Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, turns 40 years old on 4th August 2021. Bother Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry are enjoying the quiet life after the birthday of their second child so the birthday is a quiet affair as the COVID situation in California worsens.
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The couple have always paid little attention to birthdays
The couple have rarely been seen celebrating birthdays in a big way – in fact they have always been rather small affairs. When Meghan turned 36, Harry took his then girlfriend to Botswana to carry out conservation work for an elephant charity.
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Her 39th birthday was spent ‘quietly at home’
Her last birthday, 39, was spent quietly at home (during the pandemic), although there was nothing quiet about their life months before when the couple had, in rather sensational fashion, quit the Royal family and left to live a new life in the US.
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Not a whirlwind. A hurricane.
Of course, the world knows that Meghan wasn’t born royal and had career in TV previous to her whirlwind shot at a Duchess. Over the years, she has had to deal with many family situations – her own, her previous husband’s, the Royals and now her and her husband’s little family alone in Montecito. She has changed her relationships, her family, her style and her goals many times over the years and her story isn’t a whirlwind. It’s a hurricane.
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A number of firsts
She has made many firsts: is one of the oldest pregnant royals in a century; the first bi-racial person in a family where their history was known to powder their faces to make themselves whiter; and she is the only female self-made millionaire in the royal family.
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1981: Birth family
Rachel Meghan Markle is daughter of retired lighting director Thomas Markle and former makeup artist Doria Ragland. Her father had two children who were really adults by the time Meghan was born. When her half-siblings were nearly ready to fly the nest, Tom and Doria divorced. Meghan was two.
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Childhood: A good education
Meghan attended an all-girls Catholic school. “I remember busying myself and being the president of every club,” she has said of her schooling. “Not because I actually wanted to, but because I didn’t want to eat alone at lunchtime. This overachiever mask I wore was really just the way I battled feeling displaced.”
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1993: A feminist
In 1993 Meghan appeared on a 90s Nickelodeon TV show. She was working on an assignment about commercials when she heard a dishwashing soap ad aimed solely at women. “I don’t think it’s right for kids to grow up thinking these things, that just Mom does everything,” she said at the time. Photo: Inside Edition YouTube
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1999: A place at university
According to VanityFair, it is said that Tom Markle initially had a good salary and won a lottery ticket which meant Meghan could go to college. She studied at the Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and gained a degree in theatre and international studies in 2003. She also drove from audition to audition, trying to make it as a big time actress.
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2001: A single episode
She finally landed herself a single episode role in ‘General Hospital’ and also took on a number of other little contract acting jobs. She also worked as a model for some adverts.
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2005: A young face
Although Meghan Markle has seemed to stand the test of time and never appears to age a day; it is only when you look back at earlier photos of the actress that you can see the small difference time has had. We love this fresh-faced photo take in 2005.
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2006: Deal or No Deal
Yes, she was a briefcase model in NBC’s show, Deal or No Deal. She didn’t like the job much, as she told Esquire in 2013. “I would end up standing up there forever in these terribly uncomfortable and inexpensive five-inch heels just waiting for someone to pick my number so I could go and sit down.”
(Photo: still from NBC, ‘Deal or No Deal’)
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2006: Pearls
Meghan has had some hits and some misses when it comes to fashion – this is, undoubtedly, one of her misses. The layered pearls and the 90s make-up does nothing to help poor Meghan. But little did she know of the life that would be coming to her.
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2007: Black again
Meghan has always favoured wearing black above any other colour and here she stepped out at the Golden Globes in 2007 wearing, well, black. A little frumpy, and not showing off the actress’ wonderful figure, she could definitely have done better.
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2009: The natural look
Meghan Markle has always been a natural beauty. In 2009 she appeared without much make-up and her hair rather frazzled. But we like it – a far cry from the polished Duchess Meghan.
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2010: Pretty in pink
Meghan continued to choose a more everyday look during the turn of the decade. Here she traded in her reliable black for a tone of pink that compliments her colouring well.
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2011: Accessorise
Meghan Markle started to combine some fabulous colour matches and bring out the detail in her outfits but the accessories she adorned herself with. From pointy stilettos to eye-catching clutch bags, her compliments have always been on point.
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2011: Suits
Despite struggling in the industry for many years, Meghan never stopped dreaming of success. She blamed the difficulty on her skin colour: “I wasn’t black enough for the black roles and I wasn’t white enough for the white ones.” In 2011, Meghan finally got her big break. She played Rachel in USA Network’s Suits.
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2011: Marriage
Meghan dates Trevor Engelson for six years before he decided to pop the question in 2010. Trevor, who owned his own production company called Underground, and his fiancé tied the knot in an extravagant beach-side wedding in Jamaica. Their marriage only lasted two years and they ‘quietly separated’ in 2013.
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2012: In style
Meghan is rarely seen in this shade of blue. She paired the figure-hugging dress with some red stilettos and pulls it off.
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2013: A star in the making
By now Meghan had really captured the attention of the world media as the show, Suits, was really taking off. She lived 9 months a year in Toronto filming.
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2013: An end to marriage
As the marriage between Meghan and Trevor was suffering, so it seems was Meghan herself. Meghan stepped out on the red carpet looking much slighter than at her last public appearance and the dress did nothing to help hide the bonier figure.
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2013: Try something new
So, as all who go through difficult separations, Meghan tried out something new. For her, it was a thick layer of fuchsia lipstick. It didn’t work.
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2014: A fling with Rory
Many remember Irish Pro golfer, Rory McIlroy, and Meghan Markle recreating their own ice bucket challenge. Although it was never officially confirmed, they had a small fling in 2014 and were inseparable for months.Photo: Instagram @blogthetig
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2014: A real don’t
No, Meghan didn’t get it right here at all. At the Mercedes Benz fashion week in 2014 she mismatched a delicate white dress with a heavy leather jacket perched on top of her shoulders. Both beautiful items in their own right, but a ‘no’ together. Even the cut of the dress didn’t do Meghan too many favours here either.
