When Meghan Markle sits down with the rest of the royal family for their traditional Christmas dinner this year, it will be a stark contrast to her previous holidays spent in the US.
Long before meeting husband Prince Harry, Meghan had spent the holiday season delivering turkeys to homeless shelters in Skid Row, a square mile of downtown Los Angeles packed with thousands of destitute people who seek shelter in dirty tents on the sidewalks.
Skid Row is known for its high crime rate and, come nightfall, up to 10,000 homeless people – many with drug, alcohol and mental health problems – will congregate in the impoverished neighborhood.
But that didn’t stop the Markle family from helping those in need. Meghan’s parents Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland insisted on handing out turkeys at holiday times. At one stage, Markle even volunteered at Hippie Kitchen, a long-standing Skid Row soup kitchen.
A Royal Christmas: Meghan Markle will spend another Christmas with her new royal family at Sandringham House in Norfolk, where the menu will include a traditional meal of turkey, different stuffings – sage and onion, chestnut – and sides like roast potatoes, mash potatoes, parsnips and Brussels sprouts. Above Meghan is pictured during her first Christmas with the royals in 2017
Sandringham House, in Norfolk, is where the royals have been enjoying the Yuletide every year since 1988. The royal Christmas dinner traditions e young princes and princesses eating away from the adults and being cared for by nannies, a tradition which means Markle’s newborn will be in a separate room from her next year.
In an essay on her humanitarian work, Markle once wrote: ‘My parents came from little so they made a choice to give a lot: buying turkeys for homeless shelters at Thanksgiving, delivering meals to people in hospices, giving spare change to those asking for it.
‘It’s what I grew up seeing, so it’s what I grew up being: a young adult with a social consciousness to do what I could and speak up when I knew something was wrong.’
What a difference from the opulent surroundings of Sandringham House, in Norfolk, where the royals have been enjoying the Yuletide every year since 1988.
When the Queen and her relatives open presents on Christmas Eve, Markle, 37, will be able to tell her new family the story behind one of her father’s first gifts, which made her proud of growing up in a mixed race household – Thomas is white, Doria black.
According to Andrew Morton’s biography, Meghan Markle: A Hollywood Princess, her father bought two sets of Heart dolls containing the traditional nuclear family unit of mother, father and two children.
‘He bought one with black dolls, one with white, and mixed them together to represent Meghan’s own family. Then he wrapped them in sparkly Christmas paper and placed the box under the tree,’ Morton writes.
While the duchess has been praised for her past and present charity work, it’s also been noted that she has a sense of entitlement and it’s not a recently acquired trait. Harry was quoted as saying: ‘What Meghan wants, Meghan gets’ – but apparently her father also doted on the duchess.
Giving back: Back when she was still in her hometown of Los Angeles, Meghan sometimes spent the holiday season delivering turkeys to homeless shelters in Skid Row, a square mile of downtown Los Angeles riddled with thousands of destitute people packed in dirty tents on the sidewalks
Skid Row is known for its high crime rate and, come nightfall, up to 10,000 homeless people – many with drug, alcohol and mental health problems – will congregate in the impoverished neighborhood
Meghan at one point even volunteered at Hippie Kitchen (pictured) a long-standing Skid Row soup kitchen, writing in her blog that she was influenced by her parents, who ‘came from little so they made a choice to give a lot’
Growing up as the favorite of her father, she’d demand what she wanted at Christmas and pretty much always get it, much to the annoyance of her half-siblings, Thomas Jr and Samantha, Morton’s book claims.
Morton writes: ‘[Samantha] often told the story of the time before Christmas when Meghan was looking at a jewelry catalog and picking out a ring, which Tom Senior had promised as a gift. She teased her much older sister by saying that whatever her father bought [Samantha], Meghan would receive the most expensive gift as she was the most favored child.
During the holiday periods, while living in Woodland Hills, the Raglands and Markles would get together for a true southern feast of sweet potato pie, gumbo, ham hocks and beans, which Thomas Jr recalls as ‘good times’, adding: ‘They were happy-assed people with a real sense of family.’
