Acting

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (born Rachel Meghan Markle; August 4, 1981), is an American member of the British royal family and a former actress. Markle was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Her acting career began while at Northwestern University. She attributed early career difficulties to her biracial heredity. Her last and most significant on-screen role was that of Rachel Zane for seven seasons (2011–2018) in the American TV legal drama Suits. She also developed a social media presence. This included The Tig (2014–2017) lifestyle blog which garnered recognition for her fashion sense and led to the creation and release of two clothing lines in 2015–2016. During The Tig period, Markle became involved in charity work focused primarily on women's issues and social justice. Markle was married to American film producer Trevor Engelson from 2011 until their divorce in 2013. She retired from acting upon her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018 and became known as the Duchess of Sussex. The marriage prompted favorable comments about having a mixed-race person in the royal family. Nevertheless, the couple stepped down as senior members in 2020 due to personal privacy issues and perceived hostile media treatment, particularly by the British tabloids. They subsequently settled in her native California to pursue business ventures and charity work. They have two children, Archie and Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor.