Prince Harry made a high-profile visit to Chicago to join former President Barack Obama at the first public event of his new foundation. NBC 5’s Mary Ann Ahern reports.
Former first lady Michelle Obama and Prince Harry gave a group of Chicago students a major Halloween surprise, stopping by unannounced at a school on the city’s South Side Tuesday afternoon.
The two were in Chicago for the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit, a two-day event designed to bring hundreds of leaders from around the world together to exchange ideas.
Prince Harry was Tuesday’s keynote speaker, discussing community engagement and even getting personal at the Marriott Marquis hotel in the city’s South Loop.
But before he went onstage, he and the former first lady stopped by the Hyde Park Academy to visit with students in a less formal setting.
The duo met with about 20 students, a spokeswoman for Obama said, at the high school located at 6220 S. Stony Island Ave. — across from the future site of the Obama Presidential Center.
"The warm and wide-ranging conversation, lasting over an hour, covered how the Obama Presidential Center will showcase the South Side of Chicago for a global audience, the importance of young people staying inspired and hopeful, and the transformative power of students using their voices to change the world," Obama’s spokeswoman said in a statement.
The visit kicked off Prince Harry’s first trip to Chicago, but it wasn’t the first time Hyde Park Academy has welcomed a member of the Obama family.
In 2013, then-President Barack Obama visited the school to meet with students participating in the "Becoming a Man" mentoring program he championed during his time in office.
Both Kensington Palace and the former first lady took to social media to share photos after their surprise visit Tuesday.
U.S. & World
The palace tweeted four photos of His Royal Highness touring the school and sitting in a circle with students in the library, and Michelle Obama did the same, with a message of gratitude. [[454379833, C]]
"Thanks to my friend Prince Harry for joining me today to surprise these remarkable students at Hyde Park Academy on the South Side. We were blown away by their passion, ambition and talent!" she wrote.
