Rachel Meghan Markle is an American model and actress, most famous for her role as Rachel Zane in the TV legal drama ‘Suits.’
Markle got engaged to Prince Harry of the British Royal Family on 27th November, 2017. At the engagement it was announced that she would stop acting and spend her time to different humanitarian causes and works as a member of the royal family.
Early Life and Education
Meghan was born in 4th August 1981, in Los Angeles, California, US. She is of mixed race. Thomas W. Markle, her father, is a lighting director who currently lives in Mexico. He is of English, Dutch, and Irish descent. Doria Ragland, her mother, is an African American who currently resides in View Park-Windsor Hills and works as a yoga instructor and psychotherapist. She has a master’s degree from the University of Southern California in social work. The Markles got divorced when Meghan was 6 years old in 1988.
Meghan grew up in the Hollywood neighborhood of LA. She began her education in private schools from age five, starting at Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse. She later went to a girls-only private Catholic school ‘Immaculate Heart High School’ in LA. Markle initially used her first name Rachel, but later began using her middle name Meghan.
Meghan then attended Chicago’s Northwestern University and graduated from there with a bachelor’s degree in 2003 that included a double major in international studies and theater. The course at the university had an internship at the American embassy located in Argentina’s capital city Buenos Aires.
Career
Markle became interested in acting due to the profession of her Emmy award winning father. As a child, she often visited the sets of the show ‘Married… with Children.’
After graduating from college, she looked for different acting jobs. During this phase she supported herself by working as a freelance calligrapher. Her first onscreen appearance was as a junior artist in an episode of ‘General Hospital’ the daytime TV drama. She then had several minor guest roles in different TV shows like The War at Home, Century City, and CSI: NY. Markle even accepted many contract acting and modeling work, which included a job as a ‘briefcase girl’ on ‘Deal or No Deal’ a game show on TV. She also acted as Junior Agent Amy Jessup in Fox’s series Fringe in the 1st 2 episodes of the 2nd season. She has also appeared in different episodes of Love, Inc., Cuts, 90210, Without a Trace, Knight Rider, Castle, and The League. Meghan has worked in 3 movies Remember Me, Get Him to the Greek, and Horrible Bosses.
In July 2011 she landed the role of Rachel Zane, a paralegal who went on to become an attorney, on the TV show ‘Suits’ telecast on USA Network. He finished working on the seventh season of the show in late 2017 and is set to retire from acting altogether.
Markle founded ‘The Tig’ a lifestyle website and was its editor-in-chief from 2014 to 2017. Meghan and Reitmans, a Canadian apparels company, launched a line of fashion workwear for women in November 2016.
Personal Life
From 2004 till 2011, Meghan was in a relationship with producer and actor Trevor Engelson. They got married on 10th Sep 2011 in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. In August 2013, the couple divorced.
Markle has been in a relationship with Prince Harry since June 2016. Prince Harry is 5th in line for the British Royal throne. Markle and the Prince met on a blind date set up by a mutual friend.
Media got wind of the relationship in October 2016 and began reporting on it. The communications secretary of the British Royal Family released a statement on 8th November, 2016, which spoke of the ‘wave of harassment and abuse’ that was directed at Meghan. The statement addressed racism, sexism, and defamatory articles that were directed at Meghan.
In September 2017, Markle and Prince Harry made their first appearance in public as a couple ‘the wheelchair tennis event’ an official royal engagement, and the Invictus Games closing ceremony held at Toronto.
Table of Contents
with Trevor Wilson
with Prince Harry
Meghan Markle – Father (Pictures)
father Thomas W. Markle
Meghan Markle – Mother (Photos)
Mother Doris Ragaland
Childhood Pictures
The Royal Engagement
The announcement about the engagement of Prince Harry and Markle was made on 27th November 2017. By that time, Meghan had met the family of Prince Harry and Queen Elizabeth II many times.
After the royal wedding which will happen in May 2018, the couple will reside at London’s Nottingham Cottage which is located on the Kensington Palace grounds. Markle had kept an apartment house in Toronto as the show ‘Suits’ gets filmed in that city. She however moved out of the apartment in November 2017 after completing the shoot for all her parts on the 7th season of the show.
The engagement ring featured 3 diamonds, and 2 of these diamonds were taken from late Princess Diana’s (Prince Harry’s mother) jewelry collection.
Markle follows the Protestant faith. It was announced by Kensington Palace that Meghan will get baptized before the wedding and get confirmed as a member of the Church of England. She will also gain British citizenship.
Despite the status of Meghan as a divorcee from America, neither the Church nor the Crown has raised any objections to the wedding. It may be noted that King Edward VIII had to abdicate the throne in 1936 so that he could marry Wallis Simpson who was divorced twice.
Ancestry
In Nov 2017, it was confirmed by the NEHGS/New England Historic Genealogical Society that Meghan was a direct descendent of British King Edward III through Rev. William Skipper, an ancestor of her father. Skipper had immigrated to Boston, MA, in 1639. Due to this ancestry, Meghan is a seventeenth cousin of Prince Harry.
Meghan’s mother’s ancestry goes back to the days of slavery in Georgia and Tennessee. The great-great-great-grandfather of Markle adopted the last name ‘Wisdom’ after get emancipated. He was a slave in the plantations in the state of Georgia.
Markle’s ancestry can also be traced back to Captain Christopher Hussey who was a founding father of Nantucket. In 1679, he was appointed by King Charles II to rule and govern New Hampshire’s Royal Province of Hampton.
Meghan Markle -height
Compared to Prince Harry who is 6 feet 1 inch tall, Meghan Markle is 1.71 or 5 feet 6 inch tall.
Humanitarian aid work
Meghan worked as counselor for ‘One Young World’ an international charity group and spoke about modern-day slavery and gender equality at the annual summit of 2014 in Dublin. In 2016, she was an attendee at the ‘One Young World’ Ottawa summit.
Markle was appointed as World Vision Canada’s global ambassador in 2016. She subsequently travelled to India to create awareness about different problems that concern women; and to Rwanda for the agency’s Clean Water Campaign which is aimed at providing clean and safe drinking water.
Meghan had assisted the United Nations Entity as an advocate for Empowerment of Women and Gender Equality.