Meghan Markle has had an amazing life.
After all, she's gone from television star to royalty in a matter of months.
But some details aren't quite as magical as they may seem.
Here's a look at the shady side of Meghan Markle.
In December 2017, news broke that Meghan Markle's estranged half-sister, Samantha Markle, was
gearing up to release a tell-all book focused on spilling some family secrets.
In an interview with The Sun, Samantha revealed,
"[Meghan's] a social climber...Hollywood has changed her.
I think her ambition is to become a princess...The royal family would be appalled by what she’s
done to her own family."
Samantha also complained that Meghan all but forgot about her after gaining high society
status.
However, according to E! News, a person close to the family says Samantha can't be trusted.
The source revealed,
"Samantha [Markle] doesn't have a relationship with Meghan Markle and she never has...Meghan
has never done anything to her and continues to take the high road."
It's also worth noting that it isn't just Samantha who thinks Meghan's completely different
these days.
One of the duchess' former friends told the Daily Mail,
"The person I knew is not there anymore...There's Meghan Before Fame and Meghan After Fame."
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's engagement was untraditional for a number of reasons,
especially as the former actress was already a divorced woman.
Before meeting Prince Harry, Meghan was married to producer Trevor Engelson for two years
before they split.
A source allegedly close to the couple told Woman's Day that the stress of a long-distance
relationship likely played a part, as Markle lived in Canada when Suits was being filmed
while her husband lived in Los Angeles.
As the magazine's source pointed out,
"It was a very difficult way to start married life."
In their BBC engagement interview, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry revealed that they'd
met on a blind date.
Meghan explained,
"Because I'm from the States, you don't grow up with the same understanding of the royal
family."
She continued,
"And so while I now understand very clearly there's a global interest there, I didn't
know much about him."
However, one of Meghan's former friends told a very different story, and revealed to the
Daily Mail,
"I know the Royal Family was something she found fascinating.
She had one of Princess Diana's books on her bookshelf, and even when she was with Trevor
she told me she wanted to go and stay in London for at least a month...I wasn't shocked or
even surprised to hear about Prince Harry.
I know she used to love The Princess Diaries."
Meghan Markle's relationship with her family was a hot topic in the run-up to her wedding.
Her husband-to-be inadvertently caused a stink by making a comment about Meghan's newfound
connection with the royal family.
He told BBC Radio 4,
"[It's] the family that I suppose she's never had."
Prince Harry's comment hurt the Markles, who hit back, with Meghan's half-brother, Thomas
Markle Jr., telling the Daily Mail,
"She's had a really good family...We were as close as we could be."
However, it's difficult to know what the truth really is.
It's also worth noting that Meghan's dad, Thomas Markle, admitted to telling lies about
his daughter in the press.
In a Channel 5 documentary, Thomas revealed,
"I said they called me back and they were really concerned about me and I said, 'Go
on your honeymoon, don't worry about me, I'll be fine.'
And that was all a lie."
Meghan Markle starred on the hit show Suits for years, but she didn't become a household
name until her relationship with Prince Harry, and it seems that her reps may have tried
to take advantage of that new-found fame.
In December 2017, gossip emerged that Markle was on the short list for a role in the next
James Bond movie.
At the time, a source told The Sun,
"Meghan fits the role of a Bond girl perfectly."
However, Blind Gossip refuted this claim, with a source suggesting that Meghan was never
in the running, and the rumors were simply stirred up for publicity.
When Meghan Markle's relationship with Prince Harry was finally revealed, one of her childhood
friends decided to give an interview to the Daily Mail.
Calling out the duchess for her supposedly opportunistic ways, the former friend revealed,
"All I can say now is that I think Meghan was calculated, very calculated, in the way
she handled people and relationships.
She is very strategic in the way she cultivates circles of friends.
Once she decides you're not part of her life, she can be very cold."
