Meghan Markle opens up about her experiences of racism as a bi-racial woman

Meghan Markle has opened up about her experiences of growing up as 'ethnically ambiguous' and the racism she has suffered as the daughter of a black woman.

In an interview with Pride magazine, the Suits actress recalls how she would hear racist jokes told by people who didn't realise her mother Doria is African-American.

"I don't care if I'm fair-skinned and I don't care what it is, that's who I am and that's my family," she explains. "My hope is for the world to get to a place where it's colour blind."

The 35-year-old - who appears on the cover of the July issue of the magazine - also recalls hearing her mother being called by the N-word.

Speaking about her ethnicity at a conference in Atlanta, she also revealed she had faced discrimination as an actress, but she admitted that sometimes her mixed heritage worked in her favour too. "Because I'm biracial I was able to get into so many more rooms because they didn't exactly know where they could put me," she explained.

But Markle added that more often than not her ethnicity would work against her too.

"With that said, I heard 'no' so many more times than you would if you could only go in for the blonde-haired blue-eyed girl," she told the Create & Cultivate conference in 2016.

Markle shot to fame when she landed the role as Rachel Zane in US paralegal drama Suits in 2011. And while she has previously spoken of her difficulties as a struggling black actress in Hollywood who in the early days of her career even slept in her car before auditions, her fortunes look set to change.

The actress is in a high-profile relationship with Prince Harry and the pair are currently on a romantic getaway to Botswana to celebrate her 36th birthday Mail Online reports.

After completing her filming schedule for Suits last month, Meghan flew to London, where the pair then went on to southern Africa.

It has been widely speculated that the British royal may be planning to propose to Meghan during the trip. According to the Sunday Express, Ladbrokes have cut the odds to 6/4 that Harry will propose to his actress girlfriend while on holiday.

A spokesperson for the betting company said: "It's a case of when and not if Harry pops the question and royal punters are convinced it will be while the happy couple are on holiday."

The couple has been dating for almost a year and Meghan has become part of Prince Harry's inner circle. She accompanied the royal to the wedding of his best friend Tom Inskip in Jamaica and made her first official public appearance with Harry at an exclusive polo event at Ascot where she was seated in the Royal Box.

She was also invited to join in the celebrations for the wedding of Kate Middleton's sister Pippa. While she made a low-key appearance at the reception, her invitation to the society wedding has been perceived as confirmation that the pair are set to make their relationship official with the announcement of their engagement this summer.

And with Prince Harry's well-known love of Africa, where he famously romanced his previous girlfriends Natalie Pinkham, Chelsy Davy and Cressida Bonas, the announcement of a royal engagement could be imminent.