Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (born Rachel Meghan Markle on August 4, 1981), is an American member of the British royal family, media personality, business owner, and actress. She is married to Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles III.
Meghan was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She began her acting career at Northwestern University. She played the role of Rachel Zane for seven seasons (2011–2018) in the legal drama series Suits. She also created a lifestyle blog called The Tig (2014–2017) and used social media to share content. During this time, she worked with charities that focused on helping women and promoting social justice. She was married to film producer Trevor Engelson from 2011 until their divorce in 2014.
Meghan married Prince Harry in 2018 and became known as the Duchess of Sussex. The couple has two children: Archie and Lilibet. In January 2020, they stopped working as active members of the royal family, moved to Southern California, and started a company called Archewell Inc., which includes both businesses that make money and charities. In March 2021, she and Prince Harry appeared in an American television interview with Oprah Winfrey titled Oprah with Meghan and Harry. She wrote a children’s book called The Bench, hosted a podcast named Archetypes (2022), and appeared in the Netflix series Harry & Meghan (2022) and With Love, Meghan (2025). Her lifestyle and cooking brand, As Ever, was officially launched in April 2025.
Early life and education
Rachel Meghan Markle was born on August 4, 1981, at West Park Hospital in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California. She has a mixed heritage, with her father being Caucasian and her mother being African American. Her parents, Doria Ragland (born in 1956) and Thomas Markle Sr. (born in 1944), separated when she was two years old and divorced four years later.
Markle has a close relationship with her mother. Until she was nine years old, both parents helped raise her. After that, her father became her main caregiver while her mother worked, and Markle lived with her father full-time until she started university at age 18. Markle Sr. worked as a director of photography and lighting for television shows like General Hospital and Married… with Children. Markle occasionally visited the set of Married… with Children as a child. Later in life, she had a difficult relationship with her father and her paternal half-siblings, Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle Jr.
Markle grew up in the View Park–Windsor Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. She attended Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse. At age 11, she and her classmates wrote to Procter & Gamble, asking the company to change a dishwashing-soap commercial to be gender-neutral. She was raised Christian, though some reports say she was raised Catholic or Protestant. She graduated from Immaculate Heart High School, a Catholic school that charges fees and only has girls. At school, she participated in plays and musicals, and her father helped with lighting. During her teenage years, she worked at a frozen-yogurt shop, a donut shop, as a nanny, and as a waitress. She also volunteered at a soup kitchen in Skid Row, Los Angeles.
In 1999, she was admitted to Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where she joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. With other members of the sorority, she volunteered with the Glass Slipper Project. After her junior year, her uncle, Michael Markle, helped her get an internship as a junior press officer at the American embassy in Buenos Aires. She briefly thought about a career in politics but did not score high enough on a test required by the U.S. State Department to continue. She returned to Northwestern University and also studied abroad in Madrid. In 2003, Markle earned her bachelor’s degree with a double major in theater and international studies from Northwestern’s School of Communication.
Acting career
According to Markle, she faced challenges finding acting roles early in her career because she was "ethnically ambiguous," meaning she did not clearly fit into one ethnic group. She explained, "I wasn't black enough for the black roles and I wasn't white enough for the white ones." To support herself between acting jobs, she worked as a freelance calligrapher and taught bookbinding. Her first on-screen appearance was a small role as a nurse in an episode of the daytime soap opera General Hospital, a show for which her father worked as a lighting director. Markle had small guest roles on the television shows Century City (2004), The War at Home (2006), and CSI: NY (2006). For her role in Century City, she told casting directors she was a SAG-AFTRA member when she was not; after she was cast, the employers were required to help her join the union under the Taft–Hartley Act. Markle also did several contract acting and modeling jobs. Between 2006 and 2007, she worked as a "briefcase girl" on 34 episodes of the U.S. version of the game show Deal or No Deal. She appeared in Fox’s series Fringe as Junior Agent Amy Jessup in the first two episodes of its second season.
Markle appeared in small roles in the films Get Him to the Greek (2010), Remember Me (2010) (produced by her then-partner Trevor Engelson), The Candidate (2010), and Horrible Bosses (2011). She was paid $187,000 for her role in Remember Me and $171,429 for her role in the short film The Candidate. In July 2011, she joined the cast of the USA Network series Suits through late 2017 and the seventh season. Her character, Rachel Zane, began as a paralegal and eventually became an attorney. While working on Suits, she lived for nine months each year in Toronto. She was reportedly paid either $50,000 per episode or $450,000 per year for her work on the series.
