Before her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018 brought her fame across the world, Meghan Markle was known in Hollywood for playing Rachel Zane in the TV show Suits.
While the Netflix show may now be one of the streaming channel’s biggest hits, when Meghan first started dating Harry in 2016 she was not a well-known face in the UK.
Suits ran from 2011 until 2019, with Meghan leaving her role a couple of years prior to its ending after her relationship with Harry became more serious.
Since the Sussexes relocated to Montecito in California there have been rumours that the Duchess may be looking to get back into Hollywood, with an LA-based Suits spin-off also in the works.
Given the level of fame that Meghan has achieved since being in the legal drama, one thing admittedly did surprise me when I sat down to watch the first few episodes of the first season, having never seen it before.
Put simply, I was shocked at how little Meghan was in it at the beginning of the show, most definitely a supporting character rather than one of the leads.
She is introduced as an extremely capable paralegal, and even though she is not as senior as many of the other characters she is still granted the privilege of her own office.
Rachel is initially a friend to the lead Mike Ross when he begins working at their legal firm Pearson Hardman, helping to show him the ropes and navigate his senior colleagues.
But in the first few episodes that I watched she is not involved in many of the main storylines, with her potential as a future love interest overshadowed by another character, the girlfriend of Mike’s best friend.
Of course hardened Suits fans will know that Rachel and Mike do get closer and begin a relationship as the show progresses, even eventually getting married.
I did notice flickers of an attraction between them even from the beginning, clearly a hint from the show’s creators over what was to come, but even so it is still strange to see such a high-profile figure like Meghan not front and centre, especially knowing what we know now.
