‘Even as a child Meghan would stand up for what she believed in’

In his new book ‘Meghan Misunderstood’, the UK’s leading celebrity biographer, Sean Smith, describes Meghan Markle’s journey from a girl with dreams to a woman of substance

Racial identity was a subject that would absorb Meghan as a child and as an adult (AFP via Getty)

It was late into the night and the group of schoolgirls were chatting about the future and what they hoped to achieve when they left school. Meghan was aiming big, declaring that she was going to be the first female president one day.

Nobody doubted her or told her to pipe down. Meghan Markle already had form as an intelligent, articulate young woman for whom empathy seemed to come naturally. That’s why she was sat on the floor with her fellow pupils at a school retreat and why they believed she could end up at the White House. “She was always so poised and well-spoken,” said one.

Meghan had been the first to be chosen as a team leader at the Kouros Retreat organised by her high school, Immaculate Heart, in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles, and held over four days at the Holy Spirit Retreat Centre in the upmarket neighbourhood of Encino. These breaks were popular throughout Catholic schools and colleges in the US.