Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle; Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
Markle in January 2013
Born	Rachel Meghan Markle (1981-08-04) August 4, 1981 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Northwestern University
Occupation	Actress, model
Years active	2002–2017
Known for	Acting, activism work
Spouse(s)	Trevor Engelson (m. 2011; div. 2013)
Partner(s)	Prince Harry (2016; 2017 engaged; married May 19, 2018)
Parents	Thomas W. Markle (father) Doria Ragland (mother)

Meghan Markle, officially still titled "Meghan, Duchess of Sussex", (born Rachel Meghan Markle on August 4, 1981) is the first high-level mixed-race member of the British Royal Family. Before meeting her future spouse Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Markle was known as an American actress, model, and a far-left activist and humanitarian. She is mostly white and part African American.

Markle was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in theater and international studies. Since 2011, Markle portrayed Rachel Zane on the legal drama series Suits. She is also known for her role as special agent Amy Jessup in the sci-fi thriller Fringe. She had previously worked as a freelance calligrapher. From 2011 until their divorce in 2013, Markle was married to actor and producer Trevor Engelson.

In 2017 she was engaged to marry Prince Harry of the British Royal Family, who is over three years younger than her. Their engagement was announced on November 27, 2017. At that time she retired from acting, and planned to devote her time to selected humanitarian causes and other royal duties. Upon their marriage on May 19, 2018, she became "Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Sussex". They have two children, Archie and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor. In early 2020 the couple announced plans to seek more lucrative opportunities outside the Royal Family, stepped down from all duties, and moved to the USA to start a politically progressive social organization known as Archewell Inc.. They also worked with Netflix to create programming exploiting their background, but found themselves excluded from their royal connections.

Early life

Rachel Meghan Markle was born on August 4, 1981, in Los Angeles. Describing her parents, she has said, "My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African American ... I have come to embrace [this and] say who I am, to share where I'm from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident, mixed-race woman." Her mother, Doria Ragland, has a master's degree in social work from the University of Southern California, lives in View Park-Windsor Hills, and works as a psychotherapist and yoga instructor. Her father, Thomas W. Markle, who lives in Mexico, is an Emmy Award-winning lighting director whose profession resulted in his young daughter often visiting the set of Married... with Children. Markle is of Dutch, English, and Irish descent through her father.

Markle grew up in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles. From age five, she was educated at private schools; first at Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse and later at Immaculate Heart High School, an all-girl, private Catholic school in Los Angeles. She graduated in 2003 from Northwestern University, near Chicago, where she earned a bachelor's degree in theater and international studies; coursework included an internship at the US embassy in Buenos Aires.

Markle began a relationship with actor and producer Trevor Engelson in 2004. They were married in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, on September 10, 2011, and concluded a no-fault divorce in August 2013, citing irreconcilable differences. Markle's subsequent relationship with celebrity chef and restaurateur Cory Vitiello lasted almost two years, ending in May 2016.

Relationship with Prince Harry

Early relationship

Prince Harry in 2017

Markle was in a relationship with actor and producer Trevor Engelson from 2004 until 2011. They married on September 10, 2011, and divorced in August 2013. Since June 2016, she has been in a relationship with Prince Harry, who is fifth in line to the British throne. Prince Harry and Markle met on a blind date that a mutual friend set up. The press reported on the relationship in October 2016.

On November 8, 2016, the Royal Family's communications secretary released an official statement that addressed the "wave of abuse and harassment" directed toward Markle. The statement spoke to the sexism, racism and defamatory stories directed at Markle, including an unspecified "smear on the front page of a national newspaper". It urged the press to "pause and reflect" before driving these storylines.

During a September 2017 interview with Vanity Fair, Markle spoke in public for the first time about her love for Prince Harry, saying, "We're two people who are really happy and in love. We were very quietly dating for about six months before it became news, and I was working during that whole time, and the only thing that changed was people's perception." Later that month, they made their first public appearances together at an official royal engagement—the wheelchair tennis event, and the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Toronto.

Markle maintained an apartment in Toronto because Suits was filmed there but moved out in late November 2017 after work on the seventh season had been completed.

Engagement and marriage

Further information: Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

On November 27, 2017, it was announced that Markle and Prince Harry had become engaged to marry. By then, she had met Prince Harry's family and had met several times with the Queen. The couple will live together at Nottingham Cottage in London, on the grounds of Kensington Palace, after the wedding in May 2018. The engagement ring given by Harry to Markle consists of three diamonds, two of which were taken from the jewellery collection of the Prince's mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

The engagement announcement prompted much comment about the possible social significance (or insignificance) of Meghan Markle becoming a proudly mixed-race royal.

Though she attended Catholic school as a child, Markle identified as a Protestant prior to her engagement to Prince Harry. Following her engagement, it was announced that she would be baptised and confirmed into the Church of England before the wedding. She would also become a British citizen. Despite Markle's status as an American divorcee, neither the Crown nor the Church of England have raised objections to the marriage, unlike in 1936 when Edward VIII was forced to abdicate the throne to marry Wallis Simpson; thus, Prince Harry will be allowed to keep his royal titles.

