The secrets behind Meghan’s lifelong obsession with her hair… and the heartbreaking story that shows just how close she once was to her father

Meghan Markle once told a business adviser she had ‘legs as long as a mile’ and wanted to show them off to best commercial advantage.

They’re not her only strong point, as last week’s photographs from Canadian ski resort Whistler showed once again.

Never mind the all-American smile and careful dress sense, it’s Meghan’s hair which could be described as her ‘crowning glory’, even if the Duchess is no longer a working royal.

Admirers raved about the impeccably maintained chestnut locks on view, including Meghan’s ‘hairdresser to the stars’, Kadi Lee from the Highbrow Hippie salon.

Colour-expert Lee revealed to Instagram that the Duchess’s new styling was down to a ‘mixture of red and golden undertones’ and ‘a next-level high-power shine’.

Meghan’s ‘chocolate chestnut brunette’ hair looked long and healthy on the first day at Mountain square in Whistler

Meghan’s curly hair was a mix of her mother’s and her father’s Dutch genes – Thomas, 79, would get up at 5am every morning to help smooth her hair with a straightening iron

If Meghan’s hair has been a life-long obsession – as it is for many women – there’s one ‘secret’ that has so far failed to cut through on social media.

That’s the touching role played by her father, Thomas Markle, who told me that he would sometimes rise at 5am to help his young daughter smooth her hair with a straightening iron to ensure it looked exactly as she wished.

‘When she wanted her hair straightening, it would take hours to do before she went to school,’ he recalls.

‘But it was something I did willingly.’

Tom, 79, once made his living as an Emmy award-winning lighting director in Hollywood but turned to amateur hairdressing when Meghan came to live with him following the breakdown of his marriage.

The Duchess hasn’t spoken to her father since he suffered two heart attacks on the eve of her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry and was unable to walk her down the aisle.

Tom says he’d been shocked to find that his daughter’s hair exposed Meghan to racism at an early age.

During one holiday, father and daughter were driving across the United States from their home in Los Angeles to Florida, when they stopped in rural Texas and tried to find a salon to wash and straighten Meghan’s naturally curly hair.

‘We tried several, but no-one would take us in because I was a white man with a mixed-race child,’ he said.

When she became a ‘suitcase girl’ on the Deal Or No Deal show, Meghan adopted the trademark glossy look we recognise today, using specialist treatments to smooth and strengthen the hair against damage

Meghan still styles her own hair when required, often sweeping it back into a chic ‘ballerina bun’

Once Meghan became a teenager, she learned how to do her own hair and make-up – helped by spending time on set and in the studios with her lighting director father.

Tom recalls how Meghan studied the professionals working on hit American shows including General Hospital and Married with Children – and learned from them.

It was when she broke through as an actress and became a Hollywood starlet – most famously as a ‘suitcase girl’ on the Deal Or No Deal show – that Meghan adopted the trademark glossy look we recognise today, using specialist treatments to smooth and strengthen the hair against damage.

As she explained in 2011, there’s a fair amount of work involved – and expense.

‘My mom is black and my dad is Dutch and Irish so the texture of my hair is densely curly,’ she said. ‘I’ve been getting Brazilian blow-outs for a couple of years.’

A Brazilian blow-out is a semi-permanent strengthening treatment using keratin (a key protein in hair and nails) to penetrate hair cuticles and smooth out the hair shaft.

The results last for up to four months, but some Los Angeles salons charge more than £400 ($500) a treatment.

Described by her stylist as ‘a dynamic shade of brunette, Meghan’s latest hair-do was set off to good effect by skinny white jeans, a $675 (£530) white cashmere sweater plus beige quilted coat when she appeared for the cameras last week.

The Duke and Duchess were in Canada to publicise the next Invictus Games, hosted by Whistler, in one year’s time.

Created for sick and wounded servicemen and women, the games were founded by Prince Harry, who staged the first event in 2014. Next year will see the introduction of winter sports for the first time.

Visiting a training camp, the couple met athletes hoping to take part next year and the prince was pictured ‘ski-sitting’, quipping: ‘do I need to sign a waiver?’

If Harry took star billing, Meghan’s hair – praised for the new, reddish tinge – came a close second.

‘This is the best her hair has ever looked!’ said one fan responding to the Instagram page of the LA-based Highbrow Hippie salon – a favourite of Julia Roberts.

‘Absolutely stunning,’ said another. ‘So shiny and healthy. GOALS.’

Meghan still styles her own hair when required, often sweeping it back into a chic ‘ballerina bun’. There’s also speculation that she uses high-quality hair extensions to add length and volume on special occasions.

In this, as in much else, she has become quite expert.

As a source put it: ‘Meghan can do her own hair and make-up to a professional level because, like everything she puts her mind to, she practised and practised until she was perfect.’