Meghan Markle was born on this date in 1981. She is an African American actress, model, humanitarian and The Duchess Of Sussex.
Born in Los Angeles, CA; Rachel Meghan Markle”s father is white, and mother is black. Her mother, Doria Radlan, has a master’s degree in social work and is a psychotherapist and yoga instructor. Her father, Thomas W. Markle is of Dutch, English, Irish and Scottish descent and is a lighting director. Markle grew up in the Hollywood, attended private schools; first at Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse and Immaculate Heart High School, an all-girl, private Catholic school in Los Angeles. She graduated in 2003 from Northwestern University completing her bachelor’s degree in theater and international studies; coursework included an internship at the U.S. embassy in Buenos Aires.
To support herself between early acting jobs, Markle worked as a freelance calligrapher and took on acting and modeling jobs including a stint as a ‘briefcase girl’ on the U.S. game show Deal or No Deal. In 2002, Markle appeared in an episode of the daytime soap opera General Hospital. She appeared in the series Fringe as Junior Agent Amy Jessup in the first two episodes of its second season. In 2011 she played the paralegal Rachel Zane, on the USA Network show Suits. Markle has appeared in two 2010 films, Get Him to the Greek and Remember Me, and one 2011 film, Horrible Bosses. She appeared in the short film The Candidate in 2012.
Markle was married to Trevor Engelson for two years and was a counsellor for international charity One Young World, speaking at the 2014 annual summit in Dublin on the topics of gender equality and modern-day slavery. Markle was founder and editor-in-chief of lifestyle website The Tig which closed in April 2017. In 2016 Markle and Canadian clothing company Reitmans released a line of women’s fashion workwear and she became a global ambassador for World Vision Canada, traveling to Rwanda for the Clean Water Campaign. She has also worked as an Advocate with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. She also attended the 2016 summit in Ottawa. Markle is a self-proclaimed foodie and is friends with a number of celebrities including Serena Williams, Jessica Mulroney, and Ben Mulroney.
In June 2016, she began a relationship with Prince Harry of Wales. On November 8, 2016, an official statement was released from the Royal Family’s communications secretary addressing the “wave of abuse and harassment” directed toward Markle that followed the announcement of her relationship with Prince Harry. The statement spoke to the sexism, racism and defamatory stories directed at Markle and urged the press to “pause and reflect” before driving these storylines. 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. On November 27, 2017, it was announced that Markle and Prince Harry had become engaged.
Research compiled in 1997 by historians including Markle’s great-uncle, Mike Markle revealed that her paternal great-great-great-grandmother was New Hampshire landowner Mary Hussey Smith, a direct descendant of nobleman John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford, who was beheaded in 1537 at the order of King Henry VIII. Through Lord Hussey, Markle is a descendant of King John. Markle is also a descendant of Captain Christopher Hussey, Esquire who was appointed in 1679 by King Charles II to govern the Royal Province of Hampton, New Hampshire and was a Founding Father of Nantucket. Markle is a distant relation of Prince Harry. Their common ancestors are Elizabeth Bowes 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 Bowes-Lyon). Her paternal grandfather, Gordon Arnold Markle, was descended from Abraham Merckel of Alsace. Markle’s maternal great-great-great grandfather was an African slave on Georgia plantations before being emancipated with the abolition of slavery in 1863.
She married Prince Harry on May 19th 2018. The couple had their first child in May 2019, his name is Archie.
Written by Dianne Washington