Markle's first official public appearance with Harry after their engagement was a walkabout in Nottingham on December 1, 2017, in connection with World AIDS Day. They were invited to celebrate Christmas 2017 with the royal family at the Queen's Sandringham estate. In early 2018, Markle accompanied Harry on his engagements in Brixton, Cardiff, Goldsmiths' Hall, and Edinburgh. On February 28, 2018, Markle made her first joint official engagement with Harry, and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Harry's brother and sister-in-law), at the first annual forum of the Royal Foundation, "Making a Difference Together". Markle is expected to become the fourth patron, alongside Harry, William and Catherine, after her marriage into the royal family. Markle and Harry marked International Women's Day by attending an event in Birmingham hosted by the Stemettes. Along with the Queen and other members of the royal family, Markle attended the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on March 12, 2018. The couple made their first visit to Northern Ireland on March 23, 2018.

In preparation for the Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, baptised Markle and confirmed her into the Church of England on March 6, 2018. The private ceremony, performed with water from the River Jordan, took place in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace. The marriage ceremony took place on May 19, 2018, at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, attracting substantial media interest. After becoming engaged, Markle began the years-long process of becoming a British citizen.

Personal life

The Duke and Duchess lived at Nottingham Cottage in London, on the grounds of Kensington Palace. They later moved to Frogmore Cottage in Home Park, on the grounds of Windsor Castle, and their office was moved to Buckingham Palace. Markle's pregnancy in 2018 and 2019 caused intense media interest. There was even legal betting on the due date, which was somewhat delayed, possibly due to the mother's advanced maternal age. However, there were skeptical claims that she used a surrogate mother for the pregnancy. These claims remained unproven, and were generally kept out of mainstream media reports. On May 6, 2019, the Duchess gave birth to Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, who is seventh in line to the throne.

Royal duties and activism

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex welcomed to New Zealand, October 2018

The Duchess's first official engagement after the wedding came on May 22 when she and her husband celebrated the charity activism of his father, Prince Charles. Her first trip abroad at the request of the British government was to Dublin, Ireland, in July 2018. The Duchess takes part in her husband's work as youth ambassador to the Commonwealth, which includes overseas tours. The first such trip was to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand in October 2018. Despite the dwindling support for the monarchy in Australia, the couple were greeted by crowds in Sydney, and the announcement of the Duchess's pregnancy hours after their arrival was received enthusiastically by the public and media. During their visit to Morocco in February 2019, the Duke and Duchess focused on "women's empowerment, girls' education, inclusivity and encouragement of social entrepreneurship" and other progressive goals.

In 2018, Time magazine called Markle one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, and placed her on its shortlist for Person of the Year. She was also chosen as one of the most influential women in the United Kingdom by Vogue magazine. As part of their separate office or 'court', the Duke and Duchess created an Instagram social media account, which broke the record for fastest account to reach 1,000,000 followers.

In January 2020, Meghan and her husband announced online that they were stepping back as senior members of the royal family, and would be pursuing other opportunities in the United Kingdom and North America. They would seek "financial independence" beyond royal stipends and benefits. However, they would continue to support their charities and still perform certain royal duties. This immediately triggered massive media and public criticism. By the end of the month it appeared they would be spending most of their time in Canada. After royal family negotiations, Buckingham Palace announced that she and her husband would lose the right to use their titles of "Royal Highness" in early 2020, though they would technically not lose the titles themselves.

Ancestry

Markle is a descendant of Captain Christopher Hussey, Esquire (d.1686), who was appointed in 1679 by King Charles II to govern the Royal Province of Hampton, New Hampshire. He was a founding father of Nantucket and an ancestor of Richard Nixon.

In November 2017, a number of media sources published a royal descent for Markle, through Christopher Hussey. These originated with the research of an Australian amateur historian Michael Reed, who claimed that Christopher Hussey was a descendant of nobleman John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford. Baron Hussey, who was beheaded in 1537 at the order of King Henry VIII, was a descendant of King John. However, other genealogists doubt this connection, including Paul C. Reed, who researched the baptismal records and found no evidence that Captain Christopher Hussey's father—John, of Dorking, Surrey—was connected to the descendants of Baron Hussey in Lincolnshire.

Markle's alleged descent from the Bowes family, which would make her a distant cousin of Prince Harry, also depends on the Hussey research being correct. If it is, Meghan and Harry's most recent common ancestors are Elizabeth Bowes (1505–c.1572) and her husband, Richard Bowes, son of Sir Ralph Bowes of Streatlam Castle and High Sheriff of County Durham—ancestors of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother (née Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon).

Markle's maternal great-great-great-grandfather was a slave on Georgia plantations before being emancipated with the abolition of slavery in 1865.

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  Markle's purported ancestor, Lord Hussey

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  Markle's great-great-great-grandmother, New Hampshire landowner, Mary Hussey Smith

Activism

As a child, Markle objected to a Procter & Gamble television commercial for a dish soap, which featured the line “Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans,” which she believed to be sexist. She took action by writing letters to lawyer Gloria Allred (who often advocates for women's issues) and the then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. Months later the offending line was changed to “People all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans.”