Markle made her acting return in November 2025, being cast in Close Personal Friends.
Personal life
Meghan Markle and American film producer Trevor Engelson began dating in 2004. They married in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, on August 16, 2011. They separated in 2013 and received a divorce in 2014. Markle’s later relationship with Canadian chef Cory Vitiello ended in May 2016 after nearly two years.
In mid-2016, Markle started a relationship with Prince Harry, a grandson of Queen Elizabeth II. The couple said they first connected through Instagram and were introduced by a mutual friend in July 2016. On November 8, eight days after their relationship was announced by the press, Prince Harry asked his communications secretary to release a statement about negative and false comments made about his girlfriend by the media and online critics. Later, Markle’s representatives wrote to a British media regulator about being harassed by journalists. In September 2017, Markle and Harry appeared together in Toronto at the Invictus Games, an event Harry founded.
Markle’s engagement to Harry was announced on November 27, 2017, by his father, Charles (then the Prince of Wales). The news was welcomed by British media, and many praised the idea of a mixed-race person joining the royal family, especially in Commonwealth countries. Markle announced she would stop acting and become a British citizen.
To prepare for the wedding, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby baptized and confirmed Markle in the Church of England on March 6, 2018. The private ceremony, using water from the River Jordan, took place in the Chapel Royal at St. James’s Palace. The marriage ceremony occurred on May 19 at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. Markle’s wedding dress was designed by Clare Waight Keller. She later shared that she and Harry exchanged private vows three days earlier in their garden, though this was not a legal marriage.
After the wedding, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex lived at Nottingham Cottage in London, part of Kensington Palace. In May 2018, they signed a two-year lease on a home in the Cotswolds, but they left after photos of the house were shared by paparazzi. They considered moving to an apartment in Kensington Palace but instead moved to Frogmore Cottage near Windsor Castle. The Crown Estate spent £2.4 million to renovate the cottage using funds from the Sovereign Grant. The Duke later paid for expenses beyond basic repairs and maintenance.
Meghan gave birth to a son, Archie, on May 6, 2019. The couple’s office moved to Buckingham Palace and officially closed on March 31, 2020, when they stopped doing royal duties. After living in Canada and the United States, they bought a home in Montecito, California, in June 2020. The next month, Meghan experienced a miscarriage. She gave birth to a daughter, Lilibet, on June 4, 2021. She later shared she had postpartum preeclampsia.
The Duke and Duchess have owned a Labrador named Pula and two Beagles named Guy and Mamma Mia. Meghan previously had a Labrador-German Shepherd mix named Bogart.
Before marrying Harry, Markle was politically active. At age 9, she and friends campaigned against the Gulf War. Later, she supported Hillary Clinton during the 2016 U.S. presidential election and criticized Donald Trump, who won the election. In 2016, after the Brexit referendum, she expressed disappointment on Instagram. In 2017, she recommended a book by Noam Chomsky on her Instagram account.
In July 2018, Irish senator Catherine Noone tweeted that the Duchess was “pleased to see the result” of an Irish referendum on abortion. She later deleted the tweet, saying her wording was misleading and that the Duchess was not political.
After returning to the U.S., Meghan and Harry encouraged people to register to vote on National Voter Registration Day in 2020. Some media suggested this supported Democratic candidate Joe Biden, which then-president Trump criticized. In October 2021, Meghan wrote an open letter to U.S. leaders about paid parental leave. Republican lawmakers called her comments “out of touch” and criticized her involvement in American politics using her royal titles. She has lobbied U.S. senators from both political parties on paid family leave and supported federal voting protections.
In February 2022, she supported the Supreme Court nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson. In June 2022, she backed Moms Demand Action, a group that promotes safer gun laws in the U.S. She also criticized the Supreme Court’s decision about abortion rights and supported the proposed Equal Rights Amendment.
Public life
After becoming engaged, Meghan Markle's first official public appearance with Prince Harry was at a World AIDS Day event in Nottingham on December 1, 2017. On March 12, 2018, she attended the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey with Queen Elizabeth II. On March 23, Harry and Meghan made an unannounced visit to Northern Ireland. Before their wedding, Meghan completed 26 public engagements. Her first official event after marriage was on May 22, 2018, when she and Harry attended a garden party celebrating the charity work of King Charles III (then the Prince of Wales).
