Meghan Markle speaks with John Martinez, whose aunt, Irma Garcia, was one of the two teachers killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting in 2022. Credit: X / @fuhknjo

Meghan Markle and husband Prince Harry visited Uvalde over the weekend to check in on the family of one of the victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex visited the home of John Martinez, whose aunt, Irma Garcia, was one of the two teachers who died alongside 19 students during the May 24, 2022, massacre.

“MEGHAN MARKLE AND PRINCE HARRY CAME TO MY HOUSE!?!?!?!?!,” Martinez tweeted Saturday. “They’re such a beautiful couple, and I’m so blessed, so glad they came to check up on the family.”

Markle and Prince Harry were in Texas because the Duchess had a speaking engagement at SXSW in Austin. They stopped in Uvalde to celebrate what would have been Garcia’s birthday, according to Martinez’s posts on X, the social media platform formerly called Twitter.

In one video posted by Martinez, Markle — who is no longer an “HRH” after stepping back from her duties as a senior royal — is seen singing “Happy Birthday” with the Garcia family.

“Such a beautiful couple,” Martinez wrote in yet another X post. “I’m more than glad they kept in touch and continue to do so. What a blessing. Thank you Meghan and Harry.”

Texas State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a San Antonio Democrat whose district includes Uvlade, also thanked Prince Harry and Markle in a tweet for “remembering the victims and supporting their families.”

The royal couple’s visit comes days after a highly controversial report commissioned by the Uvalde City Council cleared the city’s police officers of any wrongdoing in their response to the Robb Elementary shooting.

The report, conducted by retired Austin police detective Jesse Prado, has been blasted by at least two Uvalde City Council members and family members of those slain in the incident. The Uvalde Leader-News also described the report as a “disturbing whitewash” of the sluggish law enforcement response to the shooting.

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This article appears in Mar 6-19, 2024.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...