The royal Christmas dinner will be a whole new ball game with the youngest princes and princesses eating separately from the adults and cared for by nannies, a tradition which means Markle’s newborn will be in a separate room from her next year – unless Meghan insists otherwise.
According to former chef Darren McGrady, who has cooked nine Christmas dinners for the royals, their food palates aren’t the most adventurous, saying: ‘They’re actually boring when it comes to festivities… turkey, different stuffings – sage and onion, chestnut – and the traditional sides like roast potatoes, mash potatoes, parsnips and Brussels sprouts.
‘The pudding was made in pudding basins, turned out, decorated in holly, doused in brandy and then the palace steward would carry it, flaming, into the royal dining room. It was so traditional.’
The Duchess of Sussex was recently seen giving back to the community at the Hubb Community Kitchen in London last month (pictured)
Growing up as the favorite of a doting dad, Christmases were pretty much the same for Meghan, she would demand what she wanted and pretty much always get it, much to the annoyance of her half-siblings, Thomas Jr and Samantha, according to a biography on the royal
While studying at Northwestern University in Chicago, if she didn’t go back home to Los Angeles for Christmas, Meghan would stay on campus and hang out at her women’s sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, where she handily lived next-door at the North Mid-Quad halls of residence.
Markle credits the nearby 24-hour Burger King for keeping her going during these times, as well as, the Mexican-food chain Chipotle, just across the road.
She had said in a blog post years ago that ‘little girls dream of being princesses’, but they must have been almost impossible to envisage as she was tucking into burgers and fries, sitting on hard plastic chairs under the stark bright lights.
After landing the part of Rachel Zane in Suits, she started dating film producer and first husband Trevor Engelson, and would spend her weeks commuting between Los Angeles and filming in Toronto.
Special events like Christmas and Thanksgiving would be split between her new beau and the cast, who would party together in Toronto with ‘Meghan bringing her Vitamix super-blender to whip up soups and cocktails for the group,’ according to Morton.
While Meghan was still studying at Northwestern University in Chicago, if she didn’t go back home to Los Angeles for Christmas, she’d stay on campus and hang out at her women’s sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma (pictured)
Markle previously said the nearby 24-hour Burger King by campus kept her going during these times, as well as, the Mexican-food chain Chipotle, just across the road (pictured)
When back in LA for Christmas with Engelson, 42, she’d be watching sports in the dive bars, near their two-bedroom, one-bath bungalow in West Hollywood, behind Sunset Strip.
It’s believed the couplemet in a dive bar and – after Meghan was introduced to basketball by her ex-boyfriend Steve Lepore in college – Engelson and Markle would frequent drinking spots such as the legendary Irish sports pub, Rock & Reilly’s, virtually on the corner of their home street.
As seen in our photos, the ‘sawdust and spittoons’ taprooms aren’t dissimilar to the British pubs Harry, 34, used to visit in his mischievous teenage and twenty-something years.
When Meghan eventually met her English prince – apparently on a blind date at the trendy Soho Farmhouse – the pair celebrated Christmas prematurely in 2016.
After landing a role on Suits, Meghan was still married to first husband Trevor Engelson, and would spend her weeks commuting between Los Angeles and filming in Toronto. If she wasn’t celebrating Christmas with her cast, she’d be back in LA with her husband watching sports in the dive bars such as the legendary Irish sports pub, Rock & Reilly’s, virtually on the corner of their home street
Due to royal protocol, they had no hope of spending the actual day together, so had a week at Nottingham Cottage, in Kensington Palace, during early December.
They bought a tree at Pines and Needles, in Battersea, south London, and staff even gave the smitten pair a branch of mistletoe for good luck.
Morton goes onto tell the story: ‘For the most part they managed to elude the watchful paparazzi, the couple wearing matching blue beanie hats to obscure their faces.
‘They walked through the theater district, where they saw the slapstick comedy Peter Pan Goes Wrong and sometime later the brilliant staged The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, based on Mark Haddon’s novel.’