In July 2018, Meghan’s first official trip abroad as a royal was to Dublin, Ireland, with Harry. In October 2018, the couple traveled to Sydney, Australia, for the 2018 Invictus Games. This trip was part of a larger Pacific tour that included Australia, Fiji, Tonga, and New Zealand. As representatives of the Queen, the couple were greeted warmly by crowds in Sydney. The public and media were excited when Meghan announced her pregnancy shortly after their arrival. During their visit to Morocco in February 2019, the couple focused on projects related to women’s empowerment, girls’ education, inclusivity, and social entrepreneurship. Meghan also supported Harry’s work as youth ambassador to the Commonwealth, which included overseas tours.
In 2019, the couple created a separate office from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. They launched an Instagram account, which became the fastest to reach one million followers at the time. In July 2019, Meghan’s security team faced criticism for leaving about 40 empty seats around her at Wimbledon while she watched a tennis match. In August 2019, environmental groups criticized the couple for using private jets during personal trips, which produce more carbon emissions than commercial flights. This criticism followed similar concerns raised about the royal family’s increased carbon footprint from business travel in June 2019.
In September and October 2019, the couple traveled to Southern Africa, visiting Malawi, Angola, South Africa, and Botswana. Archie, their son, joined them on this trip, marking their first official tour as a family. Meghan completed 179 public engagements in 2018 and 2019.
In January 2020, Meghan and Harry returned to the UK from a vacation in Canada and announced they would step back from their roles as senior members of the royal family. They planned to divide their time between the UK and North America. A Palace statement confirmed they would no longer perform royal duties as representatives of the Queen and would not receive financial support for these roles. They would keep their HRH titles but not use them. Their formal roles were reviewed over a 12-month period, ending in March 2021. Meghan’s final public engagement as a senior royal was a visit to Robert Clack School in Dagenham on March 7, 2020, ahead of International Women’s Day. She and Harry attended the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on March 9, 2020, which was their last public event as a couple before officially stepping down on March 31. Two years later, they made their first official UK appearance in June 2022 during the Platinum Jubilee National Service of Thanksgiving.
In September 2022, the couple visited the UK and Germany for charity events in Manchester and Düsseldorf. On September 8, 2022, Queen Elizabeth II passed away at Balmoral Castle in Scotland while Meghan and Harry were in London. They stayed in the UK for her funeral.
In May 2024, Meghan and Harry visited Nigeria to honor the work of the Invictus Games. Meghan had previously shared that a genetic test showed she has 43% Nigerian ancestry. Their trip focused on sports rehabilitation, mental health, and women’s empowerment. She co-hosted a women’s empowerment summit with Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the head of the World Trade Organization, and was honored by Nigerian Chiefs. Later trips included a visit to Colombia in August 2024 at the invitation of Vice-President Francia Márquez and a visit to Jordan in February 2026 with Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO). For these trips, the couple was accompanied by one reporter.
Further career and investments
In summer 2019, before announcing their decision to step down in January 2020, Meghan and her husband discussed a possible role with Jeffrey Katzenberg, the founder of Quibi, a streaming platform that no longer exists. They considered joining the project without making personal profits but later chose not to participate. In September 2019, it was reported that the couple hired a public relations firm called Sunshine Sachs, based in New York. The firm had worked with them on occasional projects since 2017 and represented them until 2022. They hired the firm again in 2026. The couple also worked with Adam Lilling’s Plus Capital, an investment company that helps connect new businesses with influencers and investors.
In June 2020, they signed with the Harry Walker Agency, which is owned by media company Endeavor, to do paid public speaking events. In September 2020, the Sussexes signed a five-year private commercial deal with Netflix. In December 2020, it was announced that Meghan had invested in Clevr Blends, a coffee company in Southern California. In the same month, Meghan and Harry signed a multi-year deal with Spotify to create and host programs through their audio production company, Archewell Audio. A holiday special was released on Spotify in December 2020, and Meghan’s podcast, Archetypes, began in August 2022. In June 2023, Spotify ended the podcast after one season of 12 episodes.