Meanwhile, biographer Penny Junor, the author of Prince Harry: Brother, Soldier, Son, Husband,
claimed that Meghan's love of fame would likely help her relationship with the royal family,
even if it destroyed some friendships.
Junor told the Express,
"One of the advantages of Meghan is because she is in the public eye, she likes that.
The real problem with Harry's girlfriends in the past is that they absolutely hated
the media attention and that's scared them off.
Because Meghan's an actress, she's out there selling herself anyway, that's part and parcel
of her business and her career."
Meghan Markle is said to have spent a lot of time in London following her split from
Trevor Engelson.
The actress reportedly struck up a friendship with local TV personality Lizzie Cundy after
they attended a charity dinner.
According to Cundy, Markle was keen to find a new man, but she allegedly had two conditions.
Firstly, Meghan apparently wanted her new man to be English, and he also had to be famous.
In her 2019 tell-all, Tales From the Red Carpet, Cundy wrote,
"We were having a girly chat and then she said, 'Do you know any famous guys?
I'm single and I really love English men.'
So I said, 'We'll go out and find you someone.'"
"She loved London.
She said, 'I love the way you say darling and babe.'"
Sources close to X-Factor winner Matt Cardle claim Markle quietly slid into his DMs in
2015, but the singer reportedly stopped replying after meeting somebody else.
Her Instagram interaction with Cardle allegedly took place just months before she started
dating Harry, according to The Sun.
Unfortunately, once Meghan started seeing Harry, she apparently had no use for Cundy
anymore, as the author revealed,
"I texted saying, 'Oh my god, I heard about Harry,' and she was like, 'Yeah I know, we'll
try and hook up.'
She was probably told by the Palace to end contact with people she befriended in the
media.
I was literally ghosted by her."
To the millions watching around the world, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's wedding appeared
to be a flawless fairy tale, but reports suggest that it wasn't exactly smooth sailing behind
the scenes.
According to the Daily Mail, the American got a lot of British backs up when she requested
that air fresheners be deployed at her wedding because the smell inside St. George's Chapel
displeased her.
According to one royal insider,
"Apparently Meghan didn't like the smell of the chapel, which, as you would expect, is
a little musty.
It's not unpleasant at all, though.
It just smells how you would expect an old building to smell."
St. George's Chapel is a very old building, having been an important place of worship
for the British monarchy since 1475.
Understandably, it might not always smell that fresh.
As an insider told the Daily Mail,
"Meghan wanted staff to go around with these atomizers, like spritzer guns, and spray the
chapel with scent before anyone arrived.
Royal Household staff stepped in and told her office politely, but firmly, that this
was the Queen's Chapel and it simply wasn't appropriate...I don't believe a request of
that nature had been made before."
Most brides would be ecstatic at the thought of walking down the aisle wearing a diamond
and platinum bandeau tiara handpicked by the queen herself, but according to insiders,
Meghan Markle wanted to choose her own.
Household insiders reported that Prince Harry's bride-to-be made it clear which headpiece
she wanted to wear on her big day, and things apparently got a little tense when her idea
was shot down.
As a royal source told The Sun,
"Meghan had her heart set on this tiara with emeralds and Prince Harry hit the roof when
they were told it was impossible for her to wear it...The provenance of the tiara could
not be established, there were concerns it could have come from Russia originally."
When news of Markle's alleged behavior reached the Queen, Her Majesty reportedly decided
to give her grandson a good talking to.
The insider told The Sun,
"There was a very heated exchange that prompted the Queen to speak to Harry.
She said, 'Meghan cannot have whatever she wants.
She gets what tiara she's given by me.'...The message from the Queen was very much Meghan
needed to think about how she speaks to staff members and be careful to follow family protocols."
According to the source, the Queen also struck a low-blow during the discussion, and questioned
why Meghan needed to wear a traditional wedding veil given it was her second marriage.
Rumors of an ongoing feud between Meghan Markle and her sister-in-law began to swirl after
it emerged that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex would be moving out of Kensington Palace.
