Meghan Markle may not have grown up rich, but she attended private schools and went to Northwestern. So not a working class background either...
I agree with MacMadame's comments generally. Your soundbite references and labels are not necessarily on target though. This topic involves more than just soundbite labels about social class in the U.S. and in the U.K.
Both of Meghan's parents grew up in working class families with not a lot of money. Her father did not go to college, but after attending workshop training in stagecraft and theater production, he pursued a career in that field in Chicago. He later left his first wife and their two small children for Hollywood, to build a successful career as a lighting director in television. He won an Emmy for his work on the soap opera
General Hospital, and he eventually landed a position as lighting director on the popular primetime show,
Married with Children. Meghan would visit her Dad on the set of
Married with Children every day after school when she was a pre-teen and a teenager. Since many of the show's plots were risque, Meghan was sent off set to spend time with craft services during filming, which is how she gained her love of food and food preparation.
Meghan's mother, Doria, comes from a poor to working class background. Doria's mother was born in Cleveland to her mother, Jeanette, who was also born in Cleveland to a single mother who had immigrated there from Georgia. Jeanette's mother worked as an elevator operator at the St. Regis Hotel in Cleveland (which no longer exists). Jeanette had two children with her first husband, a professional roller skater. They later separated, and she eventually met and married Alvin Ragland (whose family roots originated in Missouri and Tennessee). Ragland was a Baptist minister and an antiques dealer. Ragland and Jeanette welcomed their daughter, Doria, in 1956. While Doria was still a baby, the family traveled by car from Cleveland to L.A., and experienced discrimination on the road in Texas before making it safely to California. Doria's older half siblings, Joseph and Saundra were young children at the time. Joseph was eight years old and he later related the experience to his niece, Meghan.
(I learned this information Meghan's interviews, her Tig blog, some of her published writing, from factual details in Andrew Morton's book,
Meghan: An American Princess, Ragland family genealogical information online, and from stories told to Meghan by her Uncle Joseph, who indiscreetly provided Ragland family details and photographs to tabloid reporters after Meghan's engagement to Harry).
From Morton's book, and Meghan's writings, interviews, and her original Instagram, it's revealed that Meghan's mother Doria grew up as a kind, ambitious and free-spirited young lady in California. She joined the Self-Realization Fellowship Temple of Paramahansa Yogananda, in L.A., where she learned yoga. Doria gained experience in a number of jobs and in a variety of careers over the course of her life, including working for an airline, working as a make-up artist, and as a yoga instructor. After going to school for a bachelor's and a master's in social work later in her life, Doria eventually built a career in geriatric counseling, in addition to continuing as a yoga instructor. She met Thomas Markle on the set of
General Hospital in the late 1970s, where she was working as a makeup artist. They were married in December 1979 at the Fellowship Temple. Meghan was born in August 1981.
So Meghan's parents were generally working class to middle class. Sending one's child to private schools does not necessarily mean you have to be rich. Sometimes grants and scholarships are available, and in some individual cases, wealthy benefactors are involved. It's been claimed by some sources that Thomas Markle won the lottery at a certain point, which may be in part how he and Doria were initially able to send Meghan to Immaculate Heart (junior and senior high school). As an elementary student, Meghan had attended the privately funded progressive school, Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse, which is now called Hollywood Schoolhouse. So her parents obviously prioritized giving Meghan a good start in life with the best education possible. Doria generally worked multiple jobs and Thomas apparently made good money during his career in the television industry.
Having the advantage of a good education is a fantastic asset. But there are many people who do well in pubic school and gain entry into top-notch colleges. Or, there have been successful, driven people who were largely self-taught. Becoming successful in the world is not necessarily dependent upon a privileged birth status. IMO, it's largely about character, compassion, attitudes toward others, and an ability to make the best of what happens to you in life. A good education is important, but there's a lot more to it than that. And btw, being born into ancient privilege as a prince of the British realm is no guarantee of leading a good or a productive life. British royals are simply descendants of ancestors who won wars, gained, maintained and exploited power over people, sometimes for good, and often for ill. The assistance of skilled knights (the original noblemen and precursors to aristocrats) was also an important factor in the development of the British monarchy.
Who said the staffer told Meghan not to wear it because the KP wanted to announce the relationship? The staffer suggested she not wear the necklace because of how the paparazzi would react and how intrusive they might be. If you read it as the staffer telling her not to announce the relationship then that is your interpretation (or maybe you read that elsewhere?) but that is not what was said the staffer had been trying to prevent.
I'll be more interested in reading the charming details about M&H's love story, and heartwarming gems that were shared, such as the origin and meaning of their black Lab's name...
