On Thursday night, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry took the stage at Project Healthy Minds’ annual gala to receive a Humanitarian of the Year award and to make a major announcement. Their Archewell Parents’ Network, a grief support group, is partnering with ParentsTogether, a nonprofit dedicated to improving online safety, to “focus on what remains one of the most pressing issues of our time”—protecting kids, and their mental health, from virtual threats, said Harry.

“Our children, Archie and Lili, are just six and four years old—I can’t believe it,” Meghan said from the stage. “They’re luckily still too young for social media, but we know that day is coming. Like so many parents, we think constantly about how to embrace technology’s benefits while safeguarding against its dangers. That hopeful intention of separation is rapidly becoming impossible.”

For the Duke and Duchess of Sussex—who waved to a few parents in the crowd—the announcement is a sign that the charity they started soon after leaving royal life behind is growing as it forms new connections with existing institutions. Meghan said she hoped the partnership represented the couple’s “commitment” to the issue, and “the acknowledgement that we need to reach more families to create greater and faster change together.”

In his portion of their shared speech, Harry added that their Archewell Foundation is planning to focus more on protecting children from AI, taking aim at the companies that have brought products to the markets without instituting safeguards.“Our amazing partners at ParentsTogether had researchers spend 50 hours posing as children on AI chatbot accounts. They experienced a harmful interaction every five minutes,” Harry said from the stage. “This wasn’t content created by a third party. These were the company’s own chatbots, working to advance their own depraved internal policies.”

Project Healthy Minds, founded by former Obama policy advisor Phil Schermer, celebrated its annual gala in a space that was bright and sumptuously decorated. Meghan, wearing a black Armani suit and clutch, a chunky Anine Bing necklace, and diamond studs, walked the red carpet with Harry soon after Savannah Guthrie—in a pavé Chanel logo necklace—Don Lemon, and Carson Daly posed for the cameras.

Canadian pop artist Alexander Stewart performed at the gala, introducing his song by speaking about about his teenage struggles with suicidal ideation. He dedicated it to his mother, who was in the audience. Wearing a tweed Dolce & Gabbana suit with a silver sweater top, he told Vanity Fair that knowing Meghan and Harry would be in the audience made the night slightly stressful, but he was looking forward to it nevertheless.

“I found out they were actually going to be here tonight, I was like, oh my God. It added a layer of pressure I didn’t need,” he said. “I’m kidding… I’m not kidding actually, that’s the truth. But regardless, I’m very excited. We’re all here for the same reason. It’s about none of us—it’s about a greater cause.”

The night’s programming also featured speeches from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell introducing introduced Indianapolis Colts owner Kalen Jackson, who gave a speech about her own experience with Generalized Anxiety Disorder and her decision to start a mental health referral service out of the Colts’ front office. Sequins were the preeminent trend, one that fitness influencer Kendall Toole embraced. Toole, a former Peloton instructor who recently signed with Lululemon, said she got her brown dress decorated with paillettes at Meshki just a few nights ago.

Designer and artist Keith Lissner made an installation for the night, featuring large floral arrangements and computer generated graphics referencing Prince, Charles Darwin, Vincent Van Gogh, and other artists and thinkers of the modern era. The playlist for cocktail hour included songs from Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl, along with Chappell Roan, Kacey Musgraves, and upbeat hits from the 1980s.

Daly served as the night’s host, speaking movingly about suffering panic attacks while he was host of MTV’s Total Request Live in the early 2000s. “I used to think I might die during this Britney Spears video,” he joked, darkly. “I didn’t.” He said that he considers himself a part of the “anxiety society,” and is happy that openly speaking about his experiences has helped him connect with fellow members.

The night’s emotional core was a video featuring footage from the Archewell Foundation’s Lost Screen Memorial, an art installation featuring images of 50 children who lost their lives to online harms. Meghan and Harry premiered the installation last April at an emotional event, and footage from that night played as they walked onstage to the song “Unstoppable” by Sia. The duke and duchess both wiped their eyes as they arrived at the podium.

At the end of her speech, Meghan deviated from her prepared remarks to talk about how much she was affected by the Lost Screen Memorial display and urged others to go see the exhibition themselves. “To all the parents who’ve been part of the Parents Network, we are accepting this award this evening for you in honor of you, in honor of all the parents in this community,” she added. “We will build the movement that all families and all children deserve.”