Tabloids claimed Kate Middleton had snapped at Meghan after she caught the former actress
speaking rudely to someone on her staff.
The Palace denied this in a statement, which raised a few eyebrows among royal commentators.
Royal expert Angela Mollard told New Idea's podcast,
"It's fairly unprecedented for them to speak out in this way, and I think what Kensington
Palace is wanting to do is to detract from this rift that's happening.
Obviously, the Queen is in the golden era of her reign.
She wants a cohesive royal family."
The press has continued to dig into the allegedly splintered relationship between the two duchesses.
There were rumors that the rift began in the run-up to Meghan and Harry's wedding.
Princess Charlotte was one of the stars of the wedding, but it was claimed that her mother,
Kate Middleton, was left in tears after an argument broke out during a fitting for her
daughter's bridesmaid dress.
Of the alleged incident, an insider told The Telegraph,
"Kate had only just given birth to Prince Louis and was feeling quite emotional."
It seems that Meghan's road to the altar was anything but smooth.
It's not often that people with top positions in the royal household give up their posts,
so when three walk out in quick succession, rumors are inevitable.
In May 2019, it was revealed that Meghan Markle's right-hand woman, Amy Pickerill, was leaving,
making her the third member of the duchess' staff to quit within a matter of months.
A royal insider confirmed to the Daily Mail,
"Amy is leaving...It's very sad for her colleagues, as she is a really popular member of staff."
Pickerill was expected to stay on and succeed Markle's private secretary, Samantha Cohen,
who, after 17 years with the royal family, also left her post.
Markle's personal assistant also quit her job, and caused a stir when she bolted less
than six months after Meghan and Harry's wedding.
Apparently Meghan's personal assistant couldn't handle the stress of the job, as a source
told The Mirror,
"She put up with quite a lot...Meghan put a lot of demands on her and it ended up with
her in tears."
"It's, um, hard."
Meghan Markle's relationship with Prince Harry seemed to have all the hallmarks of a real-life
fairy tale when it first started blossoming, but it might actually have been more of a
love triangle.
Before she hooked up with her redheaded prince, Meghan was dating renowned Canadian chef Cory
Vitiello, and reports have suggested that there may have been an overlap between the
two relationships.
Rumors started to fly when an eagle-eyed royal fan noticed that Vanity Fair had edited its
cover story at Meghan's request, with the editor writing,
"The sentence regarding the first time Markle met Prince Harry has been amended.
Markle told Vanity Fair that the couple met in July 2016."
The original article stated that the Sussexes had met in May 2016.
According to The Telegraph,
"Meghan Markle was still dating a Canadian chef when she reportedly met the Prince for
the first time, it has emerged...[Meghan] had been in a relationship with Cory Vitiello
for two years when they broke up in May, the month the Prince is understood to have asked
for her phone number after meeting her at a function."
When the Daily Mail asked Vitiello if he was still dating Meghan when she met Harry, he
replied,
"I've got a lot of respect for Meghan and, from my end, to make it seem like I'm part
of the story would seem self-serving and opportunistic...I'm pleased for Meghan.
She's a great girl.
There is no bitterness.
I respect people's private and personal lives."
Right or wrong, Meghan Markle was widely blamed when the Sussexes announced they were going
to step back from royal life and branch out on their own in January 2020.
Express columnist Virginia Blackburn wrote,
"Meghan didn't understand that being a Windsor is not like being a celebrity."
And it wasn't just the Brits who were unhappy about Megxit either.
Canadian millionaire Kevin O'Leary told Tatler,
"When they are ex-royals they become much less interesting...I think Meghan got him
into a bad place, and maybe she should do a little soul-searching.
She knew what she was getting into when she married him."
Many people even seem to think that Megxit was Meghan's plan all along.
According to Page Six, Markle put some of her clothes in a Toronto storage facility
prior to her wedding, but she never shipped them to England.
