Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been opening up about their relationship, including in their Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan and the Duke of Sussex’s tell-all memoir, Spare. Here’s why Harry reportedly feels like he “hit the jackpot” when he married Meghan, and who in the family actually once won the lottery.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved to the US in 2020
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry married in May 2018. In January 2020, the couple announced they were moving to the US, stepping back from their royal duties, and seeking financial independence.
During his 2021 interview with Oprah, the Duke of Sussex said that, although the “UK is home,” he had to leave due to a “lack of support and lack of understanding” from his family (per Marie Claire). And in April 2022, Harry told Hoda Kotb on the Today show that he feels most at home in the US. “Home for me now, for the time being, is in the United States,” he said (via New York Post). “And it feels that way as well.”
The couple opened up about their relationship in the Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, and some of their comments illustrated their strained relationship with the rest of the royal family. Harry’s tell-all memoir, Spare, came out on Jan. 10, spilling royal family secrets and detailing his disconnect from his father, King Charles, and brother, Prince William.
Many have blamed Meghan for driving a wedge between Harry and his family, and royal commentators have said the Duke of Sussex seemed “homesick” after leaving the UK. “Meghan doesn’t mind tearing the Royal family apart,” Meghan McCain wrote for Daily Mail in September 2022. But inside sources say that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Prince Harry feels like he ‘hit the jackpot’ marrying Meghan Markle, says insider
Fans have speculated endlessly about the personal lives of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and many have judged the Duchess of Sussex as opportunistic for marrying into the royal family. But according to an insider, Harry is the one who feels like he won the lottery by finding his “soulmate.”
An inside source shared that the royal couple is thriving in their $14 million Montecito mansion, and the Duke of Sussex is thrilled with his life in the US.
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“The more Harry sees of the beautiful corners of the States, such as Jackson Hole in Idaho and the islands off the coast of Florida and Maine, the more his mind’s blown by what a beautiful country it is and how he’s hit the jackpot by landing an American for his soulmate,” the source told Express in August 2022.
The Duchess of Sussex’s father once won the lottery
Prince Harry may feel like he hit the jackpot with Meghan Markle, but someone in the Suits star’s family once actually won the lottery.
Author Andrew Morton, who also wrote Princess Diana’s controversial biography, shared details about the Duchess of Sussex’s childhood in the 2018 book Meghan: A Hollywood Princess.
A passage in the book revealed that Meghan’s father, Tom Markle, won the California state lottery when she was a child. In 1990, Tom’s winning ticket “with five numbers, which included Meghan’s birth date,” earned him a whopping $750,000 (per Business Insider).
Tom used some of his winnings to pay for Meghan’s education. But he ended up declaring bankruptcy in 2016.
“If Meg marries Harry she’ll have won the lottery of life but dad winning the lottery helped us all,” Meghan’s half-brother, Tom Jr., told Daily Mail in 2017. “That money allowed Meg to go to the best schools and get the best training. Meg is someone who has always had laser focus. She knows what she wants and she doesn’t stop until she gets it.”
He added, “She was always the family’s princess but now she’s going to be a real princess and I couldn’t be more proud.”
