ALL eyes were on London in the summer of 1981 as Prince Charles led a demurely stunning Lady Diana Spencer to greet the cheering crowds outside Westminster Abbey.
That week had huge implications for the monarchy, but not just because of what happened in England.
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Meghan Markle changed the face of royalty forever
It was six days later – and over 5,000 miles away in Los Angeles – that a child was born who would change the face of our royal family forever.
The 𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚢’s parents called her Rachel Meghan Markle.
According to her half-brother Thomas Markle Jr, already a teenager in 1981, it was clear from the beginning that this bright-eyed girl would go on to achieve extraordinary things.
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The American actress is also a lifestyle guru, philanthropist and women’s rights campaigner
Familiar to millions as the feisty Rachel Zane from hit US TV series Suits, she is a lifestyle guru, philanthropist, women’s rights campaigner and drop-dead gorgeous to boot.
But her path to the top had many more twists and turns than that of the privileged Prince Henry Charles Albert David.
Meghan’s family rose from poverty to live the American dream.
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On the other side of the pond, Meghan Markle was born six days after Prince Charles wed Diana in 1981
Her father Thomas comes from coal mining stock in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains in Pennsylvania.
They had emigrated there from England in 1869, during the reign of Harry’s ancestor Queen Victoria, to seek a better life.
But what they found was hard work and struggle. Four generations later, Thomas was the first in his family to escape coal country.
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Meghan was born to Thomas Markle, a lighting director, and make-up artist Doria Ragland
He moved to Los Angeles, becoming a highly respected lighting director on major American TV shows.
In 1979 he married African-American make-up artist Doria Ragland, whose mother was a nurse and father an antiques dealer in LA.
Two years later, Meghan was born. A beautiful child, she had the comfortable lifestyle of a “valley girl”, brought up in a roomy house in the leafy LA suburb of Woodland Hills.
By then, Thomas Markle was earning good money in Hollywood – enough to send Meghan to the private Little Red Schoolhouse, where previous pupils included the likes of Elizabeth Taylor.
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Mixed-race Meghan would struggle with her identity throughout her childhood
But for all her privilege, Meghan was not immune to heartache. With a black mother and white father, she struggled with her identity.
Woodland Hills was not a diverse neighbourhood, and sometimes the neighbours would mistake Meghan’s mother for her nanny.
On one occasion she described witnessing a driver racially abusing her mother and calling her a n****r.
“My skin rushed with heat as I looked to my mom,” she later wrote.
“Her eyes welling with hateful tears, I could only breathe out a whisper of words, so hushed they were barely audible: ‘It’s OK, Mommy.”’
At home her parents bought her black dolls and white dolls and combined them to make mixed-race families.
When she struggled to fill in a school form asking her to tick a box saying if she was white or black, her father told her: “If that happens again, you draw your own box.”
When she was two her parents separated. They divorced when she was six but remained on good terms, and on Fridays, straight after school, Meghan would join her father where he worked on the set of Married With Children.
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Meghan caught the acting bug early, having spent time on sets with her father
Other crew members recall a serious, strikingly beautiful girl who was visibly soaking up her environment. She had caught the acting bug.
In 1990, Thomas scooped over £500,000 in a lottery, which comfortably paid Meghan’s fees at Immaculate Heart High School – one of LA’s finest – where she was the star of school productions.
She was smart and popular and was voted Homecoming Queen at the school prom.
From there, she went on to the prestigious Northwestern University in Illinois, where she studied theatre and international relations.
Briefly she considered a career in politics, but the bright lights of showbiz proved too much to resist.
It was in many ways the tougher path to choose. But as anyone who knows Meghan will tell you, her willingness to succeed would overcome any obstacle.
Reflecting on her extraordinary drive and the contrast with her spiritual mother, Meghan has said: ‘’We are so different.
&#8220;My mom is a yoga instructor and a social worker. She’s got a nose ring and dreadlocks and she’s super free-spirited and laid-back.
&#8220;And she’s like: ‘I don’t know where you came from. You just came out like this.”’
