The most important career decision you can make is who you marry - here's what that means for Meghan Markle
- Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will wed on Saturday.
- That means Markle will leave behind both her acting career and her political pursuits.
- Successful people say your choice of spouse is the most important career decision you can make - and it seems like Prince Harry and Markle have spent time thinking about how they can jointly change the world.
The royal wedding is (almost) upon us. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will tie the knot on Saturday, about two years after they were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend.
Markle's new life will look drastically different from her life before she met her future husband. Not only will she move from the United States to the United Kingdom and become a British citizen; she'll also transition from an acting career to being full-time royalty.
In the couple's first interview after announcing their engagement, Markle, who is 36 years old, addressed her decision: "I don't see it as giving anything up, I just see it as a change."
She added that she had already been working on the television series "Suits" for seven years. "So we're very, very fortunate to be able to have that sort of longevity on a series and for me, once we hit the 100-episode marker, I thought, 'You know what? I have ticked this box and I feel really proud of the work I've done there and now it's time to, as you [Harry] said, work as a team with you."
In addition to playing Rachel Zane on "Suits," Markle also appeared on the soap opera "General Hospital." She's been everything from a United Nations women's advocate to a freelance calligrapher, and she recently shut down her lifestyle blog, "The Tig."
While nothing will expressly prohibit Markle from acting, INSIDER's Kristin Salaky and Talia Lakritz reported that royals are forbidden from being politically active and from publicly discussing their political views.
Markle and Prince Harry say they're on the same page about wanting to change the world
Markle's experience marrying into royalty isn't something most of us can relate to. But the general theme of making big life changes for your partner is universal.
As Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg frequently tells young women, "The most important career choice you'll make is who you marry."
Legendary investor Warren Buffett said much the same thing in a conversation with Bill Gates at Columbia University. He told the audience: "The most important decision many of you will make, not all of you, will be the spouse you choose," since "you will move in the direction of the people that you associate with."
INSEAD professor Jennifer Petriglieri said on an episode of the Harvard Business Review's podcast "Women at Work," that couples, in order to maximize both partners' satisfaction, should have a conversation twice yearly about what they're "aiming for individually and together" in the near future.
In fact, in the post-engagement interview, Markle mentioned that she and Prince Harry had had this type of conversation on an early date: "It was really one of the first things we connected on, it was one of the first things we started talking about when we met, was just the different things that we wanted to do in the world and how passionate we were about seeing change."
In the same interview, Prince Harry responded to a question about whether he feels a sense of responsibility for Markle leaving acting behind. "Of course," he said, adding that, "I still have to have some pretty frank conversations with her to say, you know what you're letting yourself in for, it's a big deal, and it's not easy for anybody."
Prince Harry went on: "Whatever we have to tackle together or individually, will always be us together as a team."
More on the royal wedding:
- Here's what time Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding will start where you live - and how to watch it
- Meghan Markle is about to leave behind a surprisingly relatable life to become Britain's first-ever American princess - see her former house, car, and wardrobe
- Meghan Markle could wear a custom-designed tiara worth nearly $700,000 on her wedding day - here's how much the tiaras of other British royal brides are worth
- Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's big day will cost over 1,000 times more than the average wedding - here's where it will all go
- Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's honeymoon could include a romantic stopover in another African country