The Duchess of Sussex showed off her salsa dancing skills while alongside husband Prince Harry in Colombia

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex at the Escuela Tambores de Cabildo during The Duke and Duchess of Sussex Colombia Visit on August 17, 2024 in Cartagena, Colombia

Meghan Markle’s salsa dancing skills were years in the making.

Just before the Duchess of Sussex, 43, showed off her dance moves during her four-day trip to Colombia with Prince Harry, a throwback photo featuring Meghan said to be at a salsa lesson in college at Northwestern University surfaced online.

On Aug. 17, Iris Amador shared a photo on social media showing Meghan in a group photo with four other people. She wore a black turtleneck and jeans (an outfit combination she’d later repeat in the photo chosen for her 2021 holiday card with Prince Harry and their children, Prince Archie, now 5, and Princess Lilibet, now 3).

“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex visit Colombia, including #Cali, the world capital of salsa — music and dance that Meghan Markle likes, with whom we shared salsa classes at university,” Amador wrote below the photo on Instagram in Spanish, per a translation.

“Salsa lessons with the then future-to-be #DuchessOfSussex, in college,” she wrote in English.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in Colombia

Meghan graduated from Northwestern in 2003 with a double major in theater and international studies. TheDaily Maildescribed Amador as a former classmate, and her LinkedIn lists her as a 2002 graduate of the university, located in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.

Meghan and Prince Harry, 39, arrived in Colombia on Aug. 15 for a trip at the invitation of Vice President Francia Márquez, and the couple undertook engagements across the cities of Bogotá, Cartagena and Cali to highlight the core work of their Archewell Foundation. During the visit, they also highlighted other causes they’ve long supported, like the military community and female empowerment.

During one stop in Bogotá, the Duchess of Sussex grooved to the music during a performance at the National Centre for the Arts on Aug. 15, their first day in the South American country. A few days later, she hit the dance floor with Prince Harry in Cali on Aug. 18.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in Colombia

“How did I get to know Meghan and Harry? I first encountered them through the media, and I particularly watched the Netflix series about their lives and their story, which deeply moved me,” Márquez said at a press conference on Aug. 15.

“It motivated me to say, ‘This is a woman who deserves to visit our country and share her story,’ and undoubtedly, her visit will strengthen so many women around the world,” she added.

 AUGUST 18: Meghan (L), Duchess of Sussex, Francia Marquez Colombian vice president (R) attend, and Binaifer Nowrojee (not seen), president of the Open Society Foundations makes her speech during the Afro Women and Power Forum at the Municipal Theater of Cali with the presence of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during a visit around Colombia on August 18, 2024 in Cali, Colombia.

Márquez was with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during many of their outings in Colombia, and she and Meghan appeared at the panel, “Afro-Descendant Women and Power: Voice of Equity,” in Cali on Aug. 18.

The event highlighted leading Afro-Colombian female women and entrepreneurs, and the Duchess of Sussex at one point removed her earpiece to address the crowd in Spanish. Meghan honed her Spanish-language skills during an internship with the U.S. Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina after graduating from Northwestern.