American, mixed-race, feminist: How actress Meghan Markle fits among Britain’s royals

Britains Prince Harry poses with Meghan Markle in the Sunken Garden of Kensington Palace, London. - Reuters

American, mixed-race and fiercely independent, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry’s actor girlfriend, will breathe fresh air into the British royal family when she marries Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson next spring.

Playing a lawyer in the hit television show Suits, the 36-year-old actress with long flowing black hair was barely known in Britain when her name appeared on newspaper front pages last October. The tabloids based their report of a relationship between Harry and Markle, who lived in Toronto, Canada, on pictures showing them wearing the same tricoloured wristband.