Having been born and raised in the US, Meghan Markle reportedly had to “reassess” some “assumptions” she’d made about the royals after she began dating Prince Harry

Meghan Markle had to “reassess” “assumptions” she’d made about the realities of British royal life after meeting Prince Harry, it has been claimed.

The 43-year old, who now lives in Montecito with Prince Harry and their two children Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, was born and raised in Los Angeles before moving to Illinois to attend Northwestern University. According to a new book, Meghan’s American upbringing meant that she made “assumptions” about the royals that reportedly differed from reality.

Writing in his new book, Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants – which has been excerpted in The Times – Tom Quinn alleged that when the Duchess of Sussex discovered that Harry was only worth around £20million, she “quickly realised” that she needed to “reassess other assumptions she’d made about this strange new family”.

Meghan now lives in Montecito and was born and raised in Los Angeles ( 
Image:
Juancho Torres/Anadolu via Getty Images)
As reported by the publication, Tom claimed: “Meghan Markle had a typically American view of the royal family before she joined it – for her, life was all about castles, glittering balls and limitless wealth and ease.

“As one royal staff member put it, “She expected a billionaire and she got a millionaire”.”

In the past, Meghan has opened up about her experience getting to grips with royal life. As part of the Harry & Meghan Netflix docuseries, the former Suits star discussed the moment she was taught how to curtsy shortly before meeting the late Queen Elizabeth II.

“I mean, it’s surreal. There wasn’t like some big moment of ‘Now you’re gonna meet my grandmother’. I didn’t know I was going to meet her until moments before. We were in the car and we were going to the Royal Lodge for lunch, and he was like, ‘Oh, my grandmother is here, she’s gonna be there after church,’” she recalled.

“I remember we were in the car, driving and he’s like, ‘You know how to curtsy, right?’. And I just thought it was a joke.”

Meanwhile, Prince Harry added: “How do you explain that to people? How do you explain that you bow to your grandmother? And that you would need to curtsy, especially to an American. That’s weird.”

Meghan has previously opened up on the moment she was taught how to curtsy ( 
Image:
Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation)
Continuing the discussion, Meghan said: “Now I’m starting to realise this is a big deal. I mean, Americans will understand this. We have Medieval Times dinner and tournament. It was like that. Like, I curtsied as though I was like… ‘Pleasure to meet you your Majesty.’

“It was so intense. And then when she left, Eugenie and Jack and Fergie say ‘you did great!’. Thanks. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Similarly, Harry discussed in Spare how Fergie had asked Meghan if she knew how to curtsy. He wrote: “Meg shook her head. Fergie demonstrated once. Meg imitated her.”

Elsewhere, Meghan said that she didn’t search up Prince Harry on the internet when she was first welcomed into the royal family. Speaking to Oprah Winfrey in a 2021 CBS interview, she explained how she hadn’t researched her now-husband prior to marrying him.

“Thank God I didn’t know a lot about the family,” she said. “Thank God I hadn’t researched. I would’ve been so in my head about it.”