Learn a little more about Prince Harry's girlfriend Meghan Markle. Source: UKTV
When Meghan Markle first auditioned as the sharp and effortlessly sexy paralegal Rachel Zane on US cable series Suits, it was a $35 dress bought last minute from H&M that won her the part.
But if royal watchers get their wish - and marriage plans between the 36-year-old Hollywood-raised actor and Prince Harry are finally confirmed - the next role she plays could cost her more than just the price of a wedding gown, reports news.com.au.
While the romance between the reformed royal hellraiser and his American beauty already appears more loving, genuine and modern than his dysfunctional parents', just how Markle will perform as a princess-in-waiting could have consequences for the UK monarchy beyond succession plans and blue bloodlines.
Like his brother and future king, William, the 33-year-old was always going to do things differently when it came to finding love than his father, Prince Charles and later mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
And so it has been with the 18-month, largely secret relationship pursued by the young prince, charmed by the independently wealthy, worldly and wise Californian-born star when they met at London's Soho nightclub in June, 2016.
She was apparently already on his radar when they were introduced in the exclusive, members-only party hotspot for Europe's rich and famous - not for her day job, but her extra-curricular passion for charitable causes and using her profile for the good of others.
Markle has said her interest in advocacy began at the age of 11, when she was outraged by the reaction of her young male classmates to a TV commercial for dishwashing liquid, in which the tagline made the domestic chore "every woman's worry".
Confronted by the sexist message, she would complain to her TV lighting director dad, who urged her to take up the cause, by writing letters to politicians and the manufacturer.
When her campaigning forced the company to change its advertising material, Markle says a "spark" inside her was ignited - realised fuller as an adult, when she was made a UN women's advocate for political participation and leadership.
Not coincidentally, as Seven's Sunday Night special report on the couple tonight reveals, Prince Harry looks to have lost his heart to a woman who mirrors his mother's determination to deflect media attention to where it could be of the most benefit.
In another documentary, released to mark the 20th anniversary of his mother's death earlier this year, Prince Harry could just as well have been describing his new girlfriend when he said: "she put her name and her image and her passion into something she genuinely believed in...[and] she knew that by doing that it could have a ripple effect across the whole world."
If a degree were required for the Royal Family, Markle's graduate studies at the prestigious Northwestern University, where she earned a double major in theatre and international relations, make her more than qualified for what lies ahead.
As her half-sister Samantha Markle explains in Harry and Meghan: A Sunday Night Royal Event, her sibling's work experience in media liaison at the US embassy in Argentina surely prepared her better for royal life than Kate Middleton's stint in fashion publicity before she became the Duchess of Cambridge.
"It was a very difficult position that required a great deal of savvy and elegance," qualities Samantha Markle says Meghan has always possessed.
Meghan Markle as Rachel Zane in hit TV show Suits. Photo / Getty Images
It's whether she will be required to walk away from the career she pursued after university that is keeping royal and society pundits guessing.
Not since Wallis Simpson, the first American to marry into the royal family when she wed King Edward VIII and forced his abdication of the throne almost 81 years ago, has a royal suitor been seemingly weighed down by as much personal baggage.
Her divorcee status, while scandalous, should be dismissed quickly by palace officials, who could hardly hold her first, two-year-marriage to film producer Trevor Engelsen against her now - given Prince Harry's father and stepmother's cards - the next king and queen no less - are marked in the same way.
Nor her bi-racial heritage, with Harry already issuing a stern warning against the "racist undertones" of media commentary which followed news they were dating.
But just how you keep the notoriously ruthless British tabloids from rehashing Markle's sizzling show reel which includes simulating sex on a photocopier with her Suits co-star Patrick Adams may prove more challenging.
While Royal Family members, from Prince Charles to Fergie, the Duchess of York, have done their bit to steam up the history books with their sexual indiscretions, Markle will still be judged harshly for her CV that includes pouting barrel girl on US game show, Deal Or No Deal.
How could they resist replaying an interview by Markle, all legs and glossy mane when former late night US chat show host, Craig Ferguson, titters as she recounts spending 10 years of after-school care at her dad's workplace, back then the set of Married With Children.
As she explained, "it was a very perverse place for a little girl, who went to Catholic school no less, to grow up because I'm there in my school uniform, right?"
Cue adolescent giggles from Ferguson and knowing laughter from the studio audience.
Of course, these clips and conversations are old news for the Palace and the Queen's closest advisers who would have undoubtedly vetted them all.
But such has been the stage-managed way the Harry and Meghan love story has played out - obviously with HRH approval - it seems the Monarch has learned to become more open-minded since the dark days of her "annus horribilis".
Whether the self-made Markle, proceeds with doing double duty, as both princess and actor, could well be left to the discretion of the American herself.
Her decision to quit Suits after the latest season can be seen as much about the evolution of the show (likely to wrap permanently next year), as it is her commitment to a future with Harry.
Her independent streak was apparent in her remark to Vanity Fair, when she argued she was the same person since dating a prince.
"Nothing about me changed. I'm still the same person that I am, and I've never defined myself by my relationship."
