Meghan Markle is a philanthropist, former actor, podcaster, and mother who became the Duchess of Sussex when she married Prince Harry on May 19, 2018. Born on August 4, 1981, she was raised in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Woodland Hills and Mid-Wilshire by her mother, Doria Ragland, and father, Thomas Markle, who divorced when she was two years old. She identifies as mixed race. She attended private primary and secondary schools in LA, and graduated from Northwestern University in 2003, double majoring in theater and international studies. Upon graduation, she began auditioning for roles in movies and TV, eventually becoming a briefcase model on the game show Deal or No Deal. In 2011, she married her first husband, Trevor Engelson; they divorced in 2013. Eventually, she was cast in her breakout role as Rachel Zane, a paralegal, on the USA Network drama Suits. The show immediately became a ratings success, and she was in seven of its nine seasons. She began to live part-time in Toronto, where the production was based, and she also gained notoriety for her lifestyle blog, The Tig.
In July 2016, she was introduced to Prince Harry by mutual friends at a small event at Soho House in London, and the pair began to date. They made their first public appearance as a couple, and on November 27, 2017, they announced their engagement. They were married in a televised ceremony at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, and Meghan began to work as a senior royal, choosing charities related to her interest in women’s rights and her passion for animals. She and Harry renovated Frogmore Cottage, originally a 10-bedroom house but refitted to five bedrooms, in Windsor, and their son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born on May 6, 2019. During a fall tour of South Africa, Meghan told a broadcaster that she was struggling with her role in the royal family. On January 8, 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced that they were stepping back from their roles with the royal family, sparking a media frenzy.
They completed their last royal duties in March, and eventually moved to Los Angeles at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. That summer, they purchased an estate in Montecito, a Santa Barbara enclave that is popular with celebrities. In spring 2021, they announced that Meghan was pregnant with another child and sat for an interview with Oprah that sparked a difficult rift with the royal family. Daughter Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor was born on June 2, 2021. No longer a working royal, she is the co-founder of Archewell Foundation and a production studio. In August 2022, her podcast Archetypes premiered.
