School before a Sussex.
Meghan Markle has posted a never-before-seen photo of herself as a student on Instagram, saying the image brought “the biggest smile” to her face.
The Duchess of Sussex, 43, was a fresh-faced pupil at the all-girls Roman Catholic Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles, Calif. She graduated in 1999.
“When your dear friend from middle school/high school sends you something from your alma mater and it brings the biggest smile to your face,” the “Suits” alum wrote on Instagram Tuesday.
“Go Pandas 🐼,” she added, referring to the school’s mascot, before thanking her friend for sharing the throwback.
In the snap, then 18-year-old Markle can be seen standing in front of a Virgin Mary statue at the school.
The former actress wore a white sundress in the image, which was partly covered by a beige cardigan. She accessorized with a gold headpiece.
After sharing the photo with her 2.5 million followers on the platform, her alma mater reposted the photo on their own profile, as the school congratulated Markle on “the renewal of her Netflix series and launch of her new podcast.”
“We’re delighted to share a special throwback photo from her time at Immaculate Heart, honoring our cherished tradition of Mary’s Day, a reflection of our legacy of sisterhood, support, and Panda spirit,” the school captioned the photo.
“As we begin preparations for this year’s Mary’s Day celebration, we proudly carry forward the traditions that make our school community so special! 💙🐼.”
Since marrying into royalty, the mom of two returned to the school to make a surprise commencement speech to the graduating class in 2020.
She later returned in November 2022 for an episode of her now-defunct podcast, “Archetypes.”
“Okay, ready team? This is all very nice and new. Isn’t it a pretty campus?” she said during the episode.
“Oh, my gosh. How funny. My locker was right over here,” Markle went on. “I was somewhere smack in the middle. I don’t remember because these are your lockers when you’re in high school and the middle school lockers were up there.”
During the visit, Markle also met with current and former students at the school.
“You’ve heard me talk about Immaculate Heart on the series before and the influence it’s had on my life. And look I was there from ages, about 12 to 17 which are really formative years in your life – they certainly were for me,” she continued.
“And let me just say, being back there, the energy, it was, it was palpable. I was happy to be back there, and it was also really fun — especially when I made a surprise visit and I popped into some of the young ladies in volleyball practice.”
