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16 Things You Didn’t Know About Meghan Markle

The Duchess of Sussex may be a fixture in the public eye since her marriage to Prince Harry (and their royal departure earlier this year), but here's what the American-born princess's life is really like.

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visits a township with Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex to learn about Youth Employment Services
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Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, may be one of the most interesting royal family members. She’s American and a former actress raised in Los Angeles—just a tad different from the rest of the royal family tree. These Meghan Markle facts are relatable, heartwarming, and will just make you love her even more than you already do. And if you want to learn a bit more about her husband, check out these things you didn’t know about Prince Harry.
The Duke & Duchess Of Sussex Visit Sussex
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She has a degree in international relations

Meghan is best known as a former actress who appeared on the USA series Suits for seven seasons. But the former Ms. Markle wasn’t always a drama “queen:” She prepared for a role in global affairs, too. “I had always loved politics, so I ended up double-majoring in theater and international relations,” the Northwestern graduate told Marie Claire. “I applied for an internship at the U.S. Embassy, so I ended up working in the [U.S.] embassy in Buenos Aires for a few months. I thought for sure I would still have a career in politics.” Little did she know she’d be joining the royal family of another country, putting her international expertise to use in a different way. She and her husband, Prince Harry, have “stepped back” from royal duties, though—here’s what that means.

close up of meghan markle's pregnant belly
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She lost her second pregnancy

The world was abuzz in May of 2019 when Meghan Markle and Prince Harry welcomed their son Archie. In November of 2020, Duchess Meghan revealed that she was also pregnant a second time—but sadly suffered a miscarriage in July of that year. In a powerful piece for the New York Times, she shared the heartbreaking story of her experience and spoke out against the societal stigma that too often surrounds miscarriages. “Despite the staggering commonality of this pain, the conversation remains taboo, riddled with (unwarranted) shame, and perpetuating a cycle of solitary mourning,” she wrote. She also spoke from experience about how impactful the words “Are you OK?” can be when someone is struggling. Here’s why Duchess Meghan didn’t take photos right after Archie’s birth.

The Duke & Duchess Of Sussex Visit Sussex
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She has excellent handwriting

Some aspiring actors pay the bills waitressing, but Duchess Meghan had a different kind of side gig: as a calligrapher, thanks to handwriting classes she had to take in school. “I did calligraphy for invitations, [such as] Robin Thicke and Paula Patton’s wedding,” she told Esquire. “I used to do it for Dolce & Gabbana’s celebrity correspondence over the holidays. I would sit there with a little white tube sock on my hand so no hand oils got on the card.” The Duchess says it’s a lucrative business because not many people can do it anymore. What’s the trick to this lost art? “The number-one thing is you have to take your time,” she says. “Just do fluid strokes, you don’t have to have a fancy pen by any means, and write in a way that’s authentic to you.”

Married With Children
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She grew up on a television set

A Los Angeles woman at heart, Duchess Meghan spent her early years watching her father work in television. “My dad was a lighting director and director of photography for Married…with Children,” she told Esquire. “Every day after school for ten years, I was on the set of Married…with Children, which is a really funny and perverse place for a little girl in a Catholic school uniform to grow up. There were a lot of times my dad would say, ‘Meg, why don’t you go and help with the craft services room over there? This is just a little off-color for your 11-year-old eyes.'” Get a look at 13 photos of Harry and Meghan, analyzed by a body language expert.

Proctor & Gamble Outlook, Cincinnati, USA
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She got a major company to change a sexist ad—when she was 11

Royal watchers know Duchess Meghan is passionate about her causes: Her official patronages when she was a working member of the royal family included the National Theatre, education, animal welfare, and helping women find employment. But her activism goes way back. When she was just 11, she successfully campaigned to get Proctor & Gamble to rethink the language on a dish-washing ad. “They changed it from, ‘Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans’ to ‘People all over America.’ It was at that moment that I realized the magnitude of my actions,” she would later tell the UN Women’s Conference. “At the age of 11, I had created my small level of impact by standing up for equality.” Get a look at all the times Duchess Meghan and Princess Diana basically wore the same outfit.

