Meghan Was Told She Was 'Lucky' Prince Harry 'Chose' Her: 'I Chose Him Too'

After Meghan Markle was told she was "so lucky" that Prince Harry chose to marry her, he told her that she was the "lucky one," the duchess says on the latest episode of her Archetypes podcast.

In a discussion with actress Mindy Kaling about the term singleton (referring to unmarried women), the duchess voiced her displeasure at being continually told she was "lucky" to be marrying Harry when the pair became engaged in 2017.

The royal's exclusive podcast released its third episode Tuesday on Spotify while Markle is in Europe attending a series of charity events alongside Harry. The visit marks the couple's first joint "working" return to Britain since stepping down as senior royals and moving to the U.S. in 2020.

Discussing the title of Kaling's 2015 memoir, Why Not Me?, Markle spoke about having self-doubt during her relationship with Harry.

"I think there's a double entendre which I would love for you to talk about with the title," she told Kaling before discussing her own experience with that feeling.

"When I started dating my husband and we became engaged," she said, "everyone was just like, 'Oh my God, you are so lucky he chose you!'

"And at a certain point, after you hear it a million times over, you're like, 'I chose him too!'"

The duchess went on to say that it was Harry who contradicted such comments, which helped her retain her self-confidence and sense of independence.

"But thankfully I had a partner who was countering that narrative for me and going, 'They've got it all wrong. I'm the lucky one because you chose me,'" she said.

Markle said she believed that the assumption that a woman should be considered lucky when a man deems her worthy enough to date was "gendered, archetyped and stereotyped."

"It just feeds into this idea that you're waiting for someone to tell you that you're good enough," she said, "as opposed to knowing that you're good enough on your own."

Markle's relationship with Harry became public knowledge at the end of 2016. The couple had met in London that summer, and the prince traveled to see the Suits actress at her home in Toronto, where filming for the TV series was taking place.

In addition to the consensus that Markle was lucky to be dating a royal, the tabloid press in Britain ran intrusive articles about her background.

In November 2016, two articles published by the Daily Mail were criticized for their racially insensitive tone. In one, Markle was referred to as "almost straight out of Compton," while another said that she would inject the royal bloodline with "exotic DNA."

Like his rejection of the "lucky" narrative, Harry came out to defend his girlfriend in the press. A statement from Kensington Palace at the time said that Markle had been "subject to a wave of abuse and harassment. Some of this has been very public—the smear on the front page of a national newspaper; the racial undertones of comment pieces; and the outright sexism and racism of social media trolls and web article comments."

The statement continued, "Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle's safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her. It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm.

"He knows commentators will say this is 'the price she has to pay' and that 'this is all part of the game.' He strongly disagrees. This is not a game—it is her life and his."

The couple have stepped down from their roles as working royals and moved to the U.S.—where they have reportedly become financially independent—in part because of their treatment by the tabloid press and the monarchy. They continue to speak out wherever they consider it appropriate.

Markle's solo podcast was created to "dissect, explore, and subvert the labels that try to hold women back," many of which have been attributed to her since she stepped onto the world stage as a royal.

Episode four of Archetypes, to be released next Tuesday, will focus on the term "dragon lady" in a discussion with comedian Margaret Cho and journalist Lisa Ling.

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