The Bench, a picture book written by Meghan with illustrations by Christian Robinson, was published in June 2021 by Random House Children’s Books. The book is based on her view of the relationship between her husband and their son. It received mixed reviews, with praise for its illustrations and message but criticism for its writing and structure. On June 17, the book reached number one in the children’s picture books category of The New York Times Best Seller list. In July 2021, it was announced that Meghan would co-produce a Netflix animated series called Pearl with David Furnish. The series, which was first proposed to Netflix in 2018, would have followed the adventures of a 12-year-old girl inspired by historical women. However, the project was canceled in May 2022. In July 2021, it was also reported that Meghan and Harry signed a four-book publishing deal with Random House, including a wellness guide by Meghan and a memoir by Harry.
In October 2021, Meghan and Harry partnered with Ethic, a sustainable investment company in New York City, to manage their investments. According to records from Delaware, where their Archewell foundation is registered, Meghan and Harry created 11 companies and a trust starting in early 2020. These include Orinoco Publishing LLC and Peca Publishing LLC, which hold the rights to their books, and Cobblestone Lane LLC and IPHW LLC, which manage their foundation’s logos. Frim Fram Inc., which ran The Tig, was registered as a new company in Delaware in December 2019.
Harry & Meghan, a documentary series about the couple directed by Liz Garbus, was produced by Netflix and Archewell Productions. It premiered on December 8, 2022, and received mixed reviews. In April 2023, it was announced that Meghan signed with talent agency WME, which also represents Archewell.
In March 2024, Meghan launched the lifestyle and cooking brand American Riviera Orchard, which later became As Ever. In April 2024, Archewell Productions partnered with Netflix to create two new shows: one about lifestyle and another about polo. In August 2024, it was reported that Meghan invested in Cesta Collective, a handbag brand that produces baskets made by women in Rwanda and finished in Italy. In November 2024, she also invested in the haircare brand Highbrow Hippie. Her lifestyle series, With Love, Meghan, premiered on Netflix in March 2025. In August 2025, Archewell renewed its partnership with Netflix under a multi-year agreement that included plans for a holiday special of With Love, Meghan, further development of the As Ever brand, and other projects. On August 26, 2025, the second season of With Love, Meghan was released. In March 2026, Netflix announced it would end its partnership with As Ever, and the brand would operate independently.
In March 2025, it was announced that Meghan would host a second podcast series, Confessions of a Female Founder, with Lemonada Media. Between March and September 2025, she operated an online site through ShopMy, which allows content creators to share links to their favorite items and earn money through commissions.
Charity work and advocacy
In 2014, Markle became a counselor for the international network One Young World. She spoke at its 2014 summit in Dublin and attended the 2016 opening ceremony in Ottawa. That same year, she traveled with the United Service Organizations to Spain, Italy, Turkey, Afghanistan, and England.
In 2016, Markle became a global ambassador for World Vision Canada. She traveled to Rwanda for the Clean Water Campaign. After a trip to India to raise awareness about women's issues, she wrote an opinion article for Time magazine about the stigma surrounding menstrual health. She also worked with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment as an advocate. Her speech at the UN Women's 2015 conference focused on political participation and leadership. Some of her lines were similar to a 1951 speech by Eleanor Roosevelt. In 2017, Markle joined Harry to support the charity Elephants Without Borders in Botswana.
In January 2018, Markle became interested in the Hubb Community Kitchen, which helps survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire. She visited the kitchen regularly and suggested that displaced women create a cookbook to raise funds. Her first charity project as Duchess of Sussex, Together: Our Community Cookbook, was announced in September. In August 2020, she donated £8,000 from the cookbook’s proceeds to Migrateful, a UK charity that supports refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants through cooking classes. In March 2021, she donated £10,000 to Himmah, a UK charity that helps stock food banks and support the Salaam Shalom Kitchen, the only Muslim and Jewish community kitchen in the UK.
