Meghan Markle's 2016 Birthday Wish Hinted at Her Royal Future Before Anyone Knew About Prince Harry
Meghan Markle will turn 44 next week, but a birthday post from 2016 on The Tig blog hinted at her then-private relationship with Prince Harry
Meghan wrote that she was feeling "joyful" and "grateful," hoping for more "adventure" and "cheeky jokes"
The Duchess of Sussex will likely celebrate her 44th birthday with Prince Harry and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess LilibetMeghan Markle is about to celebrate her 44th birthday, inspiring a look back at her previous celebrations.
The Duchess of Sussex will likely mark her Aug. 4 birthday on her relaunched Instagram page, but she used to reflect on birthdays on her now-defunct lifestyle blog, The Tig. In a 2016 post tied to her turning 35, she revealed how her mom, Doria Ragland, viewed the annual events.
"My mom has always said that birthdays are your own personal New Year. Your own chance to make resolutions just for yourself and what you prognosticate for your year ahead," Meghan wrote, according to an archived version of the post.
"And while I've always loved that sentiment, I have to say that when I close my eyes and think of what I wish for, I come up with a blank. A big old happy blank," she continued. "I am feeling so incredibly joyful right now, so grateful and content that all I could wish for is more of the same. More surprises, more adventure, more opportunities to grow, more days filled with giggles and cheeky jokes, more delicious meals, and more inspiration. Always more inspiration."
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Although Prince Harry and Meghan's relationship wasn't public at the time that this post was written, they had met the month prior. The couple had their first date on July 3, 2016, meeting at Soho House in London after they connected over Instagram. The date went so well that they met again the following day, and later that summer, they spent a week together in Botswana.
Meghan's post may have hinted at the blossoming romance, with her feeling "so incredibly joyful." Another clue was her use of the word "cheeky," a term more frequently used in the U.K. than the U.S.
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Meghan also shared a birthday post on The Tig in 2014 for her 33rd birthday.
'I am 33 years old today. And I am happy. And I say that so plainly because, well…it takes time. To be happy. To figure out how to be kind to yourself. To not just choose that happiness, but to feel it,' she wrote.
Meghan then looked to her past, including a cliquey high school and her early years in Hollywood.
'My 20s were brutal – a constant battle with myself, judging my weight, my style, my desire to be as cool/as hip/as smart/as 'whatever' as everyone else. My teens were even worse – grappling with how to fit in, and what that even meant. My high school had cliques: the black girls and white girls, the Filipino and the Latina girls. Being biracial, I fell somewhere in between," she said. 'I must have been about 24 when a casting director looked at me during an audition and said, 'You need to know that you're enough. Less makeup, more Meghan.' "
Addressing her fans, she wrote, 'You need to know that you're enough. A mantra that has now ingrained itself so deeply within me that not a day goes by without hearing it chime in my head. That five pounds lost won't make you happier, that more makeup won't make you prettier, that the now iconic saying from Jerry Maguire – 'You complete me' – frankly, isn't true. You are complete with or without a partner. You are enough just as you are.'
'I want you to be kind to yourself. I want you to challenge yourself. I want you to stop gossiping, to try a food that scares you, to buy a coffee for someone just because, to tell someone you love them…and then to tell yourself right back. I want you to find your happiness," she concluded the post.
Meghan will likely celebrate her 44th birthday on Monday with her family: Prince Harry and their two children, a 6-year-old son, Prince Archie, and a 4-year-old daughter, Princess Lilibet.
Since rejoining Instagram in early 2025, Meghan has celebrated her children's birthdays by sharing new photos of them.
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