Poppet To Princess Meghan's Royal Rise

From a young age, this girl had a date with destiny!

As she dreamed of becoming a famous actress, a young Meghan Markle couldn’t have imagined her greatest-ever role would be to join a family whose dramas are played out on the world stage. But looking back at the Californian beauty’s rise to fame, it’s impossible to conjure up a more perfect fit for the equally charismatic and adventurous Prince Harry.

While she grew up in Los Angeles, Meghan’s Caucasian dad Thomas was an award-winning TV lighting director, while her African-American mum Doria Ragland was a yoga instructor and social worker.

The actress remembers being exposed to racism because she couldn’t answer questions about her ethnicity by “checking a box”. However, she says hers was a happy childhood as her parents “crafted the world around me to feel like I wasn’t different, but special”.