Now Samantha Markle takes aim at DORIA: Meghan’s half-sister claims the Duchess’ mother ‘wasn’t around much’ when she was growing up – and says the royal owes ‘everything’ to their father
Following her ongoing criticism of her half-sister, has now turned her attentions to the Duchess of Sussex’s mother, Doria Ragland, in a new social media tirade.
The 53-year-old took to Twitter to enlighten her followers on her version of Meghan’s childhood, saying Ms Ragland ‘wasn’t around much’ for the Duchess as she was growing up.
Markle arrived in London last week claiming that she hoped to move ‘forward with peaceful resolve’ after her frequent outbursts against her sister – but the latest comments are unlikely to enhance any chances of reconciliation.
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On Twitter last night, Markle told her 7,000 followers that Meghan owed ‘everything’ to her father Thomas Markle.
She wrote, replying to a tweet praising Doria and Meghan: ‘Glad you love people you don’t even know. But everything that you think you know from tabloids is a lie. Dad pretty much raised her most of her life on his own and Doria was not around very much.’
She followed up later praising Thomas Markle as the ‘best father in the world’ and reiterating the influence she feels the 74-year-old had on the Duchess’ early years.
Ms Markle penned: ‘The world does not know that our dad raised her most of the time without the input of her mother especially from age 12 through high school and he gave her everything she had and is.
‘She was never raised as an only child. Truth kids! He is amazing and successful. And Mags lie.’
Neither Mr Markle or Samantha Markle attended Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex’s wedding in Windsor on May 18th this year.
There was anger too reserved for Meghan, with Ms Markle accusing her half-sister of ‘ghosting’ her family, saying she only began speaking to the press about family relationships when Meghan stopped talking to them after becoming involved with Prince Harry.
The 53-year-old wrote: ‘She has ghosted both sides of the family she needs to earn our trust it is the other way around. You don’t crap on an entire family and then run around crying that you cannot trust everyone.’
In another ‘ghosting’ tweet, she suggested that Doria and Meghan were close because the Duchess had shunned friends, writing: ‘Doria might be her best friend now because she ghosted her best friend of 30 years. Nikki Priddy.’
Samantha Markle’s message for Meghan on Channel 5 show Jeremy Vine
Samantha Markle was asked on Channel 5 today if she had a message for Meghan. This is what she said:
‘There is so much water under the bridge and so much has spun out of control that was never intended to.
‘I think everybody was hurt by not being included or invited to the wedding.
‘But I felt as though it could have all been nipped in the bud had everyone been included and we all just agreed to move forward with positive resolve, and the hurt feelings wouldn’t have snowballed.
‘But, believe it or not, it doesn’t mean that we love you any less.
‘I just think that families can be this way when there’s confusion and when people are hurt.
‘So, moving forward, I apologise and I wish things could be different.’
And she added that Meghan had ‘ignored’ their father while he was ill in hospital after suffering a heart attack, penning to another critic: ‘You have no idea what is going on behind the scenes.
‘She ignored my father through a heart attack there is no excuse for it. You would be mentally ill to think that is OK. Maybe you were the one who needs the counseling.’
Earlier this week, Samantha Markle was hit by a barrage of criticism herself as she took part in a phone-in with members of the public.
The 53-year-old received a backlash from callers to Jeremy Vine’s programme on Channel 5 today who said she had ‘no relevance’ in the UK.
Chris from Kent told Ms Markle: ‘All we’ve seen is the hate you’ve spewed against your sister. If you actually love your sister I think this should have been done in private, not on social media, or going on television saying you’re sorry… what you’re doing is not right.’
But Ms Markle replied: ‘Most of what you read in the tabloids is not true… There have been so many times I’ve said, in live interviews, favourable things but they were not printed.’
Lindsay from Leeds declared that Ms Markle should have been ‘stopped at border control’, adding: ‘She’s got no relevance to be here’.
However Victor from London called in to say Ms Markle was an ‘absolutely lovely lady’ and that should Harry and Meghan have a baby, she should be godmother.
Earlier, Mr Vine tackled Ms Markle on why she had been rude and insulting to Meghan, having called her Cruella de Vil, Duch-ass and the Duchess of Nonsense.
‘(My father) was being purposely ignored,’ Ms Markle replied. ‘We were hoping that private channels would be used. When they failed we went public.’
Thomas Markle is father to both Samantha and Meghan. She added: ‘The goal at that point wasn’t just getting closer. It was also about bringing out a very important point that you don’t isolate family, you are a humanitarian.’
Vine replied: ‘You want to shame her – that’s what it is.’
Ms Markle added: ‘The public were making a mockery of the family and it had to stop. Perhaps I was frustrated. I was lashing out more at the media.’
Ms Markle said she was doubtful of being able to make contact with Meghan while she was visiting the UK. ‘I was hoping that maybe we would have the chance to speak, that she would know I was here. But I don’t think that’s going to happen.’
She added that the whole saga could have been ‘nipped in the bud’ had the Markle family been invited to Meghan and the Duke of Sussex’s wedding.
‘I apologise to Meghan, to Harry, all the royals..’
Samantha Markle was interviewed on Channel 5 today about a range of topics. Here are her answers in brief:
On being in Britain
‘I wanted to make the trip and sort of speak the wishes and thoughts and sentiments of my father and hopefully get a message to my sister that things aren’t really what they’ve seen’
On why Meghan hasn’t been in touch with her father since the wedding
‘This media madness has been quite overwhelming… I think it’s been quite hurtful to our family, I can’t imagine how hurtful it’s been to my sister.’
On why she encouraged Thomas Markle to pose for photos
‘The logic behind that really is that I became so tired of him being purposely photographed in such a hurtful way, in a disparaging way.’
