Meghan Markle's mother Doria Ragland becomes unexpected Netflix star

Doria Ragland was praised for dignified poise during years of palace intrigue, leaving observers wishing she married into the Royal Family instead of daughter, Meghan Markle.

Amid the fallout of the first three episodes of Harry & Meghan, the mother of the Duchess of Sussex has emerged as one of the few characters unscathed by the Netflix series.

Doria Ragland, who has remained silent for years while helping to raise the grandchildren of King Charles, spoke for the first time in an appearance praised for a dignified restraint otherwise lacking from both sides of the Markle and Windsor families.

“What a shame she didn’t marry into the House of Windsor instead. But we are where we are. Sigh,” wrote Royal commentator Judith Woods.

“What a dignified, self-possessed woman. There she was, keeping not just her head when all about were losing theirs, but her own counsel to boot,” she added.

Harry & Meghan Netflix documentary Episode 3: Doria Ragland speaks about the couple.

As her ex-husband Thomas Markle aired the family’s dirty laundry in the media for years, getting himself banned from his daughter’s wedding, Ms Ragland remained calm and carried on in silence.

As Ragland is introduced in the show, she said the “last five years have been challenging.”

“I’m ready to have my voice heard, that’s for sure,” she said, before describing her horror at the behaviour of her ex-husband.

“I was absolutely stunned that Tom would become part of this circus. I felt sad that the media would run with this. That he would capitalise [on this],” she said. “Certainly as a parent, that’s not what you do. It’s not parenting.”

Ms Ragnald herself was also offered the same money by paparazzi and had the chance, if she took it, to profit off her daughter’s marriage to British royalty, as Mr Markle had. The thought filled her with disdain.

“This. Is. My. Child,” she said of rejecting the offer.

Meghan Markle and her son Archie appear in a web chat alongside Doria Ragland. Picture: Twitter

And she never relented despite feeling “unsafe” from the constant attention in Los Angeles.

“I can’t just walk my dogs. I can’t just go to work. There was always someone there waiting for me. Following me to work. I was being stalked by the paparazzi”, she said.

Ms Markle said she confronted Mr Markle about the photos afterwards, before turning to Prince Harry and saying: “I don’t know why, but I don’t believe him”.

Harry said he “shouldered” some of the blame for the breakdown of his wife’s relationship with her father following the scandal, because she would have still had a father if she had not married him.

The 66-year-old’s appearance left fans praising “Mama Doria” online, saying it was a highlight of the series.

Just finished vol 1 of #HarryandMeghanNetflix Beautiful & well made.Loved hearing from little Archie & Mama Doria for the first time. Loved that Ashleigh Markle got 2 speak about her beautiful relationship w/her Aunt Meg & I especially loved hearing about Harry & Meghan's romance

— Katrina 🕊️🌸🛡️ (@dazzlegal) December 8, 2022

“I’m just gonna pause my watching and say how beautiful and poised and articulate and lovely Doria, Meghan’s mother is,” wrote Twitter user @anna_itsonlyme.

#HarryandMeghanonNetflix Vol 1 is powerful stuff. Reflections of brilliant Black voices @afuahirsch@DavidOlusoga@kehinde_andrews@misanharriman were spot on. Great to finally hear Doria speak.

H & M are best friends, obstacles they've been put through has made them stronger.

— Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu (@SholaMos1) December 8, 2022

Asked about the first time she saw the couple together, Ms Ragland said that they “looked really happy together… like he was the one”.

But press intrusion took a toll on the Sussexes during the early days of their courtship was also a theme of episode two.

Meghan Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland. Picture: Getty Images

“I was going to get flowers, and coming out of the flower shop there must have been nine of ten papps standing in the middle of the street,” the Duchess recounts.

“I remember H the next day saying you can’t talk to them, the UK media are saying you’re smiling, you love it.”

“It felt like all the UK media descended on Toronto, my house was just surrounded,” Meghan recounts. “Just men sitting in the cars all the time waiting for me to do anything.”

And the intrusion soon got worse, she said.

The UK press “paid certain neighbours to put livestream cameras into my back yard … All the curtains were pulled, all the blinds were pulled… it was scary,” she said.

All of this made it difficult for the couple to get to know one another better.

“There were things that were said and things that I read that I had to ask her about,” Prince Harry recounts at one point.

The filmmakers follow Ms Markle and Ragland as they returned to the LA neighbourhood where they lived after Doria and Thomas Markle separated. They also dropped in on Meghan’s old school, Hollywood School House, where the former principal Miss Debbie shows the Duchess a letter she wrote to her as an 11-year-old.

“I was a big nerd growing up,” Meghan said in a piece to the camera. “I was not the pretty one, my entire identity was wrapped up in being the smart one.”

Originally published as Meghan Markle's mother Doria Ragland becomes unexpected Netflix star