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2014: The celebrity chef
The Telegraph claimed that Meghan was once an item with celebrity Canadian chef, Cory Vitiello for a few years. They split, not only because they were both passionate first and foremost about their careers, but also because Meghan met Harry…
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2015: Miu Miu
Before she met Harry, however, she had time to make one other huge fashion mistake. She appeared at the 2015 MADE fashion week in a lovely outfit that was hidden by this furry Miu Miu coat. Another dress/jacket mismatch for the actress.
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2016: Lady in red
Meghan, just months before she was linked to Prince Harry, attended ELLE’s 6th Annual Women in Television Dinner Presented by Hearts on Fire Diamonds and Olay at Sunset Tower in January 2016, California. The matching deep red dress with lipstick could have worked on others, but Meghan looked washed out by the strong colour and it didn’t really suit her at all.
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2016: When Harry met Meghan
“We were introduced actually by a mutual friend,” Harry revealed during the couple’s first sit-down interview with the BBC following their engagement announcement. The couple managed to date shielded from the public eye for nearly 16 months.
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Criticised as being a social climber
Her half-sister, Samantha, in an interview with The Sun, said Meghan was a social climber: she said Meghan was shallow and superficial, had always wanted to become a princess, and had “a soft spot for gingers.”
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2017: The engagement
Harry and Meghan got engaged – to the delight of the world. Meghan opted for a white coat by Canadian brand Line the Label. Incredibly, the coat quickly sold out after the couple’s appearance, despite being previously restocked.
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2018: A royal in trousers
Meghan Markle appeared shortly after the engagement in cropped black trousers and a matching blazer by Alexander McQueen — at the Endeavor Fund Awards in London in February 2018 (just a few months after announcing her engagement to Prince Harry). It is said the Queen prefers female royals to avoid trouser suits and stick to skirts. Meghan was already making her own rules.
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2018: Enjoying time with the Royal family
Prince Harry said that Meghan was enjoying spending time with the royal family because the royal family was “the family she never had.” This did not go down too well with her family at home, and especially her half-sister, Samantha who had finally decided to speak out: “Consistently, my family was being isolated and ignored, like we’re nonexistent.”
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2018: Meghan’s father rages
Amongst all the family drama in the build up to the wedding, Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, went to speak to Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain to complain about his daughter’s “ghosting” of him. In the interview, he reached out to the queen herself to intervene in the family squabble.
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2018: The wedding
Meghan’s wedding dress by Waight Keller was show-stopping. It was a beautiful design with a stunning headband. She provided a great style reference for all brides.
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2018: Those tights, though
And then, in her first public appearance after her wedding, Meghan arrived at a Buckingham Palace garden party in May 2018 in a not-so-elegant outfit. She was wearing this Goat Fashion dress in neutral colours which featured a sheer overlay and sleeves. But what really caught the world’s attention were her pale tights, clearly too light for her skin tone. But isn’t it forbidden for a royal to show bare legs?
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2018: Don’t forget to wear the right underwear
Meghan would be baring more than legs later in the year when she and her husband embarked on a visit of Ireland. Rule 101 of fashion: pick the right underwear.
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2019: Pregnancy
Meghan often stepped out cupping her baby bump in pride. She looked fantastic here at the last stage of her pregnancy in a metallic dress with overcoat.
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2019: Family issues
Finally, Meghan wrote to her father, Thomas Markle, regarding their strained relationship. She penned: “Daddy, It is with a heavy heart that I write this, not understanding why you have chosen to take this path, turning a blind eye to the pain you’re causing,” she was talking of her father’s fabricated press photos and absence at her wedding, which she said she learned about through a tabloid. “Your actions have broken my heart into a million pieces — not simply because you have manufactured such unnecessary and unwarranted pain, but by making the choice to not tell the truth as you are puppeteered in this. Something I will never understand.”
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2019: Royal family issues
As tensions were also rising in the palace, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex officially split from their joint charity with Prince William and Duchess Kate in June 2019.
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2019: Her own family
Meghan and Harry welcomed their son, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, in May 2019. She was every bit a beaming mother, despite (as we would learn later) the fear she felt for her and her son’s wellbeing.
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2019: Christmas alone
In November 2019, Buckingham Palace announced that Harry and Meghan would not spend Christmas with the royals. Instead, the Sussexes and their new son spent “private family time” in Canada in December 2019.
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2020: The dreaded year for many
The couple revealed their plans to “step back” from their roles as senior members of the royal family in January 2020. This news split the opinions of many and, only when they delivered their bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey months later would we learn more.
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2020: Going out in style
Meghan attended the Mountbatten Festival of Music in 2020, at London’s Royal Albert Hall. She looked stunning matching Harry’s royal red in a Kalika stretch-crêpe gown by Safiyaa. She was going out with a bang.
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2020: The last time a royal
The couple attended their final public event as royals at Westminster Abbey in March 2020, before they fled across the water. It was a tense event, with the couple barely speaking to William and Kate. Markle was in a head-to-toe emerald green ensemble, which many called her “revenge dress”.
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2020: A miscarriage
Meghan revealed to the New York Times in November 2020 that she had suffered a miscarriage that July. “I knew, as I clutched my firstborn child, that I was losing my second.”
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2021: Another child
Harry and Meghan announced in February 2021 that she was pregnant again. “We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother,” a spokesperson said.
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2021: Lilibet Diana
There was an official statement from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announcing the birth of their new daughter, Lilibet Diana Windsor-Mountbatten on June 4th, 2021.
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