Meghan affectionately holds Kelly McKee Zajfen's hand at charity gala

Meghan Markle once again showed her love of public displays of affection as she attended a charity gala over the weekend - but this time with one of her best pals. 

The Duchess of Sussex, 43, attended the event to support LA Children's Hospital without her husband Prince Harry, after a series of separate outings by the couple. 

Instead, she was accompanied by her BFF Kelly McKee Zajfen, with the pair holding hands while posing for photos and sweetly beaming at one another. 

Meghan and Harry have long been renowned for their love of physical touch - including a recent PDA-packed tour of Colombia featuring many a hand hold and a even a kiss while dancing. 

The Duchess is never afraid to be tactile with her husband in public and is regularly seen tightly holding his hand or placing her hand on his back. 

And it seems it's not just Harry she can caress in public, as she was also keen to put on a very affectionate display with Kelly, the co-founder for the Alliance of Moms, an LA 'community of philanthropists who support pregnant and parenting teens in LA's foster care system'. 

In Harry's absence, Kelly had clearly become Meghan's outlet for physical touch and affection, as the pair appeared inseparable in front of the cameras. 

Saturday's event was no doubt one close to Kelly's heart after her late son George died aged just nine in July 2022 after being found unresponsive in their family home.

And Meghan showed herself to be the ultimate supportive pal, showing her best friend she was there for her throughout the event.   

Kelly and Meghan first met through the Duchess' ex-husband, Trevor Engelson, who is friends with the former model's entertainment lawyer husband. 

In August, Meghan was also seen sharing hugs with Kelly and her husband Julian at the George Zajfen Tennis Tournament - once again showing the affectionate bond between them. 

Meghan has long been affectionate with everyone around her and seems to have embraced informal greetings as a 'hugger' since stepping down as a working royal. 

She and Harry were called 'big huggers' in a CBS statement in August covering the couple's initiative The Parents Network, part of their Archewell Foundation.

During their time in Colombia, Harry and Meghan often held hands, shared intimate moments together and displayed incredibly affectionate body language towards each other in displays that are at odds with how other members of the royal family behave during public engagements.

From Meghan and Harry's first public appearance watching competitors take part in the Invictus Games in Toronto in 2017, they were seen holding hands and sharing laughs.  

But in the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, the mother-of-two previously revealed how her hugs haven't always had a positive reception.

Talking in the 2020 docuseries, the 43-year-old revealed she was 'barefoot' and wearing ripped jeans when she first met the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Meghan said she did not know the 'formality' carries on behind closed doors and that she is a 'hugger', which she did not realise was 'jarring for some Brits'.

In the explosive Netflix docuseries, the mother-of-two admitted she was 'surprised' there is a 'forward facing way of being' in private.

She said: 'Even when Will and Kate came over and I was meeting her for the first time I remember I was in ripped jeans, I was barefoot. Like I was a hugger, I have always been a hugger I didn't realise that is really jarring for a lot of Brits.'

'I started to understand that the formality on the outside carried through on the inside, that there is a forward facing way of being and then you close the door and think "OK we can relax now". But that formality carries over on both sides and that was surprising to me.'

Despite attracting mixed feelings from others, Meghan has continued to embrace the public on various occasions, including Invictus Games participants, with her photographed hugging swimmer Danielle Pothoof at the medals ceremony last year.

During the event on Saturday evening, Meghan spoke about being a mother, and revealed she was 'happy to be there to support' LA Children's Hospital.

'The work that they do otherworldly,' she remarked.

'And I think from my standpoint as a mother no one wants to be in a position where you need to go to a place like this - but if you have to, the best place in the world you could go would be Children's Hospital LA.

'And I have close friends who still have their children there going through treatments either from high school, close mom friends now that are having their children.'

Meghan - who shares Archie, five, and Lilibet, three, with the Duke of Sussex, said that 'the staff is incredible'.

She added: 'The amount of work that they do for families that could really not afford this level of care is something that I think should never be overlooked'.

Elsewhere at the event, she enjoyed a sweet moment as she told a young boy 'it's past your bedtime'.

Footage shows the Duchess greeting a family at last night's event before joking to a little boy about being up so late. 

'It's past your bedtime for sure,' Megan said as she addressed the child, who was being held by his mother. 

She added: 'How old are they? Oh so really close to our kids. Three and five.' 

Meghan has often spoken about her experiences with motherhood.

In May, she said she fulfilled her dream of becoming a parent as she opened up about her 'very chatty, sweet children' during the second day of her Nigerian tour with Harry.

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Meghan jokes with little boy about being up so late during solo trip to children's hospital gala

The Duchess was speaking at a Women in Leadership event she was co-hosting with Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organisation. 

Meghan told the audience how much she loves being a mother but admitted that balancing her family and her career posed its own set of challenges.

During the talk, Meghan was asked how she juggled being a mother with her career and she replied: 'I love being a mum.'

Despite being told more than ten years ago by her friend and mentor that she would never be able to balance the demands of motherhood and her work, the duchess said she enjoys being a mother and her priorities are constantly changing.

During the panel discussion, Meghan said that 'balance' in her life has changed over the years and looks different to ten years ago before she was married and had Archie and Lilibet.

She said: 'What I think that to mean now is that that balance will always change for you. That balance, what seems balanced ten years ago is going to shift.' 

It comes as Meghan caught all eyes as she re-wore a striking red Carolina Herrera gown to the children's event on Saturday.

She  previously wore the stunning gown at a 2021 gala in New York City to celebrate the military on the eve of Veterans Day in the US and Armistice Day in Britain.

She greeted the young fans before preparing for a star-studded night featuring a performance by Demi Lovato and appearances by presenters Kaley Cuoco, Jamie Lee Curtis and Colin Hanks.

It comes after Harry and Meghan made a series of separate plans, including Harry's solo trips to London and Lesotho in recent weeks.

The Duke has appeared at ten solo engagements in the last 15 days without his wife as he embarked on a 'quasi-royal tour' across three countries, including New York, London and Lesotho.

It has also been reported that Meghan wasn't able to make it to a charity event she was set to attend with Prince Harry because she was 'sick.'

And when Prince Harry was goofing around with chat show host Jimmy Fallon in New York, film star George Clooney – a guest at his wedding in 2018 – was hosting a humanitarian awards ceremony in the Big Apple – and Harry was noticeably absent.