The Duchess Of Sussex Hosts 'Together' Cookbook Launch
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She’s a foodie

The mother of two may not have time to go out to gourmet restaurants. But that’s OK because she’s a natural in the kitchen. “I love to cook…I’m always on the quest to find amazing new recipes,” she told Marie Claire. Her love of cooking hasn’t altered even during Meghan’s transformation since becoming a royal. “Meg cooks for herself and Harry every single day,” a friend told People before Master Archie’s birth (hopefully Prince Harry’s helping out now). Another pal who spoke to People said of a recent visit, “She made the most lovely meals. She made tea every day. How much she loves feeding you, taking care of you—none of that has changed.”

Homemade baked chicken with lemon on wooden background
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She even made “engagement chicken”

In fact, the way to Prince Harry’s heart may have been through his stomach. During their official engagement interview, Duchess Meghan revealed that she had been roasting a chicken with the Prince when he popped the question. In an earlier interview with Good Housekeeping, the Duchess revealed her favorite recipe: “There is nothing as delicious or as impressive as a perfectly roasted chicken,” she said. “If you have an Ina Garten–level roasted-chicken recipe, it’s a game-changer.” Barefoot Contessa chef Garten, who has a recipe for “engagement chicken,” so-called because an urban myth has it couples get engaged over the meal, has jokingly taken credit for the royal match. “Without me, it would’ve never have happened,” she said on Sunday Today with Willie Geist. Check out the real story of how Prince Harry and Meghan Markle met.

Bottles of red wine on a wooden shelf
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She named her blog after a wine

The Duchess also discovered a love of wine and used it as a metaphor for uncovering your own personal taste when she named her lifestyle blog, The Tig. “It’s named after a wine called Tignanello,” she told Allure in 2017. “I had a sip of it six years ago, and it was my first ‘a-ha’ moment. You spend years going, ‘Oh, I’ll just have red or white. I don’t really know what the difference is.’ But then one day you take a sip of something and you’re like, I get it. So the Tig became this personal idea of getting it—fashion, travel, beauty, all of it.” Sadly, she had to close her blog as she became part of the royal family. Find out how Meghan Markle changed Prince Harry—because love even changes royals.

European Premiere of Disney's "The Lion King"
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She bonded with Beyoncé

All eyes were on Duchess Meghan with the Queen—not Queen Elizabeth II, but Queen Bey at the Lion King premiere in London. Beyoncé, who starred in the film as the lioness Nala, reportedly called the Duchess “my princess” (although this is why Meghan wasn’t technically called a princess). Hugs were given all around, even though they just met—some thought it was breaking protocol to hug a royal, but it’s OK as long as the royal initiates the contact. All smiles, Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z discussed parenting with new mom and dad Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry. The Duchess was also heard at the premiere saying, “It’s date night for us!” Every new parent, even a royal, needs a break now and then.

meghan markle and prince harry with their son archie meeting Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife Leah at the Tutu Legacy Foundation in Cape Town South Africa
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She went to Africa with Prince Harry and Archie

The royal couple attended The Lion King premiere in support of their conservation work in Africa, and the whole family—Archie included—took an official tour of southern Africa in the fall of 2019. They stopped in South Africa, Malawi, Angola, and Botswana. Africa holds a special place in the couple’s hearts. Prince Harry, following in the footsteps of his mother, Princess Diana, has long been involved in conservation and community efforts there, and the Duchess has also traveled to Rwanda to work on World Vision Canada’s Clean Water Campaign. Plus, the couple, who met on a blind date, bonded early in their relationship on a camp-out in Botswana. “I managed to persuade her to come and join me in Botswana,” Prince Harry revealed in their engagement interview. “We camped out with each other under the stars. She came and joined me for five days out there, which was absolutely fantastic.” Prince Harry and Meghan also have a secret heartache that bonded them.

close up of meghan markle having a conversation
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Growing up biracial was difficult

Duchess Meghan, whose mother is Black and whose dad is White, faced criticism over her background when her relationship with Prince Harry was announced. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the first time she encountered bias. Writing about it in Elle, she talked about a form she had to fill out in school indicating her ethnicity. “You could only choose one [box], but that would be to choose one half of myself over the other,” she wrote. “I put down my pen. Not as an act of defiance, but rather a symptom of my confusion. I left my identity blank, much like how I felt.”

