Meghan Markle will join the royal family when she marries Prince Harry in spring of this year. Photo / Getty Images
Meghan Markle will join the royal family when she marries Prince Harry in spring of this year. Photo / Getty Images
Meghan Markle will become the newest member of the royal family when she marries Prince Harry in May this year.
Before her engagement to Prince Harry, Meghan was best known for her role as Rachel Zane on the television show Suits, the Daily Mail reports.
Meghan was making more than $69,000 (£37,000) per Suits episode and her annual salary totalled $621,000 (£333,000), which included money gained from acting and sponsorship opportunities.
Now that she will be joining the royal family, there is speculation about whether she will inherit money and if this will increase her net worth when she becomes Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Sussex.
It's official! Prince Harry and Meghan Markle released this photograph to mark their engagement. Photo / Getty Images
Meghan was born Rachel Meghan Markle on August 4, 1981, in Los Angeles to Doria Loyce Ragland, a social worker and yoga instructor, and Thomas Markle Sr, an Emmy Award-winning lighting director, who currently lives in Mexico.
Meghan's parents divorced when she was six years old and she has two older half-siblings on her father's side, Thomas Markle Jr and Samantha Grant. After growing up in Hollywood, Meghan graduated from Northwestern University in 2003 with a double major in theatre and international studies.
At the start of her acting career, she worked as a freelance calligrapher to support herself but soon gained small roles in shows such as General Hospital, Century City, The War at Home and CSI:NY.
Meghan is also well known for her stint as a 'briefcase girl' on the US version of the game show, Deal or No Deal.
She started dating actor and producer Trevor Engelson in 2004. They married in Jamaica in 2011 and divorced after two years in 2013.
What is Meghan Markle's net worth?
Meghan net worth is currently at nearly $7 million (£3.7m), according to Celebrity Net Worth.
This is half of Kate Middleton's almost $14 million (£7.4m) and is insignificant compared to her future husband Prince Harry's net worth of $55 million (£29.6m).
Photo / Getty Images
How did Meghan Markle make her money?
As Rachel Zane on Suits, Meghan was making more than $69,000 (£37,000) for each episode and her annual salary totalled $621,000 (£333,000). This figure includes $110,000 (£59,300) worth of sponsorship and endorsement opportunities.
In 2010 she was also paid $257,000 (£138,000) for appearing in the film Remember Me and $237,429 (£127,000) for The Candidate.
Despite being rich, Meghan rented a three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in Toronto's Seaton Village while she was filming Suits, thought to cost around $2440 (£1312) a month.
Meghan also leased an Audi SUV worth around $74,000 (£40,000), acting as a brand ambassador for the brand, but she ended her lease early and used a chauffeur for the end of her job on Suits.
Now an extensively photographed celebrity, she is becoming a style trendsetter, opting for a more casual and trendy look, in comparison to her soon to be sister-in-law, Kate Middleton.
Meghan has been seen wearing affordable Canadian brands such as Line, Mackage and Aritzia and most recently, she chose a $83 (£45) Marks and Spencer jumper for a visit to a radio station in Brixton, London.
However, Meghan has always been a traveller and documented her trips on her Instagram account for her 3 million followers, as well as on her lifestyle blog, The Tig, before she shut both down.
Meghan work as a humanitarian and UN ambassador has also seen her travel around the world.
Will Meghan Markle inherit money after she marries Prince Harry?
Prince Harry has a net worth of $55 million (£29.6m) and after the royal wedding, his fiance Meghan may benefit from this.
Harry inherited $18.6 million (£10m) from his late mother Princess Diana when he turned 30, in addition to his annual allowance, and a sum from the Queen Mother after she passed away in 2002. Prince Harry was also paid between $69,000 (£36,970) and $73,000 (£39,200) as a pilot in the British Army Air Corps.
Harry's expenses for royal duties are paid from income that is generated by Prince Charles's private estate, the Duchy of Cornwall. In 2016 and 2017, the Duchy of Cornwall paid nearly $12 million (£6.6m) to support Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate Middleton's activities and other expenses.
Prince Charles uses these funds to provide for The Duchess of Cornwall, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George and Prince Harry. It is not clear whether Meghan Markle, who will become the Duchess of Sussex, will be included after the marriage.
As Meghan Markle is a US citizen, sharing Prince Harry's royal wealth could become problematic, especially as it is not known whether she will take dual nationality. Alongside this, if Meghan were to receive any royal money, she would have to pay income tax to the United States' Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Royal expert Marlene Koenig revealed that if she remains a US citizen after marriage and has investments in the US, like a retirement plan, for example, she would have to pay tax.
'This is even on money earned outside the United States. If she receives money from her husband or his family, and that's considered income, she would have to pay income tax on that', Koenig said.
If Meghan has more than $414,000 (£222,000) worth of assets in a tax year, she will have to file a Form 8938 documenting these assets, which would then include previously undisclosed details of the royal family's estate.
This situation is very likely because of Meghan's current net worth of nearly $7 million (£3.7m).
