What Is Meghan Markle’s Ethnicity and Race?

While evidence continually suggests there could be racial bias in Britain against Meghan Markle, few royal followers still wonder exactly what her ethnicity and race are. Many in the U.K. are still learning about Markle and only know her as an American actress. As such, they may not know the details about her biracial family background.

Fortunately, Meghan has never been afraid to tell people what her racial heritage is. Despite her dad’s side of the family still giving her problems, she still celebrates her mother’s side based on the latter’s attendance at the royal wedding.

Let’s delve a little into what Meghan’s race is and whether she’s technically a British citizen now.

Meghan Markle’s dad is Caucasian, and her mom is African-American

You can find a lot of personal reflection on Meghan’s race from an Elle interview she did a few years ago when she was still on Suits. At the time, she was tired of people thinking of her as an “other” when it came to ethnicity.

As she noted in the interview, she always had to feel like she was something different just because her dad was Caucasian and her mom was African-American. Being biracial in Hollywood, especially, was sometimes looked at as being unusual.

In reality, biracial people in the U.S. make up 10% of the population today, though only in more recent years. At the time Meghan was born, in 1981, there were far fewer mixed race people living in America, often hovering around 1%.

Had she grown up in the 2010s, she likely wouldn’t have had to think of herself as an outsider.

Meghan Markle embraces her mom’s side of the family

With rumors about some British citizens having disturbing racial thoughts about Meghan joining the royal family, you can see why the duchess has to be careful about what she says.

Doria Ragland is clearly a respected part of Meghan’s life, even if former divorced her dad well over 30 years ago. Outside of Meghan being very close to her mom, Ragland doesn’t live in Britain. She still lives in L.A. and even seems to be engaged to a new man, based on recent reports, perhaps giving Meghan a new stepdad.

From all indications, Ragland has sacrificed herself for the welfare of others based on her career in caregiving. The Ragland side of the family has also been much friendlier with the full support of Meghan, and often interviewed in the media with those feelings.

Meghan Markle’s father’s side of the family

Thomas Markle worked as a lighting director and director of photography in Hollywood when he married Doria in 1979. They married in an Indian temple, already making this union a very racially integrated situation. In 1981, biracial marriages were still far too few.

Thomas was previously married in the early 1960s and had two children: Samantha and Thomas Markle, Jr. Having a stepbrother and stepsister can sometimes complicate things and such is the case for Meghan, who has a tense relationship with her sister Samantha. Meghan has also reportedly shunned her father out of her life to focus on upcoming motherhood.

Will Britain ultimately consider Meghan one of their own?

At the moment, Meghan is still considered an American citizen and it will require years to go through the protracted process of becoming a British citizen. A lot of people are trying to figure out how an adult Baby Sussex will master the future art of being a dual citizen between the U.K. and America. Of course, this creates an interesting situation for the future, should the royal baby ever be able to inherit the British throne.

By then, we can only hope the U.K. will have evolved to accept a biracial Queen or King after America had already accepted an African-American President long before.