Later, she described the difficulty in getting roles. “I wasn’t Black enough for the Black roles and I wasn’t White enough for the White ones,” she said. But eventually, she came to an understanding of her background. “While my mixed heritage may have created a gray area surrounding my self-identification, keeping me with a foot on both sides of the fence, I have come to embrace that,” she wrote. “To say who I am, to share where I’m from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed-race woman.”

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit to Edinburgh, Scotland
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She redesigned her engagement ring

Duchess Meghan’s engagement ring features a center diamond from Botswana, flanked by diamonds from his mother’s collection, as Prince Harry explained in their engagement interview. It’s one of the things Duchess Meghan inherited from Princess Diana. But in 2019, people looking closely at photos of her ring spotted some changes: The yellow gold band has been altered to a micro-pavé one, a row of tiny diamonds on the band. Why the change? She may have needed to resize the band due to her pregnancy, and also to match the eternity band Prince Harry gave her to celebrate their first anniversary. Along with her Welsh gold wedding band, the Duchess now wears all three rings together.

Britain Royal Wedding, Windsor, United Kingdom - 19 May 2018
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She wanted her wedding to feel intimate

Speaking of her anniversary, Duchess Meghan has revealed details about her nuptials in a surprising source: The audio guide to the exhibit “A Royal Wedding: The Duke and Duchess of Sussex,” which was on display in 2019 at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Scotland. “A great level of detail went into the planning of our wedding day,” she reportedly said on the guide. “We knew how large the scale of the event would be, so in making choices that were really personal and meaningful, it could make the whole experience feel intimate.” The exhibit features her wedding dress, Prince Harry’s uniform, and niece Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress. Here’s why British tabloids are just so brutal, including towards Meghan.

King Power Royal Charity Polo Day, Billingbear Polo Club, Wokingham, UK - 10 Jul 2019
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She’s been mom-shamed

The critics have never gone easy on Meghan, even when she became a Duchess and official member of the royal family. While she was applauded at the Lion King premiere for her real-life post-baby body—”Meghan looks like a woman who gave birth two months ago, and not only embraces her post-pregnancy body, but also loves it too,” one admirer wrote on Twitter—she was also cruelly attacked for how she was spotting holding baby Archie at a polo match. Critics said the baby was in an awkward position and even that she “looks like she’s about to drop him.” But, as a pediatrician told Today, there isn’t actually anything wrong with how she was holding him. On her podcast, Archetypes, Meghan shared her thoughts on motherhood and the criticism she’s received around it.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, Duke & Duchess of Sussex, pet a horse at the Moroccan Royal Federation of Equestrian Sports in Rabat on February 25, 2019
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She loves animals—and vice versa

Duchess Meghan has long been an animal lover, adopting two rescue dogs before moving across the pond (one came with her to England, the other was given to a friend). So it was natural she chose an animal welfare program as one of her official charities. “As a proud rescue dog owner, I know from personal experience the joy that adopting an animal into your home can bring,” Duchess Meghan wrote in the foreword to the group’s annual review. The feeling is mutual: Prince Harry remembered in their engagement interview how the Queen’s dogs instantly responded to Meghan. “The corgis took to [her] straight away,” he said. “I’ve spent the last 33 years being barked at. This one walks in, absolutely nothing. Just wagging tails and I was just like, ‘Ugh!'” Here are some great vintage photos and paintings of royal dogs.

Healthy Homemade Carrot Cake
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She loves carrot cake

While her and Harry’s wedding cake was elderflower and lemon, for her second birthday as a royal, on August 4, 2019, she had a carrot cake. The beautiful culinary creation was the work of London’s Luminary Bakery. To make matters even better, this bakery champions a cause close to the Duchess’s heart—they help rehabilitate disenfranchised women, including formerly incarcerated women and victims of domestic violence.

Sources

Tina Donvito
Tina Donvito is a regular contributor to RD.com’s Culture and Travel sections. She also writes about health and wellness, parenting and pregnancy. Previously editor-in-chief of Twist magazine, Donvito has also written for Parade Magazine, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Parents Magazine online, among others. Her work was selected by author Elizabeth Gilbert to be included in the anthology Eat Pray Love Made Me Do It: Life Journeys Inspired by the Bestselling Memoir. She earned a BA in English and History from Rutgers University.