An insider claimed that Meghan had the items delivered to her and Prince Harry's rented
property on Vancouver Island when they arrived in Canada following their announcement that
they planned to step down from their royal roles.
As for why the duchess kept all of those clothes in storage for two years, it might be that
Meghan knew she'd be returning to Canada, and that her move to England was never permanent.
We might never know if Meghan Markle had some form of Megxit in mind when she married Prince
Harry, but according to someone who knows her personally, shedding her skin and starting
over is a habit of hers.
An old acquaintance of Meghan's wrote for Tatler,
"Something that has stayed with me, especially post-Megxit, is that Meghan is no stranger
to picking up and reinventing herself.
Both a go-getter as well as a shape-shifter, she returns now with more social mojo than
she could have ever imagined then."
By March 2020, Markle was already unleashing that social mojo on Los Angeles, where she
and Harry moved after leaving England and Canada behind.
As the duchess grew up in California, she likely already feels at home following the
transatlantic move.
However, Prince Harry has spent most of his life in the United Kingdom, and is probably
taking more time to adjust to the United States.
Dr. Jane Goodall, a good friend of Harry's, told the Radio Times in April 2020,
"I don't know how his career is going to map out, but yes, I've been in touch, though I
think he's finding life a bit challenging just now."
Meanwhile, another source told E! News,
"Things have been stressful for Prince Harry since his move...It hasn't been easy."
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle shocked everyone when they revealed they were stepping back
as senior royals in a bombshell statement.
And according to senior palace sources, even Queen Elizabeth was surprised by the news.
Her Majesty reportedly had no idea her grandson was about to ditch royalty in favor of a quieter
life in North America, but after a period of negotiation, she accepted the decision.
However, she did lay down some rules for the Sussexes moving forward, including banning
them from using the word "royal" in their private endeavors.
This was a bit of a slap in the face for the couple, considering that they'd already named
their brand Sussex Royal.
While the couple agreed to the Queen's terms, they seemed to throw some shade at the royal
family over some of the new rules.
A few months after their initial announcement, a new statement on the couple's website seemed
to want to make it clear that the Queen doesn't own the word "royal."
It read,
"While there is not any jurisdiction by The Monarchy...over the use of the word 'Royal'
overseas, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex do not intend to use 'Sussex Royal' or any iteration
of the word 'Royal' in any territory."
"His family's been so welcoming."
Meghan and Harry also appeared to take aim at Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice,
and said,
"While there is precedent for other titled members of the royal family to seek employment
outside of the ­institution, for The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, a 12-month ­review
period has been put in place."
The York sisters have both been allowed to work while keeping their titles, and this
seemingly snarky remark seems to prove that Harry and Meghan expected a similar arrangement.
Now that Meghan Markle is stateside, she's apparently been dishing about Prince Harry's
side of the family.
And according to the duchess, life was a little frosty in the royal family.
In March 2020, a source spoke to the Daily Mail about Meghan and Harry's final trip to
England as senior royals, and said,
"[Meghan] said [the trip] has been a confirmation that they made the right choice in parting
ways.
There's no warmth between the family members and she wants to raise Archie in a household
that is filled with laughter and joy and lots of hugs."
And Meghan's sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, is reportedly the biggest culprit, with the
source revealing,
"It's still weird to [Meghan] that no one hugs and that everyone is so uptight, especially
Kate.
She said it's obvious that Kate and William do not approve of their choices and that you
could cut the tension with a knife.
Kate barely even looked at her and their interaction was kept to a bare minimum."
Rumors of a rift between the two duchesses have been persisting for some time now.
However, this damaging narrative really started to take root in 2019, when Markle guest-edited
the September issue of British Vogue, and suggested that it would have been tacky to
appear on the cover herself.
Perhaps Meghan should've done some research prior to making her comment, as Kate appeared
on the cover of Vogue in 2016.
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