Factbox: Meghan Markle, the U.S. actress joining the UK royal family

WINDSOR, England (Reuters) - U.S. actress Meghan Markle will join Britain’s royal family when she marries Queen Elizabeth’s grandson Prince Harry on Saturday.

Here are some brief facts about the newest member of the Windsors.

- Markle was born in Los Angeles on Aug. 4 1981, days after Harry’s father Prince Charles married his first wife Princess Diana. Her father Thomas Markle was a lighting director for TV soaps and sitcoms and her mother Doria Ragland was a clinical therapist. Her parents divorced when she was six and she has two half-siblings.

- She went to Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, a private all-girl Catholic school. However, after her engagement was announced, Harry’s spokesman said she identifies as a Protestant and would be baptized and confirmed into the Church of England before the wedding.

- Markle attended the Northwestern University where she studied theater and international studies. She made her first TV appearance in a 2002 episode of medical drama “General Hospital” and has since appeared in a number of U.S. TV shows and films. She is best known for her role as Rachel Zane in the legal drama “Suits”.

- In 2011, she married film producer Trevor Engelson but they divorced in 2013.

- She ran her own lifestyle blog, thetig.com, and has worked as a humanitarian campaigner, acting for the likes of World Vision and as a United Nations women’s advocate.

- She met Harry on a blind date organized by a mutual friend in London in July 2016. They became engaged in November 2018.