Will The Real Meghan Please Stand Up?

Beautiful, strong, confident and bi-racial, Meghan Markle seems the perfect choice for Prince Harry.  She has been described as ‘big-hearted’ and a ‘great humanitarian,’ because of her focus on charitable causes. However, her half-sister called the 36-year old American  ‘pushy’ and her half-brother penned a letter telling Prince Harry that he is making a ‘big mistake’.  Who is the real Meghan Markle?

Born in 1981, she is the daughter of a lighting director and a yoga instructor. Her father was white and her mother was black. Meghan grew up in the comfortable suburb  The Valley in LA and went to an exclusive Catholic girl’s school. She experienced racism and sexism during her childhood and teenage years. For example, people often thought that her mother was the nanny, and she left a question on a form about her ethnicity blank. She didn’t want to tick ‘Caucasian’ in case she upset her mother.

Although only black sets and white sets of Barbie doll families were sold, her father combined figures from a set to make Meghan her own ‘Heart’ family.  Meghan remembered this later and wrote about what a comforting gesture it was. She was very close to her father. Although, she has now been criticised for not helping him with money.

The  intelligent girl complained to First Lady Hillary Clinton about a sexist ad at only 11.  The advertisement stated that ‘women’ all over America were fighting greasy pots and pans. Meghan managed to change the word ‘women’ to ‘people!’ After this, she joined the National Organization for Women.

During her high-school years, Meghan became interested in charity work and helped out at soup \kitchens. She continued this during her studies at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. There she joined the sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma which concentrated on philanthropy. She helped the Glass Slipper Project which provided prom dresses for under-privileged girls. She also did a 30-hour charity dance for a cancer project.

Meghan got several parts after her studies but couldn’t find one which was right for her. She found her dream role in Suits as a bright and idealistic para-legal. She also started a lifestyle brand, The Tig, which was extremely popular.

She married producer Trevor Engelson in 2011 and they got divorced two years later. There isn’t much information about this marriage. They obviously decided that it wouldn’t work out very quickly.

Meghan’s charity work became even more impressive while she acted in Suits. She became a Women’s Advocate and Global Ambassador to the UN and travelled to India and Rwanda for the organisation. She helped the Clean Water campaign in Rwanda and the UN thanked her for assisting the provision of clean water to almost 60,000 Rwandans.

Prince Harry met Meghan on a blind date at London’s Soho House in the middle 2016 and fell for her quickly. Soon afterwards, he took her to Botswana where they camped out under the stars.  The Queen was supportive, even though Meghan was a divorced American, according to U.S. Weekly as soon as December. Rumours soon began that the couple were living together. By November of 2017 the couple, obviously very much in love, were engaged.

Some of the people who will be happiest to see the couple marry are the children who Meghan helped in Rwanda. 10-year old Chanceline said to UN Uk that: “I was so happy to meet Meghan when she came to our school. I really like her. I wish that she can have many children and a happy wedding’. Samantha said that she hoped that she will enjoy her beautiful wedding with the Prince and a happy future together’.