of Vogue and in its pages share a special connection to Meghan, who helped to hand-pick the changemakers.

“These last seven months have been a rewarding process, curating and collaborating with Edward Enninful, British Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief, to take the year’s most read fashion issue and steer its focus to the values, causes and people making impact in the world today,” the mother of one said in a statement.

“Through this lens I hope you’ll feel the strength of the collective in the diverse selection of women chosen for the cover as well as the team of support I called upon within the issue to help bring this to light. I hope readers feel as inspired as I do, by the ‘Forces for Change’ they’ll find within these pages,” she said.

Among the group are actors and models, politicians and authors, and advocates for everything from diversity and mental health to climate change and voting rights.

RELATED: Meghan Markle Raises Her Voice for International Women’s Day with an Amazing Panel of Activists

Model Adwoa Aboah, who founded the online platform Gurls Talk, sat beside Meghan in March on a panel at King’s College London in honor of International Women’s Day.

Diversity advocate and lecturer Sinead Burke, meanwhile, first met Meghan when she and husband Prince Harry visited Ireland in July 2018.

Also featured are The Good Place actress and body positivity advocate Jameela Jamil, whose campaign Meghan’s Sussex Royal Instagram account recently followed, and author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who caught Meghan’s eye in December, when she attended a discussion between Adichie and former First Lady Michelle Obama in London.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also has a coveted cover spot, months after meeting privately with the new mom at Kensington Palace in January. The chat came after Meghan and Harry visited New Zealand as part of a larger tour, and spent time with Ardern, the world’s youngest female head of government, at various events.

Rounding out the group of women is model and refugee Adut Akech, boxer Ramla Ali, Crazy Rich Asians star Gemma Chan, advocate and Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox, actresses Jane Fonda and Salma Hayek Pinault as well as ballerina and Cats star Francesca Hayward, actress Yara Shahidi, teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg and supermodel Christy Turlington Burns.

RELATED: See the Sweet Photos of Meghan and Harry (and Kate and William!) the Queen Has on Display at Home

The cover features a photo of each woman, as well as a mirror to “include the reader and encourage them to use their own platforms to effect change,” according to a statement from British Vogue.

The issue will also include a candid conversation between Meghan and Obama, whom the royal met recently in London, plus an interview with Harry and famed primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall.

Goodall visited Meghan and Harry in June at Frogmore Cottage, where she met their newborn son Archie Harrison.

“[Meghan] told me she’s followed me all her life. She told me, ‘You’ve been my idol since I was a child. I’ve hero-worshipped you all my life,'” Goodall told reporters after the visit.

Editor-in-Chief Enninful said in a statement that he and Meghan discussed the possibility of having the mother of one herself appear on the cover, but that she shot the idea down, calling it a “boastful” thing to do.

“She wanted, instead, to focus on the women she admires,” he said.

The “Forces for Change” issue hits newsstands on Aug. 2.