She may still be having a hard time getting the British public to accept her and is often the focus of negative media reports, but according to a friend of Prince Harry’s, Meghan Markle sacrificed quite a bit in order to make her relationship with her future husband work and deserves recognition for that.

During a recent appearance on The Ellen Show, polo player Nacho Figueras, who has been a friend of Prince Harry’s for several years, defended the Duchess of Sussex in particular against everything that has been said about her, revealing that she was forced to give up things that were important to her because of who she wanted to marry, something that other people don’t always have to do.

“I’ve been friends with him for twelve, thirteen years now and I’ve seen it all happen right from the very beginning when he was who he was and he was younger and that was all great,” Figueras said. “And he’s a wonderful man, someone that really cares. He’s really committed. He really cares. He cares about children. He cares about making the world a better place. “

“Then he found Meghan who is an incredible girl, she’s amazing,” he added. “She gave up all of the things that she had to marry this man that she loves which is great. And people think of it like, oh, how easy it is for you, girl, to go marry this guy, but nobody knows all the very hard things that go with that.”

Ahead of her marriage to Prince Harry, Markle not only moved to the UK but also closed all of her personal social media accounts, deactivated her lifestyle blog The Tig and ended her run as an actress on the TV show “Suits.” She has also changed her ways when it comes to voicing her opinions on political issues since the wedding, adopting the same public neutral stance as the rest of the royal family.

Of course, while she did give up quite a bit to marry Prince Harry, there is one thing she has been unable to get rid of just yet—her US Citizenship, which has created some financial headaches for the royal family.

It can take several years to become a citizen in the UK, meaning that it may be a few years before she can officially renounce her citizenship in the US if she so chooses. As such, any income she makes as a royal is subject to taxes in both countries. To make matters even more difficult financially, because she was a US citizen when she gave birth to her son, Archie Harrison, he is also considered a US citizen , and taxes will also be paid on any income he makes until his 18th birthday, when he can choose to also renounce citizenship in the US.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
Prince Harry and Meghan visited a Cape Town rights group fighting gender violence. POOL / Courtney AFRICA