Malala Yousafzai thanks Greta Thunberg as pair meet at Oxford University

Greta Thunberg is due to join a youth climate strike in Bristol later this week

Malala Yousafzai has expressed her thanks towards Greta Thunberg as the pair were photographed meeting.

On Tuesday, Yousafzai shared a photograph on Instagram of herself and Thunberg sitting on a bench outdoors.

The picture appears to have been taken at Lady Margaret Hall college at the University of Oxford, where Yousafzai is studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

The female education activist captioned the image with a simple message of thanks for Thunberg, writing: “Thank you, @gretathunberg,” in tribute to the environmental campaigner.

She also tweeted: “She’s the only friend I’d skip school for.”

Thunberg added: “So... today I met my role model. What else can I say?”

Several Instagram users expressed their admiration for the influential duo.

“What a great meeting! #girlpower,” one person wrote, while star and writer of The Office Mindy Kaling commented with a raised hands emoji.

This is not the first time Yousafzai has sung the praises of Thunberg.

In September, the Nobel Prize laureate tweeted that she felt “so happy to see that young women around the world are leading the climate movement”.

“Thank you to girls like @GretaThunberg for using your voice, speaking truth to power – and encouraging other young people to do the same,” the 22-year-old wrote.

It was recently reported that Thunberg is due to participate in a youth climate protest in Bristol later this week.

The 17-year-old is scheduled to join the Bristol Youth Strike 4 Climate on College Green on 28 February at 11am.

“We are all just so excited – everyone is so excited about the thought of hearing her talk,” one of the organisers, 17-year-old Milly Sibson, told the Press Association news agency.

“I would love the chance to meet her because she is the founder of this movement and she is so important to it – she is an idol even though she is younger than me.

“We really hope loads of people join us to welcome her to Bristol.”