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When we first learned Megan Markle made an honest man of Prince Andrew, we all said, “I’ll have what she’s having.” A handsome prince and the royal treatment? It was a fairy tale come true.

Not that Megan wasn’t some pretty good real estate herself. As a Hollywood actress, she appeared in quite a few films before she appeared before her red-headed beau: Horrible Bosses, Get Him to the Greek and Remember Me, among the most highly noted. However, unlike her significant other, Megan had come a long way to get where she was. Let’s say, she wasn’t exactly born to Hollywood royalty.

A happy ending? Yes. A dream come true? No doubt. But let there’s more to Megan than meets the eye. What does Harry really see in his woman? We can’t guarantee it will capture you a Prince, but there are a few things you can learn from Megan Markle and some of them might surprise you.

Who is Megan Markle?

More than just the Duchess of Sussex for sure. Rachel Megan Markle was born on August 4, in 1981. Do the math and that means she wouldn’t even remember the original Knight
Rider, but that didn’t stop her from appearing on the 2008 version. Nevertheless, we digress.

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While growing up Megan formed a “very close relationship with her mom,” a social worker and yoga instructor. Her dad was a director of production and lighting director on “Married with Children.” It was on the set of the show where the Bundy family put the stars in Megan’s eyes. At that time, Megan would never imagine that she’d end up married with the child of a prince, especially when she had Al Bundy as inspiration.

However, it wasn’t always happy endings for the Markle family. Her mother and father were divorced when she was six years old. She has two older paternal half-siblings from whom she is estranged.

And to tackle the elephant in the room, Markle made it clear where she stands on her racial identity. During a 2015 Elle interview, she had this to say,” My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African American. I’m half black and half white…While my mixed-race 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. To say who I am, to share where I’m from, to voice my pride in being a strong confident, mixed raced woman.” FYI: Her mom actually descended from African American enslaved in Georgia – talk about humble beginnings.

Having fun so far? Hope your taking notes. What have we learned so far about Megan Markle?

1. She overcame a lot of childhood obstacles.
2. She’s confident in who she is.
3. Her mom was a yoga instructor and social worker, which means she had an open-minded role model.

Ready to nab yourself a prince? There’s way more to learn.

Growing Up Markle

How did she get that Markle Sparkle? Megan was a firecracker right from the start. Her first appearance in front of a camera was at the age of 11 when her anti-sexist campaign against a Proctor and Gamble commercial was profiled by Linda Ellerbee on Nick News.

Even before she became Duchess, Markle knew that she wasn’t going to spend her life washing dishes. What was Megan’s beef? The tagline. The P & G commercial that claimed: “women all over the world are fighting greasy pots and pans.” Instead of fighting greasy pots and pans, Megan fought against stereotypes. Her campaign against the company made a difference. Soon the commercial was edited to replace the word “women” with “people.” Equal rights to wash dishes? Maybe, but it brought an issue to attention.

Megan would recap the incident in a speech she gave at the UN in 2015. “I remember feeling shocked and angry and also just feeling so hurt. It wasn’t right and something needed to be done.” And Megan was just the woman (girl) for the job. Her dad encouraged her to write a letter to Proctor and Gamble and that letter spoke to millions. The deed was done and the Markle sparkle was burning bright.

Why does Harry love Megan? Let us count the ways:

1. She’s got guts.
2. She’s a smart cookie. She was cognizant enough to recognize inequality in something so commonplace as a TV commercial.
3. She’s compassionate – see her emotional response to the commercial for proof.

Is Megan your new celebrity girl crush yet?  Time for your next lesson.

Career in Acting

After her P and G victory and a BA in communications, it was clear that Megan had the power of the pen. In fact, she worked as a calligrapher to support herself between roles. Soon Megan scored the role of every girl’s dream –  whether it was the “briefcase girl on Deal or No Deal” or a hot nurse of General Hospital is still up for debate. 

Despite her breaks, Meghan’s early career saw just as many as setbacks as it did callbacks. In 2015, she wrote, “ Being ‘ethnically ambiguous,’ as I was pegged in the industry, meant I could audition for virtually any role…. Sadly it didn’t matter: 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 an ethnic chameleon who couldn’t book a job.”

Chameleonlike as she proclaims herself to be, she certainly stood out in her role as Rachel Zane on “Suits” won critical accolades. The Irish Times praised her for “actively positioning” her supporting role to take center stage as the “moral conscience of the show,” giving the viewers a portrayal of a woman whose African American father is determined to advance her career in order to “crack both racial and glass ceilings.”

