The Duchess of Sussex has urged women in the US to vote in the upcoming presidential election.

The former actress called on female voters to make a ''change'' by going to the polls later this year and warned they would be ''complicit'' if they didn't exercise their democratic right.

Appearing via videolink at When All Women Vote's virtual event, which aimed to increase participation in the US election, she said: ''When I think about voting and why this is so exceptionally important for all of us, I would frame it as, we vote to honour those who came before us and to protect those who will come after us.

''Because that's what community is all about and that's specifically what this election is all about.

''We're only 75 days away from election day and that is so very close, and yet there's so much work to be done in that amount of time, because we all know what's at stake this year.

''I know it, I think all of you certainly know if you're here on this fun event with us, then you're just as mobilised and energised to see the change that we all need and deserve.''

The event also marked the centennial of America's 19th Amendment, which granted some women the right to vote, and Duchess Meghan described the fact women in some communities are ''still struggling to see that right come to fruition'' as ''simply not OK''.

She added: ''And we look at the attempts of voter suppression and what that's doing, all the more reason we need each of you to be out there supporting each other to understand that this fight is worth fighting and we all have to be out there mobilising to have our voices heard.

''I think we are obviously faced with a lot of problems in our world right now, both in the physical world and in the digital world, but we can and must do everything we can to ensure all women have their voices heard.

''Because at this juncture, if we aren't part of the solution, we are part of the problem.

''If you aren't going out there and voting, then you're complicit.

''If you are complacent, you're complicit.''

In the UK, although the royal family all have the right to vote,

Parliament guidelines state it is considered unconstitutional for the monarch or their family to vote in an election.