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Meghan is a big yoga fan, thanks to her mum who is a yoga instructor and a social worker
That determination was tested throughout Meghan’s 20s when she struggled to make her mark as an actor.
For years she landed nothing but bit-parts in shows like Knight Rider and CSI. A low point was appearing as “suitcase girl number 24” on Deal or No Deal.
In one movie her character did not even have a name – she appeared in the credits simply as Hot Girl.
As she put it: “I wasn’t black enough for the black roles and I wasn’t white enough for the white ones, leaving me somewhere in the middle as the ethnic chameleon who couldn’t book a job.”
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For years Meghan struggled to get her big break, taking jobs like a Deal or No Deal girl
Meghan would drive to auditions in a car she could only enter through the boot because the passenger doors didn’t work. Times were hard.
Then in 2011, shortly after a walk-on role as a FedEx delivery girl in movie Horrible Bosses, she landed her big break as Rachel Zane in Suits.
At the age of 30, she was finally hot property – and she wasted no time capitalising on her profile as a leading character on America’s top TV drama.
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As Harry appeared as his brother&#8217;s best man in 2011, Meghan was celebrating her own wedding in Jamaica
It proved to be quite a year. Over in England, the world watched Harry carry out best man duties for his big brother.
Meanwhile, in America, Meghan was celebrating another wedding – her own.
She had been dating film producer Trevor Engelson for seven years before they married on a Jamaican beach in front of 100 guests.
But Meghan then had to move to Toronto, where Suits is filmed, and the long-distance relationship floundered.
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The actress married film producer Trevor Engelson after seven years together, but their union wasn&#8217;t to be
They split soon afterwards and divorced two years later. But Meghan didn’t let this hold her back.
She launched lucrative lifestyle website The Tig, on which she gave food, fashion and travel tips, as well as more serious pieces.
Then she landed a role as the face of Canadian clothing brand Reitmans.
Her high profile also brought opportunities to pursue her political passions.
In 2015, Meghan accepted an invitation to become a United Nations women’s advocate.
That year, on International Women’s Day, she gave an unforgettable, passionate speech, which concluded: “I am proud to be a woman and a feminist.”
The following year, she became a global ambassador for the charity World Vision.
The stage was set for Meghan’s own Prince Charming.
When she flew to Heathrow in the summer of 2016 to watch her friend Serena Williams play at Wimbledon, a mutual pal engineered a meeting with Harry, believing they would be perfect for each other.
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A mutual friend set the Prince up when Meghan flew into London in 2016 to watch Serena Williams play at Wimbledon
Their blind date was at a small dinner party at private club Soho House in London, and it was love at first sight.
They met up again the next day before Meghan had to return to Canada for work.
A besotted Harry invited her to join him in Botswana a month later, where they camped out together under the stars for five blissful nights.
Harry came away convinced that Meghan was The One: a smart, beautiful woman who shared his passion for humanitarian causes.
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After Harry invited the actress to join him in Botswana a month later the rest was history
The similarities with his adored mother Diana are striking. Africa was another mutual interest.
Harry founded his charity Sentebale in Botswana, while Meghan spent time in Rwanda for World Vision’s clean water campaign.
She was also a fiercely independent woman with a fantastic career. Far from traditional demure princess material, she was a divorcee, prone to making bold political statements.
She publicly condemned Donald Trump as “misogynistic” and “divisive” – words the Duchess of Cambridge would never dream of uttering.
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Like Harry, Meghan has spent time in Africa &#8211; working in Rwanda for World Vision’s clean water campaign
She had a well-paid job she loved, contacts all around the world, a growing political profile and a diverse group of friends including Bollywood actress turned US star Priyanka Chopra, MIC’s Millie Mackintosh and YouTube star Tanya Burr.
In just five years, she had reinvented herself from struggling actress to the ultimate female role model – it’s no wonder Harry was so smitten.
As Meghan’s star has risen, her father has retired to the Mexican coast, where he lives alone.
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Harry was besotted with Meghan from very early on in their relationship
Her mother is a huge presence in her life, and her big brother is both indulgent and supportive.

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How Meghan Markle went from a Hollywood upbringing to finding love with Prince Harry