Meghan Markle’s estranged father Thomas Markle struck gold and won the lottery when the royal was just nine years old.
Thomas Markle – a Hollywood lighting technician – won the equivalent of around $1 million in the California state lottery in 1990.
According to The Sun, it would seem Meghan played an inactive role in her father’s luck, as some of the numbers Thomas Markle decided to select on his ticket were those of his daughters birthday, August 4 1981.
Andrew Morton, the author of Meghan: A Hollywood Princess writes about the lottery win: “Her father enjoyed a slice of luck that meant he no longer had to work a brutal schedule.
“In 1990 he won the California State Lottery, scooping $750,000 with five numbers, which included Meghan’s birth date.”
Morton also claims in his book that the winning cash was how Thomas Markle paid for Meghan’s private school fees, which ultimately set her on the path to success in Hollywood and beyond.
Whilst the money certainly helped the Duchess of Sussex growing up, according to The Sun Thomas Markle lost a huge chunk of his winning after investing in a jewellery business that failed, ultimately filing for bankruptcy in 2016.