Meghan Markle's father won $750,000 in the lottery when she was nine

'She knows what she wants and she doesn't stop until she gets it'

Rachel Roberts
Tuesday 28 November 2017 01:45 GMT
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Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have announced their engagement

Meghan Markle may be the envy of many after becoming engaged to Prince Harry, but luck has smiled on the American actress throughout her life, with her father winning the lottery in her childhood.

Her older half brother, Tom Jr, recently revealed their father, Tom Sr, won an estimated £560,000 ($750,000) in a Californian state lottery in 1990 when the actress was just nine years old.

“If Meg marries Harry she’ll have won the lottery of life but dad winning the lottery helped us all,” the 51-year-told told the Mail on Sunday.

“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.

Markle, 36, grew up in Los Angeles, attending private schools before going to the prestigious Northwestern University in Illinois where she studied theatre and international studies.

Their father, now 73 and living in Mexico, worked as a successful television lighting director on hit US shows including Married with Children and General Hospital, but was declared bankrupt just last year.

Speaking ahead of the engagement as rumours swirled, Markle’s brother said: “She was always the family’s princess but now she’s going to be a real princess and I couldn’t be more proud.”

Their father was married to Tom Jr’s mother before marrying Markle’s mother, Doria.

Tom Jr says he and his actress sister drifted apart around 2011 when she moved to Canada to begin work on the drama Suits in her breakthrough role.

He said there had been “no big falling out”, but that her work on Suits took her to a “whole new level of fame.”

Tom Jr, who lives in Oregon, said he was speaking out because he was tired of people thinking he was “the black sheep of the family” after he was arrested over a domestic altercation before being released without charge last year.

Price Harry met Tom Sr during a trip to Canada – but has yet to meet Tom Jr or his sister Samantha, 53, from whom his wife-to-be is estranged.

Samantha is reportedly writing a tell-all book with the working title Diary of a Pushy Princess.

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