Meghan Markle [1] has been a lot of firsts [2] — the first American to be engaged to a British royal, the first mixed-race woman to marry into the royal family, the first Duchess of Sussex, and certainly the first duchess to have had a major Hollywood career before taking on the title. But other than the firsts, there's probably plenty of fun tidbits [3] about Meghan that you've never heard before. To celebrate Meghan's 37th birthday [4] (her first as a royal!), we present to you the former Suits star in 30 fascinating facts by the numbers.
- 1: Number of children her parents had together. Meghan is the only child of Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, though Meghan does have two estranged half-siblings from her father's first marriage.
- 2: Number of majors she took on at Northwestern University — performance and international studies.
- 2: Number of Hallmark Channel movies she's starred in — When Sparks Fly and Dater's Handbook (both of which you probably need to watch, by the way).
- 3: Number of carats in the cushion-cut diamond from Botswana that serves as the centre stone in her engagement ring (which also includes a trio of diamonds from Princess Diana's collection).
- 4: Number of countries that Meghan and Harry will visit on their first royal tour this Autumn, which includes Australia, Fiji, the Kingdom of Tonga, and New Zealand.
- 5: Length in meters of her silk tulle bridal veil.
- 5.5: Her height in feet.
- 6: Number of years she attended an all-girls Catholic school.
- 7: Number of years she played Rachel Zane on Suits.
- 7: Her shoe size.
- 7: Number of spots she landed above Harry on the 2018 Time 100 List — Meghan was given the 26th spot, while Harry placed 33rd.
- 10: Number of minutes it took for the 18-karat Vanessa Tugendhaft Idylle La Rose Earrings [6] she wore to Prince Charles's 70th birthday celebration to sell out.
- 10: Number of pageboys and flower girls under the age of 7 in her and Harry's wedding.
- 11: Age when she wrote a letter to Procter & Gamble protesting a commercial that suggested only women do dishes.
- 15: Number of generations you'd have to go back in order to find a distant relationship [7] between Meghan and Harry.
- 21: Number of years that would pass after a 15-year-old Meghan first snapped a picture [8] outside of Buckingham Palace before she would first enter the palace as Harry's girlfriend.
- 24: Number on the briefcase she carried during her time on Deal or No Deal.
- 26: Number of public engagements she and Harry made together before their wedding in May.
- 29.5: Price of her favourite mascara, Diorshow Iconic [9], in dollars.
- 36: Age when she married Prince Harry.
- 100: Number of miles Harry drove to pick up Meghan for Pippa Middleton's wedding reception.
- 600: Number of guests present at her and Harry's nuptials.
- 655: Number of acres in Crown Estate's royal park, where Meghan and Harry's new home, Adelaide Cottage, is located.
- 1,300: Size in square feet of Nottingham Cottage, where the couple have been living since the wedding.
- 2,640: Number of members from the public invited to watch the arrival of Harry and Meghan at Windsor Castle on their wedding day — the first royal wedding to ever allow members of the public to be spectators.
- 7,000: Cost of the diamonds she wore to her engagement announcement, in dollars.
- 20,000: Cost of her shoe collection, which contains several pairs from designer Sarah Flint, in pounds.
- 750,000: Amount of money, in dollars, that her father won in the California State Lottery in 1990, using five numbers that included Meghan's birthdate (Aug. 4, 1981).
- 1,900,000: Number of Instagram followers she had before closing her account in January.
- 29,000,000: Number of viewers who tuned in to watch the royal wedding in May.