BBC News
US First Lady Michelle Obama has told pupils at a girls' school in east London that education is the "ultimate key" to their success.
Mrs Obama, wife of President Barack, told pupils at Mulberry School for Girls their "amazing education" gave them all they needed to succeed.
She also launched the Let Girls Learn initiative to boost education globally for adolescent girls.
Earlier she met Prince Harry to discuss service personnel families' issues.
Mrs Obama told pupils at the school in Tower Hamlets, east London, the world needed "more girls like you to lead our parliaments, our courtrooms and universities".
Giving a speech at the school, she said: "With an education from this amazing school you all have everything, everything you need to rise above all of the noise and fulfil every last one of your dreams.
"And it is so important that you do that, not just for yourselves but for all of us.
"Because you all have a unique perspective, you have a unique voice to add to the conversation."
Mrs Obama spoke of her own upbringing, saying at the time there were few black women in positions of power.
But she said her parents realised education was the "ultimate key" to success and she could be successful if she worked hard in school.
She said: "Through it all my parents fully expected us to do both: to achieve our dreams and be there for our family.
"And they also knew that a good education was the ultimate key to our success.
"My parents told me every day I could do anything.
"I could grow up to be a doctor, a lawyer a scientist, whatever, but only if I worked as hard as I could to succeed in school."
Tea at No 10
Prince Harry earlier hosted Mrs Obama for tea at Kensington Palace, where they discussed their shared interest in support for veterans and their families.
The White House said the prince was meeting Mrs Obama two years after attending a mother's day tea for military mothers with her, in the United States.
She will later visit Downing Street for tea with Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha.
Writing in the Financial Times, Mrs Obama said figures which suggested more than 62 million girls across the world did not go to school were "a heartbreaking injustice".
Forced marriages, early pregnancies, abuse and sexism were some of the obstacles to education faced by girls around the world, she said.
"That kind of life is unthinkable for the girls in our lives, so why would we accept this fate for any girl on this planet?" she wrote.
The US party will fly on to Italy after the London trip to meet US armed services families based in Europe, and to continue to promote Mrs Obama's work to encourage healthy eating among children.
She is being accompanied on her trip by her mother Marian Robinson and two daughters Sasha and Malia.
Earlier she was greeted by US military families as she stepped off the plane at Stansted Airport on Monday evening.
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