In March 2020, it was announced that Markle would narrate the Disneynature documentary Elephant, released in April. Disneynature and the Disney Conservation Fund would donate to Elephants Without Borders for elephant conservation in Botswana. In June 2020, the couple supported the Stop Hate for Profit campaign and encouraged company CEOs to join. In July 2020, Markle spoke in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In April 2021, the couple became campaign chairs for Vax Live: The Concert to Reunite the World, organized by Global Citizen to increase access to COVID-19 vaccines. They also supported a vaccine equity fundraiser and wrote an open letter to pharmaceutical CEOs. In July 2021, Markle and Harry received the Change Champions Award from Population Matters for choosing to have two children to help maintain a smaller, more sustainable population. In August 2021, Markle launched the 40×40 campaign, encouraging people to mentor women returning to work. In October 2021, the couple wrote an open letter with the World Health Organization’s director to urge G20 leaders to speed up global vaccine distribution.
In February 2022, the couple received the NAACP’s President’s Award for their work on social justice and equity. In March 2022, they signed an open letter calling for free global access to COVID-19 vaccines and criticized the UK, EU, and Switzerland for opposing a waiver to lift vaccine patent protections. In October 2022, Markle and Harry were named Ripple of Hope Award laureates for their work on racial justice, mental health, and other social initiatives through their foundation, Archewell. In April 2023, Markle received the Ms. Foundation for Women’s Women of Vision Award. In October 2025, she and Harry received the Humanitarians of the Year award at Project Healthy Minds’ gala for their mental health work. In the same month, they joined a coalition to call for a global ban on artificial superintelligence until safety and ethical guidelines are established.
From January 2019 to February 2021, Markle was a patron of London’s National Theatre and the Association of Commonwealth Universities. She remained a private patron of Mayhew until 2022 and of Smart Works. From March 2019 to February 2021, she was vice president of The Queen’s Commonwealth Trust. Online QCT chat sessions were shared on YouTube. In October 2019, Markle and other royals supported a Public Health England mental health program called “Every Mind Matters.”
In 2019, Markle contributed to and guest-edited the September issue of British Vogue, highlighting 15 women described as “Forces for Change.” The issue became the fastest-selling in British Vogue’s history. She also collaborated with British fashion brands to launch a capsule collection called The Smart Set, which donated items to Smart Works for unemployed and disadvantaged women. The collection provided a year’s worth of clothing for the charity in 10 days.
In February 2018, Markle and Harry attended the first forum of The Royal Foundation. After marriage, Markle became a patron of the foundation alongside Harry, Prince William, and Catherine. In May 2019, as part of their Heads Together initiative, Markle and Harry launched Shout, a mental health text service. In June 2019, they announced they would leave the charity and create their own foundation but continue working on mutual projects like Heads Together. Their foundation, Sussex Royal The Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, was registered in England and Wales. In February 2020, they stopped using “Sussex Royal” as a brand name. In August 2020, the Sussex Royal Foundation was renamed “MWX Foundation” and dissolved.
In March 2021, the Charity Commission for England and Wales reviewed the Sussex Royal organization for compliance with charity laws during its dissolution. Representatives for Markle and Harry stated the foundation was managed by a board of trustees and that claims of mismanagement were incorrect. The commission later concluded the foundation did not act unlawfully but criticized the board’s decisions.
Public image and style
Between 2010 and 2012, Markle ran a blog called The Working Actress without using her name. The blog shared stories about the challenges and successes of trying to succeed in Hollywood. In 2014, she started a lifestyle blog named The Tig. This blog shared articles about food, fashion, beauty, travel, and inspiring women. The people who read the blog were mostly fans of Markle and the TV show Suits. The blog was promoted on social media, reaching about three million people on Instagram, 800,000 on Facebook, and 350,000 on Twitter. In April 2017, The Tig closed. In January 2018, Markle removed all blog articles from the internet and deleted her social media accounts. It is estimated that her social media work earned her about $80,000 each year from advertising deals and brand partnerships. She returned to Instagram in January 2025. Markle was also known for spending time at Soho House, a social club.
Markle became well-known for her fashion sense through The Tig. In 2015 and 2016, she created two clothing lines with a Canadian company called Reitmans. These lines were inspired by her personal style and the style of her character on Suits. Markle said Emmanuelle Alt was her style inspiration. In 2016, she hosted a video series called Power Lunch with Meghan Markle for USA Network. The series, made with Lexus and Eater, explored the cooking styles of five New York kitchens.
