The Duchess of Sussex turns 42 on Friday and no doubt she'll be celebrating her special day with her husband, Prince Harry, their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, and her mother, Doria Ragland.
It has been a whirlwind five years for Meghan since marrying Harry on a hot summer's day in May 2018. In that time, there has been the birth of their babies, a couple of royal tours, a big life-changing decision to step back as senior royals and a move to California.
As Harry and Meghan appeared in a new video together to congratulate young tech leaders who are contributing towards making the online world a safer place, you can see how relaxed they are living in Montecito.
While the Duchess is expected to mark her birthday privately, she has previously shared some insight into how she feels about getting older.
When Meghan was starring in US legal drama, Suits, she also set up her own lifestyle blog, The Tig. And in 2014, as she turned 33, she reflected on her teenage and young adult years.
"My 20s were brutal – a constant battle with myself, judging my weight, my style, my desire to be as cool/as hip/as smart/as ‘whatever’ as everyone else," she wrote in a post on the now defunct blog.
She added: "My teens were even worse – grappling with how to fit in, and what that even meant."
And it seems that in her thirties, she had truly found herself. "I must have been about 24 when a casting director looked at me during an audition and said 'You need to know that you’re enough. Less makeup, more Meghan.'
"You need to know that you’re enough. A mantra that has now engrained itself so deeply within me that not a day goes by without hearing it chime in my head."
At 35, Meghan met her future husband, Prince Harry, with the pair first connecting on Instagram, followed by a flurry of text messages to arrange their first date at Soho House 76 Dean Street.
And almost a year to the date they were married, the couple became parents for the first time with the birth of Archie Harrison.
© GettyAs the Sussexes presented their little boy to the world for the first time in Windsor, Meghan, then 37, said of motherhood: "It's magic, it's pretty amazing. I have the two best guys in the world so I'm really happy."
As Meghan reached her 40th birthday in August 2021, the Duke and Duchess were already settled in their Montecito home with Archie and newborn Lilibet Diana.
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© NetflixIn celebration of her milestone, Meghan shared some thoughts as she launched an initiative for women to pledge 40 minutes of mentorship.
She wrote: "In reflecting on my 40th birthday and the many things I am grateful for, I'm struck that TIME IS AMONG OUR GREATEST AND MOST ESSENTIAL GIFTS: Time with our loved ones, time doing the things we love, time spent learning, laughing, growing, and the sacred time we have on this earth.
"Amongst the most valuable gifts of time is also time spent in service to others knowing that it can contribute to incredible change.
"To that last point, and with my 40th lap around the sun in mind, it made me wonder: what would happen if we all committed 40 minutes to helping someone else or to mentoring someone in need? And then what would happen if we asked our friends to do the same?"
In the first two years of her forties, Meghan has won numerous awards. The Duke and Duchess were selected to receive NAACP's President's Award 2022 for their work on causes related to social justice and equity.
The couple were also named as Ripple of Hope Awards laureates for their work on racial justice and mental health in October 2022.
Earlier this year, Meghan shimmered in a gold dress as she was named as a recipient of the Ms. Foundation for Women's Women of Vision Award in New York.
© Getty ImagesAnd despite parting ways with Spotify, the Duchess was awarded a Gracie Award and the 2022 People's Choice Award for her Archetypes podcast.
There has understandably been a lot of heartache for Meghan in recent years – with the estrangement from her father, Thomas Markle, a High Court privacy case, a mental health battle and a miscarriage.
At the end of their Harry & Meghan Netflix docuseries, the Duchess spoke about wanting "peace".
She added: "Part of that, for me, is reclaiming, when you've lost a huge piece of yourself, getting that back includes getting back those relationships and those friendships, and things that anchor you to who you are."
