The deal of a lifetime?

If I’d been watching an episode of the US version of Deal or No Deal ten years ago and seen one Meghan Markle modelling the same skimpy red dress, the same L.A. coiffed hairdo, the same cheesy practically plastered grin as 25 other girls on the show, I’d never have thought she’d have landed a Prince on the other side of the Atlantic. Let alone a Prince from the British Monarchy.

As it turns out, in 2006, Markle sparkled as a model on the popular TV game show just as her acting career was starting out – apparently taking a contract with Deal so as to make ends meet as she auditioned for more serious film and TV roles.

Of course, she eventually landed a regular role in the hit series, Suits, as top-notch lawyer Rachel Zane, and, as luck and modern love would have it, was soon set up on a blind date via a friend with Prince Harry of England.

Then, before you could say “WTF has happened to royal tradition?”, the pair announce they’re engaged to be married.

I’m still scratching my head about this. Not that I’m classist or think that the rags-to-riches cliché couldn’t or shouldn’t happen in the ranks of the monarchy. After all, Diana might have had a little blue blood in her, but in the end Charles did marry a former kindergarten teacher. And I was mighty fine with that. I do, however, find it all a bit strange that Harry has chosen to commit to a Hollywood glamazon who was once contracted to the misogynist-laden background that is television game shows – and right at a time when the world is retaliating against that whole sexy-but-sexist Tinseltown thing. (You could try and argue with me on this one, but just wait till all those game show hosts start being outed for their sexist ways). Not the greatest PR move, I think.

But I digress. Modern love is what it is, as more and more royal marriages are stemming from casual situations that would have been unheard of back in the old days. Case in point: Hobart girl Mary Donaldson meeting Prince Frederik of Denmark by chance in a Sydney cocktail bar, The Slip Inn.

Just like Mary, Meghan Markle will now likely have to go through all that seriously-taken deportment stuff, balancing books on her head while practicing to curtsy the right way and learning to speak all hoighty-toighty. But unlike Mary, Markle has a bit of a Hollywood history behind her, one that is now cached for good on the trusty world wide interwebs.

Already, friends of Markle are coming out of the woodworks to say she’s always had an agenda “to be Diana 2.0” and now she has a couple of Di’s diamonds on her engagement ring to prove she’s made it.

That said, official royal duties have already begun, such as ensuring the future princess cuts ties with crass business operations one was once involved in, hence Meghan has had to give the regal wave to her role in Suits, and the second half of Season 7 will sadly have to do without her.

And no, the Queen and her consorts will not meet to discuss possible arrangements to CGI the actress into the remainder of the season.  Antonino Tati