The Duchess of Sussex shared something from her past that made her life different.
When she was in school, she was asked to tick one of the columns that stated what race you are. There was white, Hispanic, Asian, and black. She was confused as her mother was black, while her father, Thomas Markle, was white. She didn’t know what box to check, and she went home confused, but she left the box empty.
When young Meghan shared that to her father, he wasn’t pleased. She remembered the event, and she said, “It made the green of his eyes pop and his brow was weighted at the thought of his daughter being prey to ignorance. And in one of those parenting moments that no guidebook could ever prep you for, my dad said words which will stay with me forever. ‘Draw your own box.'”
Before Meghan Markle married Prince Harry, she was an American actress who ran a blog called The Tig. The blog doesn’t exist anymore, but she wrote about one particular Christmas day.
The Duchess of Sussex wrote, “I had been fawning over a boxed set of Barbie dolls. It was called The Heart Family and included a mum doll, a dad doll, and two children. This perfect nuclear family was only sold in sets of white dolls or black dolls.”
She further wrote what her father gave her for Christmas, “On Christmas morning, swathed in glitter-flecked wrapping paper, there I found my Heart Family: a black mum doll, a white dad doll, and a child of each color. My dad had taken the sets apart and customized my family. One that showed me that I should (and could) make my own box. I picture him standing there in Toys R Us, mums glaring at him for taking the toys apart, perhaps an employee saying ‘excuse me, sir, you can’t do that’ — as my dad carefully separated the boxed sets to make one that echoed my reality.”
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are going to spend their Christmas at Doria Ragland’s place, with their baby Archie. A Buckingham Palace representative stated, “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are looking forward to extended family time towards the end of this month. Having spent the last two Christmases at Sandringham, Their Royal Highnesses will spend the holiday this year, as a new family, with the Duchess’ mother, Doria Ragland. This decision is in line with the precedent set previously by other members of the Royal Family and has the support of Her Majesty The Queen. For security reasons, we will not be providing further details on their schedule at this time.”