Meghan Markle might have found her happily ever after with Prince Harry, but she struggled for many years before their paths finally crossed.

Meghan and Harry first met back in July 2016 – at the time she was 35, while he was 32. And by her own admission, the Duchess had only found true happiness on her 33rd birthday after learning how to be ‘kind’ to herself.

Meghan opened up about her struggles in her former lifestyle blog, The Tig. She blogged about how “brutal” her 20s had been – before admitting that her teenage years had been even worse.

Meghan told fans she had really struggled to “fit in” and spent most of her high school lunches doing extracurricular activities just so she could avoid sitting alone in the canteen.

When she entered her early 20s, Meghan said she struggled with “judging my weight, my style, my desire to be as cool/as hip/as smart/as ‘whatever’ as anyone else”.

Her breakthrough started when she was 24 and a casting director advised her to wear “less makeup” and be “more Meghan”. It was a mantra that she would carry through with her – be “more Meghan”.

Interestingly, Meghan also blogged about her future in-laws on The Tig – some seven years before her own royal wedding. In one post, she focused on Prince William’s marriage to Kate Middleton and the ‘pomp’ surrounding their ceremony.

“Little girls dream of being princesses. I, for one, was all about She-Ra, Princess of Power.” She-Ra: Princess of Power was an 80s TV show which followed the adventures of Princess Adora (She-Ra), Prince Adam’s (He-Man’s) twin sister.

Meghan continued: “We’re definitely not talking about Cinderella here. Grown women seem to retain this childhood fantasy. Just look at the pomp and circumstance surrounding the royal wedding and endless conversation about Princess Kate.”

Meghan ran the blog for years before she met her husband Prince Harry and posted recipes, travel tips and personal anecdotes. She shut down the site in 2017 – just months before her engagement to Harry was announced.

She is now set to launch her new project – dubbed The Tig 2.0 . Her new luxury brand, American Riviera Orchard, is said to have been in the works for more than a year and will feature things that are “close to her heart”.

American Riviera Orchard is a lifestyle and cooking brand which will also coincide with a new cookery show for Netflix.