Getty Gallery: 9/9
A New Family Member
Kensington Palace has a biography for Meghan Markle that presents her in a positive light. She was with the Royal Family at Christmas Day 2018, and she is currently pregnant with her first child.
Charitable Engagements
According to her Kensington Palace bio:
"The Duchess of Sussex, born Meghan Markle, married Prince Harry at St George's Chapel, Windsor in May 2018. The couple's official residence is Kensington Palace. As well as undertaking royal duties in support of The Queen, both in the UK and overseas, The Duchess devotes her time to supporting a number of charities and organisations.
Biography
The Duchess of Sussex became a member of the Royal Family in 2018 upon her marriage to Prince Harry. She will perform Royal duties in support of The Queen through engagements at home and overseas, alongside a growing portfolio of charitable work and patronages.
Ms. Meghan Markle was born on 4th August 1981 to Ms. Doria Ragland and Mr. Thomas Markle in Los Angeles, California.
Education
The Duchess attended the Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse from the ages of 2-11 and began her secondary education at Immaculate Heart High School in 1992. Her Royal Highness went on to double major in Theatre and International Relations at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois graduating in 2003 with a dual degree.
During her time at university, The Duchess completed an internship at the US Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she learned to speak Spanish. She also studied French for six years.
Career
After university Her Royal Highness worked as an actress, appearing in film and television. She most notably played the role of Rachel Zane on the series Suits for seven seasons, completing over 100 episodes. Whilst working on Suits, The Duchess moved to Toronto, Canada where the show was filmed; she feels very connected to Canada, as it became a second home to her.
Alongside her successful career as an actress, Her Royal Highness also wrote and edited a lifestyle website called The Tig which she used as a platform to discuss social issues such as gender equality in addition to articles on travel, food and fashion.
Charitable work
From a young age, The Duchess had a keen awareness of social issues and actively participated in charitable work. Aged 11 she successfully campaigned for a company to alter their television advert that had used sexist language to sell washing-up liquid. Her Royal Highness also volunteered at a soup kitchen in Skid Row, Los Angeles from the age of 13-17. She continued to volunteer at the soup kitchen when she would return home to Los Angeles until the age of 22.
These early experiences helped to shape her lifelong commitment to causes such as social justice and women's empowerment.
While filming in Toronto, The Duchess actively volunteered at a Canadian soup kitchen from 2011-2013. She also established the program at her place of work to ensure that leftover meals from the set were donated to local homeless shelters.
One Young World
Her Royal Highness became involved with the organisation One Young World in 2014 when she was asked to become a Counsellor for the charity. One Young World is a global forum that gathers together young leaders in order to develop solutions to some of the world's most pressing issues. She attended panels for One Young World in Dublin, Ireland and Ottawa, Canada.
UN Women
In 2015, The Duchess became the UN Women's Advocate for Women’s Political Participation and Leadership. In this role, she gave a speech on the importance of gender equality on International Women’s Day for UN Women in New York City. Ahead of her appointment to this role, Her Royal Highness spent time at the UN's New York office to understand the organisation's day-to-day work before embarking on a learning mission to Rwanda. On this trip The Duchess met female parliamentarian leaders in Kigali and visited Gihembe refugee camp, where women were working on leadership and empowerment at a grassroots level."