From ‘Suits’ to a palace perch
MEGHAN MARKLE’S royal path started right in the heart of Hollywood — but some of her ancestors may have had closer ties to Buckingham Palace.
The 36-year-old’s parents met in Los Angeles when her dad was working as a lighting director for a soap opera and her mom was working as a studio temp.
Thomas Markle, now 73, and Doria Ragland, now 61, got married, gave birth to Markle in 1981 and moved to Woodland Hills, a suburban area of the San Fernando Valley.
Markle said her mother, who is black, was often mistaken for her nanny. After graduating from Northwestern University, Markle worked as a calligrapher to pay bills while going on auditions.
Markle struggled until landing her breakout role on the USA Network hit “Suits.”
She was living in Canada, filming “Suits,” last year when she met Prince Harry, 33, through a mutual friend.
Amateur historian Michael Reed claims that centuries earlier, King Henry VIII beheaded one of Markle’s English ancestors on her dad’s side.
Lord John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford, was the great-great-great-grandfather of Capt. Christopher Hussey, who left England in the 1650s to become one of the founding fathers of Nantucket.
Markle’s father was born 10 generations later in the American offshoot of the Hussey line, Reed said.
Meanwhile, one of Markle’s distant relatives in Maryland reportedly believes a Markle ancestor worked for the British royal family more than a century ago.
Former U.S. Air Force Col. Ken Barbi, who’s married to a second cousin of Markle’s dad, told the Daily Mail that Markle’s paternal great-great-greatgrandmother Mary Bird worked at the royal palaces.
Someone named “M. Bird” did appear in Windsor Castle records from 1856, the Mail said, citing a database of royal household staff.
One of Bird’s daughters was a great-great-grandmother to Markle, the Mail said. Bird reportedly took her daughters to Canada and then settled in the U.S. after her husband died.