Meet the Markles: Meghan’s crazy family and Prince Harry’s future in-laws
PRINCE Harry’s future-in-laws and their children are a curious bunch, taking cue from their ‘unconventional’ father and a mother whose picture with the Queen will be ‘iconic’.
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PRINCE Harry’s new parents-in-laws are a reclusive former TV lighting director who lives in a beachfront home in Mexico, and a yoga-teaching social worker who his fiancee Meghan Markle describes as her best friend.
As the final countdown to his May 19 wedding to the former American actor gets under way, Prince Harry is getting to know his new, divorced in-laws, which includes Ms Markle’s 73-year-old father Thomas Markle.
Getting to know the in-laws is always fraught, but Prince Harry has met Doria, and reportedly talks on the phone to Thomas on a regular basis. Mr Markle will be walking Meghan down the aisle at St George’s Chapel, while Ms Ragland will stay with their daughter on the night before the wedding at a secret location.
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The pair will also be flying to England a week before the big day so they can be introduced to the royals including the Queen.
But two people who won’t be there are Meghan’s half-siblings Samantha Grant, 56, and Thomas Markle Junior, 51, from Thomas Markle’s first marriage before he met Doria.
They were left off the guest list following their public attacks on their younger sister.
Ms Markle also has a large extended family with five nieces and nephews but it is unknown if any of them have scored a wedding invite.
The 36-year-old has previously credited her parents for teaching her to have a social conscience — just like Princess Diana did with her sons Prince Harry and Prince William.
Ms Markle grew up in an affluent area in Los Angeles, California but from a young age was exposed to life outside the Hollywood bubble.
Ms Markle was just 10 when her mother took her to slums in Jamaica and Mexico so she could see the struggles of those living in poverty.
Royal biographer Andrew Morton, who wrote Meghan: A Hollywood Princess, told News Corp the trips were one of things Ms Markle’s childhood had in common with Harry’s.
“Meghan’s mother took her to places like the shanty towns in Jamaica and some of the poorer areas of Mexico to show her there was life outside Windsor Hills, which is a very cosy part of Los Angeles where they lived,” Morton told News Corp.
“It was similar to Princess Diana taking Harry and William to visit homeless shelters.”
Ms Ragland was the first member of Ms Markle’s family to meet Harry when her daughter
introduced her to him in Toronto at the 2016 Invictus Games — the first time the pair made a scheduled appearance together in public.
She has previously been employed as a yoga teacher and was a make-up artist when she met Mr Markle on the set of a soap opera in the 1970s.
The couple divorced when Ms Markle was six.
Ms Markle has described her mother as a “free spirit”, as well as her “inspiration” and “best friend”.
“We can just have so much fun together, and yet I’ll still find so much solace in her support,” she told Glamour in August, 2017.
THOMAS MARKLE’S ‘CRIPPLING SHYNESS’
Mr Markle is a former Emmy award-winning lighting director who had worked on iconic American TV shows including Married with Children and General Hospital.
But in more recent times he has fallen into financial hardship and in 2016 declared himself bankrupt with credit card debts of more than $40,000.
He now lives a reclusive life in Rosarito, Mexico in a small house on a 120-foot cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
While there is some speculation he may not come to the wedding because of his “crippling shyness”, Kensington Palace have now confirmed he will be walking his daughter down the aisle.
He was recently photographed reading Images of Britain: A Pictorial Journey Through History’ near his home in Mexico, suggesting he is studying in preparation for the big day.
Morton told News Corp that while Mr Markle was yet to meet Prince Harry he had spoken to him over the phone.
“Meghan and her father speak regularly on the telephone and he also speaks regularly to his other daughter Samantha from his place in Mexico and he also speaks to Prince Harry,” he said.
“He’s always been a shy guy ... he’s unconventional to say the least.”
Morton said there was a “high possibility” that Ms Markle’s mother could be the one walking her down the aisle.
Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams, however, said he thought Mr Markle would still be doing the honours.
“But then it might be Meghan herself who gives the speech at the reception,” he said.
Meanwhile, royal commentators agreed that Ms Markle’s older half siblings, Samantha Grant and Thomas Markle Jnr, had no chance of scoring an invite.
The duo have repeatedly attacked their sister in the press.
Ms Grant described her sister as “social-climber” and is penning a tell-all about her that had the working title The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister.
Mr Markle Jnr, also slammed his half-sister after Prince Harry said the royals were like the family “she never had”, Mr Markle Jnr said his father would be “extremely hurt” by the comments.
In an interview with Channel 7’s Sunday Night Mr Markle Jr, 51, claimed his sister was embarrassed by the family.
Last year he was arrested and charged after holding a gun to his girlfriend’s head during a drunken fight.
In a twist, Ms Grant’s own daughter Noel Rasmussen, 19, has defended her aunt and criticised her mother for “ripping their family apart”.
Ms Grant’s mother Roslyn, Thomas Markle Snr’s first wife, has also chimed in describing Samantha as “jealous” and “racist”.
Morton told News Corp that they were the “most vocal in-laws” in royal history.
He said that they had not been invited to Ms Markle’s first wedding in Jamaica and had been
estranged from their sister for a number of years.
“Meghan has told Harry that she was raised as an only child, which is pretty much true,” Morton said.
“When Meghan was born Samantha was moving out and Thomas had moved out.”
Ms Ragland is African-American and Mr Markle is from Dutch-Irish heritage.
Ms Markle has previously said her mixed-heritage had created a “grey area” for her self-
identification in her early years.
Her maternal ancestors had been slaves, who reportedly worked on cotton plantations until the
abolishment of slavery in 1865.
Morton said the iconic photo at the wedding would be Ms Ragland standing with the Queen and royal family.
“To have Doria Ragland, who is the great-great granddaughter of an African-American slave,
standing alongside the most famous royal family in the world will really show how the royal family has changed and progressed,” he said.
Originally published as Meet the Markles: Meghan’s crazy family and Prince Harry’s future in-laws
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