The Markle Mark of Style

That’s Megan for you! Always making a statement. Can we talk about Meghan’s fashion statement?  How does the release of two fashion collections with Reitman’s Canadian clothing company in 2015 and 2016 grab you? Based on Megan’s “Suits” character, the self-described “aspirational girl next door,” sold out before you could say “Queen Elizabeth.”

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The Emmanuelle Alt inspired Markle told Glamour Magazine she preferred, “the French way of where your outfit is pulled together and then something’s got to be disheveled- your hair or your makeup.” Tres chic, Markle! She also expresses a preference for “streamline dresses,” “neutral colors” and bateau necklines. Click here for reference.

A Catfight on the royal catwalk? Possibly. After retailer Strathberry reported a huge surge of interest in his handbags when the Duchess was spotted carrying it, there have been speculations that she might be having a Kate effect of her own. In fact, some say the Megan effect might even cause more of a royal stir than Kate because of Megan’s appeal in the United States.  Meow!

But let’s not get catty. The royal sisters in law know it’s not a fashion competition over “who wore the best fascinator.” As far as we know, there have been no tables turned over in Buckingham Palace.

Still with us? Let’s take a quick recap to see what we have learned in the last few paragraphs about Ms. Markle.   

1. She’s a savvy businesswoman.
2. She’s a fashion icon.
3. She’s got a thing for bateau necklines.

Ready to revamp your wardrobe? Don’t max out your credit card yet! There’s a lot more where that came from.

Dig the Tig

If you really want to learn from Megan Markle, you should study “The Tig” like the Bible.

For those not yet in the know, “The Tig” is the name of Megan’s now-defunct self -proclaimed, “hub for those with a discerning palate-food, travel, fashion, and beauty.”  “Tig” also happens to be the handle Megan uses for her Tignanello Italian vino. A girl’s got to have her occasional tipple.   

The blog may be is gone, but the legacy lives on. (You can still find blog posts on the Tig Archives). And quite a revealing one it is. The biggest reveal – Meghan is pretty down to earth. Shocking, we know. Here is a little of what we were able to find out about the duchess by reading between the lines.

• She Doesn’t Go Big

You might think that a duchess would celebrate a bachelorette weekend by “running around a city and trying to get into clubs wearing headbands of phallic persuasion.” This is how Megan did not describe the intimate bachelorette party she threw for her friend Lindsay. Instead, she celebrated the occasion relaxing in Hydra, Greece. Not a bad tradeoff, but it does tell us something about how Megan rolls.

• In Fact, She Stays Home

It was well before her home was in Buckingham Palace that Megan wrote, “Sometimes jumping on planes, trains, and automobiles just aren’t in the cards, and your only opportunity to vacate is home, sweet home.” Meg can staycation with us anytime.

• She Don’t Need Anybody to Make Her Feel Like Somebody

Markle, table for one? Can you believe that Prince Harry’s wife would ever be okay with dining out alone? She actually wrote a whole blog on living independently. You go, girl. If you vant to be alone, we’re sure there’s room enough in Buckingham Palace to accommodate.

• Want Proof?

Elizabeth Gilbert, move over. You’re not the only one who’s eaten, prayed and loved her way across the world and lived to write about it. If you want to see Megan “eating everything, praying (or meditating – like her mama told her how – no doubt), and simply loving her life,” you have got to check out the Eat, Pray, Love blog on “The Tig.” Not only is there some juicy information, but Megan’s also got the pictures to prove it. I sure hope Queen Elizabeth never sees these.

• She Doesn’t Read Fairy Tales, She Lives Them – With One Exception

Why did this duchess who has never gone for romantic novels valiantly go forth to read the classic Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient?

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In a post about her favorite vacation reads, Megan  writes, “Here’s the thing – just as with the movie, The Notebook,  I have never seen these endless romantic love stories that people read with such tremendous  adoration, nor have I read the books on which they are based, but rather to dig into the epic World War II love affair called, The English Patient. There’s a reason it’s a classic, and I’m about to find out why.” Why the sudden interest in romantic fiction? With Harry in the picture, one wonders if she was prepping for some romantic reality.

• She Goes on Blind Dates

If there’s anything we can learn from Meghan Markle, it’s to not be afraid to go on blind dates.  Meghan apparently met Harry on one set up by a mutual friend. Their marriage intentions were announced officially on November 17.  Meghan’s own announcements that she would retire from acting and begin the process of becoming a British citizen soon followed.  The couple was wed in a private ceremony and she gave birth to Archie Mountbatten-Windsor on May 6, 2019.

How might things have ended if these lovers’ stars never crossed or Harry chickened out at the last minute? Quite differently, perhaps. But we have a feeling Megan’s would have always lived happily ever after. With her resilience, earthiness, savvy and beauty, Megan captivated an audience and captured a prince. That’s one historical figure worth studying up on.