Meghan received ‘rule-breaking’ Christmas gift from dad Thomas Markle aged seven

Meghan Markle revealed the heartwarming ‘rule breaking’ Christmas present her dad Thomas got her when she was seven.

The Duchess of Sussex recalled coming home from school one day upset over her biracial heritage.

She’d got confused after being asked to tick whether she was white, black, Hispanic or Asian.

Having a white dad, Thomas, and a black mum, Doria Ragland, she was unsure which box to mark so left it blank.

When she told Thomas about the incident, she said ‘it made the green of his eyes pop’ before he sweetly told her to ‘draw your own box’.

In her now-defunct blog The Tig, Meghan recalled how her father then bent the rules to try and make her feel better about the whole incident.

The 38-year-old wrote: ‘I had been fawning over a boxed set of Barbie dolls.

‘It was called The Heart Family and included a mum doll, a dad doll, and two children. This perfect nuclear family was only sold in sets of white dolls or black dolls.

‘On Christmas morning, swathed in glitter-flecked wrapping paper, there I found my Heart Family: a black mum doll, a white dad doll, and a child of each colour.

‘My dad had taken the sets apart and customised my family.

‘One that showed me that I should (and could) make my own box.

‘I picture him standing there in Toys R Us, mums glaring at him for taking the toys apart, perhaps an employee saying “excuse me sir, you can’t do that” — as my dad carefully separated the boxed sets to make one that echoed my reality.’

Christmas this year will be Meghan and Prince Harry’s first as parents to baby Archie.

The couple will buck tradition, spending the festive period in California with Meghan’s mother Ms Ragland as opposed to Sandringham with the Queen.

She has been estranged from her father since the royal wedding last May.

A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are looking forward to extended family time towards the end of this month.

‘Having spent the last two Christmases at Sandringham, Their Royal Highnesses will spend the holiday this year, as a new family, with the Duchess’ mother Doria Ragland.

‘This decision is in line with precedent set previously by other members of the Royal Family, and has the support of Her Majesty The Queen.

‘For security reasons, we will not be providing further details on their schedule at this time.’