IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Photos and text from wire services
“My thought, truly, was ‘he is so lucky. He has no idea,’” said Maria Pollia, a favorite high school teacher of Markle’s. “When you think about the circles that Prince Harry is in, and when you think about the many, many accomplished women that he has known all his life, there is something that I know about Meghan, which is her genuineness, her compassion, her depth, is something that I’m not sure that all of those women share.”
Markle’s father, Thomas Markle, is retired and has been living in Mexico. Her mother, Doria Ragland, is a social worker who still lives in Los Angeles. He could not be reached for comment, and she did not respond to interview requests from the AP.
Neither has spoken publicly since the engagement was announced, part of a media silence that has also included Markle’s close friends and most of her cast mates on the TV legal drama “Suits,” which aired her final episode last month.
Markle’s parents will meet the queen prior to the wedding and will have a special role in the ceremony.
They divorced when she was 6, but jointly raised her, and she spent many hours with her father at Sunset Gower Studios, about a mile from each of her schools, where he oversaw the lighting and camera crew for much of the 1987-to-1997 run of “Married ... With Children,” a span that saw his daughter grow from 5 to 15.