In 2015, Markle visited Malta after learning one of her ancestors was born there. Her trip was covered by Elle UK. She was featured on the cover of the October 2017 issue of Vanity Fair and the December 2017 issue of Elle France. After her engagement to Harry in 2017, she carried a handbag from the Scottish brand Strathberry to a public event. This increased interest in the brand, similar to how Kate Middleton’s fashion choices influenced sales. After Markle and Harry first appeared together as a couple, several brands, including Mackage, Birks, and Everlane, reported increased website visits and sales. Experts believed Markle’s influence would grow globally because she had a strong following in the United States. This led to a rise in yellow gold jewelry sales in the first quarter of 2018.
In 2018, Tatler magazine included Meghan in a list of Britain’s best-dressed people. After announcing her pregnancy, she wore a dress by Karen Gee, which caused the designer’s website to crash. Fashion website Net-a-Porter named Meghan one of the best-dressed women in 2018. She was nominated for the 2018 Teen Choice Awards in the category of Choice Style Icon. In 2019, the British brand Reiss reported increased profits after Meghan wore a mini dress from them on International Women’s Day. In 2022, the black Armani dress Meghan wore during her interview with Oprah was chosen as Dress of the Year 2021 by the Fashion Museum, Bath. That same year, she was featured on the cover of The Cut’s Fall Fashion issue. There was controversy over her statement in the interview that her marriage caused celebrations in South Africa similar to those after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison in 1990.
In 2018, Time magazine named Meghan one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World and included her in its shortlist for Person of the Year. She appeared on the list again in 2021 and was featured on one of the magazine’s seven worldwide covers with her husband. In 2019, Time named Meghan and Harry among the 25 Most Influential People on the Internet. British Vogue magazine named Meghan one of the 25 most influential women in the United Kingdom in 2018, 2019, and 2021. Her influence was also recognized in the 2019 and 2020 editions of Powerlist, a list of the 100 most influential Britons of African and Afro-Caribbean descent. In 2022, Worth magazine named her one of the 50 Women Changing the World over the past year. That same year, Variety honored her as a stellar honoree for its Power of Women issue, and Financial Times included her on its list of “25 most influential women of 2022.” In December 2022, polling company YouGov found Meghan to be the second most disliked member of the British royal family, behind her husband’s uncle, Prince Andrew. In March 2023, The Independent included her on its “Influence List 2023.” Meghan and Harry’s decision to leave the royal family was satirized in a 2023 episode of South Park. In the same year, James Hibberd of The Hollywood Reporter named Meghan and Harry among the Hollywood losers of 2023.
After Meghan and Harry’s trip to Nigeria in May 2024, Lucia Stein of ABC suggested the couple might have been used by the royal family and noted that their style and public meetings received significant international attention. In January 2025, Harry and Meghan’s visit to a food bank in Southern California during wildfires sparked mixed reactions from the media and public figures, who called it “disaster tourism.”
Privacy and the media
In November 2016, the MailOnline faced criticism for publishing an article about Meghan Markle’s family titled “(Almost) Straight Outta Compton,” which caused Harry’s communications secretary to respond. Between 2019 and 2020, Meghan and Harry contributed to the book Finding Freedom through a third-party source. At first, they denied being involved, but their contributions became clear during Meghan’s legal case against Associated Newspapers, who used the book in their defense. In October 2019, Meghan sued Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL), the publisher of The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline, over the publication of a letter she had written to her father. Thomas Markle Sr. shared parts of the letter with the publisher after five of Meghan’s friends mentioned it in a People article. Later, more than 70 female members of Parliament from different political parties wrote an open letter condemning the use of “outdated, colonial undertones” in media coverage of Meghan. In May 2020, a court dismissed claims that the tabloid was dishonest or malicious, as they were considered unclear or unrelated to the case. In February 2021, the High Court of Justice ruled that Mail on Sunday had violated Meghan’s privacy by publishing the letter. In May 2021, she won her legal case for “misuse of private information and copyright infringement.” She received a £450,000 payment toward her £1.5 million legal fees, and her legal team requested a front-page statement from The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline to acknowledge her victory.
ANL appealed the ruling in November 2021. In December 2021, three senior judges upheld the High Court’s decision, leading Meghan to call for changes in the tabloid industry. That same month, The Mail on Sunday and MailOnline published a front-page statement on Boxing Day, acknowledging Meghan’s legal win and agreeing to a “financial remedy.” The outlet also paid £1 in damages for invading her privacy and a confidential amount for copyright violations. They were banned from naming Meghan’s friends, who had discussed the letter with People magazine in 2018.
