When Meghan Markle and Prince Harry first started dating, members of the royal family were said to be skeptical of the relationship — and it seems that one of their main objections was the fact that Meghan was divorced.
Yes, long before she met Harry and became the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan was married to a man named Trevor Engelson.
Of course, that’s not a chapter in her life that she talks much about these days.
And with good reason.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, attends the “Keynote: Breaking Barriers, Shaping Narratives: How Women Lead On and Off the Screen,” during the SXSW 2024 Conference and Festivals at the Austin Convention Center on March 8, 2024, in Austin, Texas. (Photo by SUZANNE CORDEIRO / AFP)
After all, Meghan is now a married mother of two, and her brief marriage to Engelson ended a long, long time ago.
But the British tabloid press loves to highlight the ways in which Meghan is not your traditional royal.
And so, her divorce is still referenced in the anti-Sussex corners of the internet on a fairly frequent basis. This, despite the fact that there was nothing particularly scandalous about Meghan’s first marriage, or the circumstances under which it came to an end.
Meghan Markle’s Divorce From Trevor Engelson: Meet Her First Husband
Meghan and Trevor, a movie producer, first met in 2004 and they dated for seven years before marrying in 2011.
According to Hello magazine, the couple exchanged vows in Jamaica in front of about 100 guests.
In August of 2013, after less than two years of marriage, Meghan and Trevor filed for divorce, citing “irreconcilable differences.”
Some sources close to the couple have suggested that their relationship was a victim of geography:
Meghan was spending much of her year filming Suits in Toronto, while Trevor’s work kept him tethered to Los Angeles.
Whatever the case, the split seems to have worked out for everyone.
After briefly dating Real Housewives of New York City star Bethenny Frankel, Trevor married nutritionist Tracey Kurland. They have since welcomed two children together.
Trevor Engelson and Tracey Kurlan attend the screening of Netflix’s “The After Party” at ArcLight Hollywood on August 15, 2018 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)
And Meghan did pretty well for herself, too.
Of course, many Meghan critics can’t talk about the duchess without mentioning divorce.
Some haters think she and Harry will eventually go their separate ways. However, two outspoken members of the anti-Meg press recently surprised followers by revealing they believe the Sussexes will remain married.
Of course, these critics don’t believe that that’s a good thing.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive at the United Nations Headquarters on July 18, 2022 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle: Built to Last?
“The last thing Harry would want would be a divorce,” royal biographer Tom Bower recently told OK! magazine, adding:
“I’m sure he doesn’t want to come back to Britain.”
“She’s not going to split with him,” echoed journalist Angela Levin in an interview with GB News.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex visit a local farming family, the Woodleys, on October 17, 2018 in Dubbo, Australia. (Photo by Chris Jackson – Pool/Getty Images)
“Of course, she won’t. Because if she does, she loses a lot of people’s interest because that’s what they’re really interested in. And I think it’s tragic.”
So yeah, Bower and Levin aren’t exactly Sussex supporters. Still, even they can see that a Meghan-Harry split is extremely unlikely.
That doesn’t mean, however, that they and other members of the UK press will stop bringing up Meghan’s divorce at every opportunity.
Sadly, all these years later, it remains one of their favorite topics.
Meghan Markle Divorced: Her Marriage History Before Prince Harry was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.