In 2016, Markle became a global ambassador for World Vision Canada, traveling to Rwanda for the Clean Water Campaign. The agency campaigns to provide safe, clean drinking water, something the country's growing population has been unable to provide due to its lower state of social development. She has also worked with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women as an Advocate. Markle was a publicity counsellor for international charity One Young World, speaking at the 2014 annual summit in Dublin on topics related to feminist-defined "gender equality" and modern-day slavery. In 2016 she also attended the politically progressive "One Young World" summit in Ottawa. Markle is an early investor in Apache HTTP Server and a self-described geek; quotes referencing her work on Suits are still hidden in the lines of code. Inspired by Princess Diana, she planned to increase the scope of her social humanitarian work after marrying Prince Harry. By 2019, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were regularly criticized by environmental campaigners for using private jets when taking trips abroad, which significantly raised their carbon footprints.

Social media

Starting in 2019, the Duchess launched legal cases and complaints against various media organs, including a lawsuit against Associated Newspapers Limited over the publication in the Daily Mail of a letter she had sent to her father, who she otherwise has no contact with. Consulting firm 89up reported the discovery of 1,103 highly connected Twitter accounts with more than two and a half million tweets in favor of the Duchess, most of which appeared to be cyborgs carrying out "coordinated attacks" on royal correspondents who reported negatively on Meghan.

Acting career

Markle worked as a freelance calligrapher in order to support herself between early acting jobs. In 2002, Markle appeared in an episode of the daytime soap opera General Hospital. Early in her career, Merkel had small guest roles on the television shows Century City (2004), The War at Home (2006), and CSI: NY (2006). She also took on several contract acting and modeling jobs that included a stint as a "briefcase girl" on the US game show Deal or No Deal. She appeared in Fox's series Fringe as Junior Agent Amy Jessup in the first two episodes of its second season. Markle had some difficulty getting roles early in her career. In 2015, she wrote: "I wasn't black enough for the black roles and I wasn't white enough for the white ones, leaving me somewhere in the middle as the ethnic chameleon who couldn't book a job."

Since July 2011, she has played Rachel Zane on the USA Network show Suits, which is filmed in Toronto, Ontario. The character began as a paralegal who eventually became an attorney. She completed work on that series' seventh season in late 2017. Markle has appeared in two 2010 films, Get Him to the Greek and Remember Me, and one 2011 film, Horrible Bosses. She has also appeared in episodes of Cuts, Love, Inc., 90210, Knight Rider, Without a Trace, The League, and Castle.

During a BBC interview, Markle said that she would not return to Suits and that after she marries, she will transition out of her work as an actress.

Markle was founder and editor-in-chief of lifestyle website The Tig, which closed in April 2017. In November 2016, Markle and Canadian clothing company Reitmans released a line of women's fashion workwear.

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	General Hospital	Jill	1 episode
2004	Century City	Natasha	"A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Lose" (season 1: episode 4)
2005	Cuts	Cori	"My Boyfriend's Back" (season 1: episode 5)
2005	Love, Inc.	Teresa Santos	"One on One" (season 1: episode 9)
2006	1 vs. 100	Herself	Mob member number 7
2006	The War at Home	Susan	"The Seventeen-Year Itch" (season 1: episode 17)
2006	CSI: NY	Veronica Perez	"Murder Sings the Blues" (season 3: episode 7)
2006	Deceit	Gwen	TV film
2007	Deal or No Deal	Herself	Holder of Case #24; 4 episodes
2008	90210	Wendy	"We're Not in Kansas Anymore" (season 1: episode 1) "The Jet Set" (season 1: episode 2)
2008	'Til Death	Tara	"Joy Ride" (season 3: episode 2)
2009	Knight Rider	Annie Ortiz	"Fight Knight" (season 1: episode 14)
2009	Without a Trace	Holly Shepard	"Chameleon" (season 7: episode 15)
2009	Fringe	Junior FBI Agent Amy Jessup	"A New Day in the Old Town" (season 2: episode 1) "Night of Desirable Objects" (season 2: episode 2)
2009	The League	Random Girl	"The Bounce Test" (season 1: episode 2)
2010	CSI: Miami	Officer Leah Montoya	"Backfire" (season 8: episode 20)
2010	The Boys and Girls Guide to Getting Down	Dana	TV film
2011–2018	Suits	Rachel Zane	Main Character; Series Regular
2012	Castle	Charlotte Boyd/Sleeping Beauty	"Once Upon a Crime" (season 4: episode 17)
2014	Extant	Girl at Table	"Extinct" (season 1: episode 2)
2014	When Sparks Fly	Amy Peterson	Hallmark Channel television movie
2016	Dater's Handbook	Cassandra Brand	Hallmark Channel television movie

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2005	A Lot like Love	Passenger on plane
2010	Get Him to the Greek	Tatiana	Uncredited
2010	Remember Me	Megan
2011	Horrible Bosses	Jamie
2015	Anti-Social	Kirsten

External links

• Meghan Markle at the Internet Movie Database