In November 2016, The Sun published the headline “Harry girl’s on Pornhub.” The outlet denied spreading false information after it was revealed that the clips were illegally uploaded scenes from the TV show Suits, not pornographic content. They apologized in February 2017. In February 2018, a letter containing white powder and a racist note addressed to Meghan was sent to St James’s Palace, prompting counter-terrorism and hate crime investigations by Scotland Yard. In May 2019, Meghan and Harry received an apology from Splash News for invading their privacy at their Cotswolds home. In December 2019, PA Media retracted a photo of Meghan, Harry, and their son Archie, stating it was not representative of the Christmas card they had sent. In January 2020, the couple issued a legal warning to the press after unauthorized paparazzi photos were published. In March 2020, they sued Splash UK after unauthorized photos of Meghan and her son were taken during a private trip in Canada. The case was settled later that year, with Splash UK agreeing to stop taking unauthorized photos of the family. In April 2020, the couple announced they would no longer work with The Daily Mail, The Sun, The Daily Mirror, and The Daily Express. In October 2020, they received an apology from American news agency X17 for using drones to photograph their son at their home.
In March 2021, ITV News reported that Meghan directly complained to ITV’s CEO about Piers Morgan’s comments on mental health following her interview with Oprah Winfrey. Over 57,000 complaints were sent to Ofcom about the program, including one from Meghan. In the same month, it was reported that an American private investigator shared Meghan’s personal details, including her Social Security number, phone number, and address, with The Sun when she first began dating Harry in 2016. Meghan and Harry criticized the “predatory practices” of British tabloids, while The Sun claimed the investigator was instructed to act lawfully and did not use the information for illegal purposes.
In July 2021, Meghan filed legal complaints against The Times for two articles. One article falsely claimed she left an engagement in Fiji because she was not appointed by UN Women as a goodwill ambassador. Another article incorrectly stated that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge refused to speak to Harry after Prince Philip’s funeral due to fears of leaks. In January 2022, Meghan and Harry jointly sued The Times for reporting that their charity, Archewell, raised less than $50,000 in 2020. In the same month, Meghan complained to the BBC about a podcast that claimed she had “apologized for misleading” the court in her case against The Mail on Sunday. The BBC later corrected the statement, clarifying that she had apologized for not remembering email exchanges.
In March 2022, Meghan’s half-sister, Samantha Markle, sued her in Florida, accusing her of lying in the Oprah interview and making false claims in the book Finding Freedom. Samantha sought damages over $75,000. In June 2022, a judge rejected Meghan’s request to dismiss the case after Samantha revised her complaint. In March 2023, the lawsuit was dismissed, but Samantha refiled it in April 2023, adding claims about Meghan’s Netflix docuseries. The lawsuit was later dismissed permanently in March 2024, as the judge found Samantha could not prove defamation. Samantha later appealed the decision.
Between December 2022 and January 2023, over 25,000 complaints were sent to the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) about a The Sun column by Jeremy Clarkson, in which he expressed extreme hatred for Meghan and described a fictional scenario of her being punished publicly. Conservative MP Caroline Nokes and over 60 cross-party MPs called for action against Clarkson. The Sun issued an apology, stating that columnists’ opinions are their own but expressing regret for the article. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex called the apology a “PR stunt.” Clarkson later explained his column was inspired by a scene from Game of Thrones and said he had emailed Meghan and Harry on Christmas.
Titles, styles and arms
Meghan became a princess of the United Kingdom when she married Harry. She was given the title of Royal Highness. After her marriage, she was called "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex." She also holds the titles of Countess of Dumbarton and Baroness Kilkeel. She is the first person to be known as "Duchess of Sussex."
In 2020, the Duke and Duchess decided to stop working as active members of the royal family. They chose not to use the title of Royal Highness in public or daily life. However, they are still called "His/Her Royal Highness" in official and private matters.
During Meghan's visit to Nigeria in May 2024, Igwe Alfred Achebe, the Obi of Onitsha, and Oba Abdulrasheed Adewale Akanbi, the Oluwo of Iwo, gave her two chieftaincy titles: Ada Mazi (meaning "the daughter of the Igbo ancestral palace") and Adetokunbo (meaning "royalty from across the seas").