A lot has changed since Paula Patton was first introduced to Meghan Markle.
“I met her because she helped me with my wedding invitations,” Patton told Entertainment Tonight on Monday, April 16.
When Patton married Robin Thicke in 2005, Markle was a struggling actress living in Los Angeles. To help pays bills she worked as a freelance calligrapher and held a job as a clerk at the Paper Source, where Patton had her wedding invitations made. (The couple split in 2014 after more than eight years of marriage.)
“She had this beautiful writing,” recalled Patton. “That moment I feel like I said something to her. Like, ‘You are really meant to be royal.’ She was just so graceful and lovely, and actually really kind.”
Prince Harry would have to agree. The 33-year-old royal and former Suits actress, 36, will tie the knot at St. George’s Chapel on May 19. About 600 people have been invited to the service and Queen Elizabeth II’s lunchtime reception at St. George’s Hall. But only 200 people will attend the private reception at Frogmore House.
Markle’s father, Thomas, taught her to always write handwritten thank you notes. Which means wedding guests are in for a treat. “I’ve always had a propensity for getting the cursive down pretty well. What it evolved into was my pseudo-waitressing job when I was auditioning,” she told Esquire in 2013. “I didn’t wait tables I did calligraphy for invitations, for, like Robin Thicke and Paula Patton’s wedding.”
Markle also worked for the fashion label Dolce & Gabanna doing celebrity correspondence during the holiday season. “What’s funny is I probably still have some calligraphy business cards floating out in the world,” she joked to Esquire. “I can’t wait for someone to call me in a month or something, and say, ‘Can you please do these for my son’s Bar Mitzvah?’”
