WITH an £18million Spotify deal, a best-selling children’s book and the likes of Oprah Winfrey and the Clooneys in her phone book, the sky’s the limit for Meghan Markle.
But the Duchess of Sussex, 39, didn’t just set her sights on A-list stardom after meeting Harry as an actress – according to those closest to her, she’s been destined for “greatness” from a young age.
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Here are the seven signs Meghan was firmly moving herself towards success from a child…
Ex-boyfriend said she wanted to “achieve greatness”
Right back from when Meghan was just 13 years old, she was a high-achiever, according to her childhood sweetheart Joshua Silverstein, who is now 40 and works as an actor in LA.
He told Fabulous: “There are people when you are young who don’t know what they want to do, it was very clear to me she did.
“She had set her passion and sights on achieving some sort of greatness in whatever she was passionate about.
“She had the star quality and glimmer and twinkle.”
The pair shared their first kiss when they were both at their Agape Spiritual Church summer camp, in Santa Monica in 1993 – but split soon after.
Campaigned against a sexist advert aged 12
Aged 11, she wrote to then First Lady Hillary Clinton and the makers of a TV advert that featured the line: “Women all over America are fighting greasy pots and pans.”
When her male classmates saw the ad and yelled that the kitchen is where women belonged, Meghan complained about what she saw as the slogan’s sexist assumption.
She was delighted when her letter-writing campaign led to the ad’s wording being changed from “women” to “people”.
Was a ‘leader among her school friends’, says former teacher
Meghan’s teacher has revealed how she was a “leader among school friends” and always “stood up for the underdog”.
Ilise Faye – who taught the Duchess of Sussex until she was 13 years old – has opened up about her classroom memories of the young royal in a new documentary.
Speaking on True Royalty TV’s ‘Meghan for President?’, the former headmistress of the ex-Suits star’s Los Angeles school said Meghan always stood out among those her age.
“She was one of those children that would stand up for the underdog,” said Ilise.
“She would stand up for what she believed in, and she was a leader among her friends, her peer group.”
The teacher added: “School was important to her, learning was important and she had a voice.”
Wanted to be a ‘serious actor’
Joshua told Fabulous that Meghan had the big screen in her sights from when they went to summer camp together.
He said: “She really wanted to be a serious actor and that was her goal.
“Being a performance artist was something magical and mystical and you could see the sparkle in her eyes when she spoke about pursuing that.”
Meghan went on to star in the hit TV series Suits, before quitting when she tied the knot with Prince Harry in 2018.
Always dreamt of living the “full-blown Hollywood lifestyle”
Meghan always dreamt of living the “full-blown Hollywood lifestyle” and will be excited to “show off” her royal fame around town, a lifelong friend has claimed.
And Prince Harry has always been star struck over Hollywood – so it won’t have been hard for her to persuade him, the former member of her inner circle said.
The source told The Celeb Report: “This is the ideal result for her – she comes back to Hollywood with a prince to show off and getting to pick and choose who she wants to work and socialise with rather than the other way around.
“I think she always wanted to be back here, she always dreamed of the full-blown Hollywood lifestyle and this kind of clout. And I don’t think it was even that hard to persuade Harry.”
Patented her first story aged 14
She may have just released her best-selling kids’ book, The Bench, but it wasn’t Meghan’s first published work.
Meghan wrote a book about her freckles when she was just 14 and copyrighted the title, a royal commentator has revealed.
Finding Freedom author Omid Scoobie recently shared pages from the book titled “A face without freckles is a face without stars,” which is what Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, used to say to her as a child.
We previously shared the record listed with the United States Copyright Office in 2019, but the book and its title has recently resurfaced again online.
Fabulous exclusively revealed that the quote reportedly comes from Meghan’s now estranged father – who hasn’t spoken to Meghan since her wedding to Prince Harry in 2018 – who used to say it to his daughter when she was younger.
Retweeting a post from Carla Hayden, the 14th Librarian of Congress, Omid wrote: “Fun fact: In eighth grade, Duchess Meghan wrote—and copyrighted—a children’s book dedicated to her freckles.”
Was a royal ‘superfan’
Meghan posed outside Buckingham Palace aged 15 and was “obsessed” with the British royals growing up, pals say.
Sitting on black railings alongside pal Ninaki Priddy, she smiled for the camera with the backdrop of the Palace behind her.
As a teen she studied pictures of Princess Diana and loved films like The Princess Bride which romanticised the idea of royalty.
One friend said: “Meghan was always interested in that whole world of pomp and ceremony and palaces and history – it’s no exaggeration to say she always wanted to be a princess.
“She talked about Diana incessantly – she was like a superfan of the royals.”
This is despite Meghan telling Oprah she knew very little about royal life before marrying Harry.
We revealed that Meghan Markle posed outside Buckingham Palace aged 15 as it’s claimed she was ‘obsessed’ with the royals.
And future royalty Meghan beams with friends in sweet childhood photos.