Meghan reveals she is '43 per cent Nigerian' as she dismisses 'archetype of the angry black woman'
The Duchess of Sussex has made an unexpected discovery about her family's racial background.
Speaking on the seventh episode of her podcast Archetypes, Meghan revealed her mixed heritage is "43 per cent Nigerian".
The 41-year-old did not go into details about why she had the test done but said it had made her curious to find out more.
Watch the video above.
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Comedian Ziwe and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, during the recording of episode seven of the podcast Archetypes. Instagram/ziwef
The duchess interviewed actress Issa Rae and comedian Ziwe, who is also Nigerian.
Meghan told her: "I just had my genealogy done a couple of years ago..."
Ziwe asked: "What are you?"
She answered: "Forty-three per cent Nigerian...I'm going to start to dig deeper into all this because everyone I've told, especially Nigerian women are just like ohhh what!"
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The comedian said: "This is huge for our community... You do look Nigerian, you look like my aunt."
Meghan's mother Doria Ragland is African-American, while her father Thomas Markle is Dutch-Irish. Both of Meghan's parents were born in America.
Meghan with her mother Doria Ragland the night before the royal wedding in May, 2018. AAP
The duchess spoke about growing up in View Park, in Los Angeles, which Rae described as "predominantly black African American".
The two women bonded over eating "bean pies" and both said the area drastically shaped their outlooks about diversity.
The focus of the podcast was breaking down the "archetype" of the "angry black woman".
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Meghan appeared to address past claims she had been hard to work with, particularly while she was living in the UK as a member of the royal family.
The duchess described herself as "particular", insisting that did not make her "difficult".
Meghan said she had to remind herself that "setting boundaries" and saying what she needed did not make her "demanding" or "difficult" but "clear".
Meghan, pictured on September 6, 2018 in London, addressed claims she had been called "difficult". Getty
She has faced accusations of bullying staff at Kensington Palace, with a formal complaint made about her behaviour, allegations which have been strongly denied.
Buckingham Palace launched an investigation but the findings of that report have never been made public.
Speaking about her acting days, Meghan said going to casting sessions for "black roles" reinforced the stereotype.
"I remember those casting sheets where the descriptions of the characters... she always had to have an edge or an attitude," Meghan said.
Elsewhere on the podcast, Meghan revealed she had stopped drinking coffee when she moved to the UK to marry Prince Harry.
She has since taken it up again.
When she was an actress on the set of Suits, Meghan said, she drank "Nespresso all day, every day".
"And then I didn't drink it really in the UK," she added.
Asked why she had recently resumed, the duchess said: "I guess because life started to come back? And so people started to come… when guests come or [I have] meetings and they're like 'oh would you like coffee?'"
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