Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

EARLY LIFE

The Duchess of Sussex was born Rachel Meghan Markle on August 4, 1981, in Los Angeles, California.

Meghan Markle By Northern Ireland Office - https://www.flickr.com

Meghan's father, Thomas Markle, worked as a lighting director on Married…with Children and General Hospital.

Her mother, Doria Loyce Ragland, is a social worker and yoga instructor. She calls her famous daughter "Flower,"

Meghan's parents divorced when she was six years old. She has two older paternal half-siblings, Thomas Markle Jr. and Samantha Grant.

Her father is Caucasian and her mother African American.

Markle grew up attending an all-girls school with a Catholic affiliation, Immaculate Heart High School, although she identifies as Protestant. She attended both middle school and high school there, graduating in 1999

Most days for ten years, Meghan found herself on Married…With Children sets after school.

CAREER

The teenage Meghan Markle's first job was at Humphrey Yogart, a frozen yogurt shop. She earned a minimum wage.

She got her first acting job before graduation from Northwestern University. In 2002, on a summer break from the university's prestigious theater program, Meghan was cast in a small role as a nurse on soap opera General Hospital.

Meghan was a double major at Northwestern University in theater and international relations.

After graduating, Meghan did an internship at the American embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At the time she was planning for a future in politics rather than acting.

Over the next few years, Meghan took on several contract acting and modeling jobs that included a stint as an understudy "briefcase girl" on the US game show Deal or No Deal. Though she appeared regularly in Season 2, Meghan’s job was to fill in whenever a model couldn’t appear.

Between 2011 to 2018, Markle portrayed Rachel Zane on the legal drama series Suits.

After becoming engaged to Prince Harry, she announced her retirement from acting.

PERSONAL LIFE 

Meghan Markle has been interested in philanthropy since she was a child. She wanted to make the world a better place after seeing the slums of Jamaica during trips with her social worker mom.

Meghan is a self proclaimed foodie and founded the lifestyle website TheTIG.com. She derived the name from the Tignanello red wine.

She has incredibly neat handwriting and even dabbles in calligraphy. Meghan penned the invitations for Robin Thicke and Paula Patton’s wedding back in 2005.

MARRIAGE 

Markle married actor and producer Trevor Engelson in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, on September 10, 2011 after the two dated for 7 years. They divorced in August 2013.

Meghan and Prince Harry were both in Afghanistan at the same time before they met. Meghan was doing a USO tour with other celebrities for the U.S. troops while Harry was stationed in the Middle East.

Harry and Meghan attending church on Christmas Day, 2017. By Mark Jones 

Prince Harry and Markle met on a blind date that a mutual friend set up. No one has ever confirmed who that friend is, but some sources have said fashion designer Misha Nonoo was responsible.

The press began to report their relationship in October 2016 and Markle's engagement to Prince Harry was announced on November 27, 2017.

Meghan and Prince Harry's marriage ceremony took place on May 19, 2018, at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Meghan and her husband announced in January 2020 that they would “step back as ‘senior members’ of the royal family” and planned to divide their time between Britain and North America and become financially independent. They made a deal with representatives of Queen Elizabeth II, in which they agreed to stop using their British royal titles, forgo some state funding and repay at least $3 million in taxpayer money that was used to refurbish their residence at Windsor Castle.