Which high school did Meghan Markle attend? Duchess had trouble fitting in during her teen years in LA
Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, has apparently not always been the confident woman she is today. While she took on the entire royal establishment last month during her bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, the ‘Suits’ actor reportedly struggled to fit in during her teen years.
On The Tig, her now-defunct lifestyle blog (although she called it her hub for the discerning palette), Meghan spoke openly about not feeling good enough and struggling even in her 20s to figure out exactly who she was. In one of her many, now-deleted posts, she said that she had a lot of trouble fitting in during her high school years in Los Angeles.
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Which high school did Meghan Markle attend?
Meghan reportedly attended the Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles. As per the website of the private, Catholic, college preparatory day school for young women, it was started on April 24, 1905, under Bishop Thomas J Conaty. This school was then a convent building with classrooms for high school and elementary students, boarding facilities for girls, offices and living quarters for the sisters. In June 1906, six women became the first graduates of Immaculate Heart High School. The total enrollment for the school at that time was 75 students.
As per The Tig, the Duchess of Sussex was able to attend this prestigious high school because her father, Thomas Markle, won the lottery in 1990. Markle used a portion of his $750,000 winnings to pay for the duchess’ tuitions and fees. In fact, when Meghan and Prince Harry got engaged in 2017, the school reportedly congratulated her on their website.
Meghan graduated from high school in 1999. “My high school had cliques: the black girls and white girls, the Filipino and the Latina girls,” she wrote on The Tig. “Being biracial, I fell somewhere in between. So every day during lunch, I busied myself with meetings — French club, student body, whatever one could possibly do between noon and 1 pm — I was there. Not so that I was more involved, but so that I wouldn’t have to eat alone.”
Christine Knudsen, who taught Meghan at the school, told BBC that she was one of the rare students who liked to sit at the front of the class. "She was kind, she was generous," said Knudsen, who took Meghan on a retreat when she was a senior. "She never asked for special attention, she was just a complete team player... She's always welcome, we would love to see her. We're very proud of her."
Last year, Meghan spoke about the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers during a moving graduation speech to students at the high school. In a six-minute video during the virtual graduation ceremony, she told students: "I wasn't sure what I could say to you… I wanted to say the right thing and I was really nervous that it would get picked apart. And I realized the only wrong thing to say is to say nothing.” She added, “George Floyd's life mattered, and Breonna Taylor's life mattered, and Philando Castile's life mattered, and Tamir Rice's life mattered."