Meghan Markle’s Crowning Achievement Could Be an Emmy Award

Meghan Markle is now officially royalty, and it seems her former life as an actress could earn her a notable distinction among the new members of her family.

The Duchess of Sussex has become the first royal to be submitted for Emmys consideration, with a rep from USA confirming to Entertainment Tonight that Markle had been submitted for her performance as Rachel Zane in the network’s legal drama Suits.

Markle was submitted for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, with USA often submitting the main cast of Suits to be considered for Emmy voting.

The Emmy nominations will be announced on July 12, and a nod for the Duchess would mark her first major award nomination for the show. Suits has never been nominated for an Emmy.

The supporting actress category is always a competitive one, with last year’s nominees including Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale), Uzo Aduba (Orange Is the New Black), Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things), Chrissy Metz (This Is Us), Thandie Newton (Westworld), and Samira Wiley (The Handmaid’s Tale).

Markle appeared on Suits for seven seasons, making her last appearance during the show’s Season 7 finale in April. The episode saw her character marry co-star Patrick J. Adams’ character less than one month before Markle’s own wedding to Prince Harry in May.

While Markle is no longer acting, she explained in her post-engagement interview in November that she doesn’t see that as giving something up.

“I don’t see it as giving anything up. I just see it as a change. It’s a new chapter,” she said in the interview, which aired on the BBC. “And keep in mind I’ve been working on my show for seven years. We were very fortunate to have that sort of longevity on a series. For me, once we hit the 100 episode marker, I thought, I have ticked this box and I feel really proud of the work we’ve done there and now it’s time to work as a team with [Harry].”

Her life as a royal means plenty of new jobs for Markle, including one duty that she’s taking over from the Queen.

Express shares that the Duchess, along with her husband, will welcome the youth in the Queen’s Young Leaders program to Buckingham Palace, continuing a role started by the Queen.

The program started in 2013 and honors youth who have made positive changes to their communities in the form of mental health advocacy, advocating against violence against women and other life-saving measures. Prince Harry was made patron of the program in 2018, and this year will mark the Duchess’ first time attending the reception.

“I have really enjoyed meeting so many of them over the past four years and their passion and understanding always leaves me hugely optimistic about the future,” Harry said of the youths involved in the program.

“I have seen time and time again that today’s generation understands something very important: that to tackle a big issue, you need to focus on the root causes of the challenge and not its symptoms. The Queen’s Young Leaders are having an incredible impact in their respective countries because they have adopted this mindset.”

Photo Credit: Getty / Chris Jackson