On whether Thomas Markle had a heart attack before the wedding
‘He had two actually. One earlier, and I think because of the pressure of the wedding, he really wanted to be there, he had a speech planned – he was really looking forward to it. And the doctors finally said ‘you can’t ignore this’.’
On whether Meghan has frozen her out
‘I think that perhaps she was hurt – I felt like she should know better than to believe tabloids, but I think quite frankly she probably believed what she was seeing as well.’
On if she will apologise to Meghan for calling her a Duch-ass?
‘To my sister, absolutely, and to Harry as well and the royal family.’
On having a message for Meghan
‘I just think that families can be this way when there’s confusion and when people are hurt. So, moving forward, I apologise and I wish things could be different.’
On Prince Harry
‘He is such a gentleman and so savvy and I would say that she has found her prince.
She admitted she should not have used the phrase ‘duch-ass’ – and, asked if she would apologise, said: ‘To my sister, absolutely, and to Harry as well and the royal family.’
Asked by Mr Vine if Meghan had frozen her out, she said: ‘I think that perhaps she was hurt – I felt like she should know better than to believe tabloids.
‘But I think quite frankly she probably believed what she was seeing as well, and I guess there’s also protocol that you say nothing.
‘So I think that snowballed unfortunately to a lot of hurt feelings on everyone’s part, and I’m hoping that we can have a happy ending.’
Ms Markle told the show that she was in Britain because she had ‘always wanted to see London’, but added that she hoped to ‘speak the wishes and thoughts and sentiments of my father and hopefully get a message to my sister that things aren’t really what they’ve seen’.
She continued: ‘There’s so much misperception and hopefully we could clear up record and move forward with peaceful resolve. ‘
Meghan’s father Thomas pulled out of walking his daughter down the aisle at her wedding to Prince Harry due to ill health and after being caught staging photos with photographers for cash.
Asked why Meghan has not been in touch with her father since the royal wedding in May, she said: ‘Honestly, I think, well you know, but if you can imagine this media madness has been quite overwhelming. And maybe it’s quite powerful.
‘And so when you take something as powerful as that, that goes around the world at lightning speed, larger than life, whether you say nothing or you say something it’s almost always twisted, we’ve experienced, for negative effect to sell publications.’
She said it had been ‘quite hurtful to our family, I can’t imagine how hurtful it’s been to my sister’, adding: ‘But so much of reality has been twisted, is unknown and it’s been unfortunate.’
Speaking about how Thomas posed for the staged photographs, she said: ‘The logic behind that really is that I became so tired of him being purposely photographed in such a hurtful way, in a disparaging way.
‘I said “you know, you have a right like a business card to defend yourself and have the world and the British royal family see you as you accurately are – don’t lay down and let them disparage you like that”.
How the media storm involving Thomas Markle has unfolded
November 27 2017: Kensington Palace announces the engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
December 2017: Meghan’s father Thomas Markle is pictured near his home in Rosarito, Mexico, going to Walmart and buying beers
April 2018: In the run-up to the royal wedding, Thomas is pictured reading a book about landmarks of Britain, looking at pictures of the couple online, and being fitted for a suit
May 2018: Mail on Sunday reveals Thomas Markle staged the paparazzi photos in a bid to improve his public image and may have made up to £100,000 from them. It was later revealed to be Samantha Markle’s idea
May 17, 2018: Bride-to-be Meghan reveals her father will not be flying to London for the wedding, after reports he suffered a heart attack
May 19, 2018: Thomas Markle watches the wedding on TV from Mexico as the Prince of Wales steps in at the last minute to walk Meghan up the aisle
June 18, 2018: Meghan’s father gives his first TV interview with Good Morning Britain and leaks details of his private conversations with Harry and Meghan – including their desire to have children and Harry’s views on President Trump
June 26, 2018: Thomas Markle tells TMZ he feels he is being frozen out by the Palace and is insulted that he has not been invited to meet the Queen
July 5, 2018: The Duchess of Sussex’s father tells friends he fears their relationship is ‘lost’ forever and he may never see his daughter again
July 28, 2018: Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, Thomas Markle says his daughter is ignoring him and has changed all her numbers since marrying Harry. He ominously warns he ‘won’t be silenced’
August 14, 2018: In another interview with the Mail On Sunday, Thomas Markle claims he hung up on Prince Harry in a heated phone exchange
‘So with regards to the money and this idea of cashing in, he was turning down $50,000 (£38,000) interviews.
‘So clearly money was not the goal, and the small amount of money that he received, £1,500, photographers made the money – not my father. It was never a goal.’
She was also pressed on whether she regretted her idea of him posing for the photos, and said: ‘I would regret more allowing paparazzi to continue to make him look like a horrible slob and do everything they could to disparage him.’
Ms Markle said it felt ‘really wrong to allow that to continue’, and told him: ‘You cannot let yourself be seen like this, and as a representation of who you are.’
She was also asked if he had actually had a heart attack before the wedding.
Ms Markle said: ‘He had two actually. One earlier, and I think because of the pressure of the wedding, he really wanted to be there, he had a speech planned – he was really looking forward to it.
‘And the doctors finally said “you can’t ignore this”. He was literally working his speech right up to the last minute.
‘He had had one earlier, and really I think like so many men was avoiding some of the signs – the stress, the shortness of breath, pins and needles.
‘He really wasn’t up to par, but because he wanted to be at the wedding, he ignored the signs – even though the doctors said “you had a small one earlier”.
‘I think he was in denial, he wanted to be tough and brave it – be able to walk my sister down the aisle.’
Asked if she blamed herself for what happened, she said: ‘I don’t see what the other option would be.
‘No matter what, I found that certain publications make you look as bad as they can. And I think it really reflected poorly on everyone. I couldn’t let that continue.’
As Prince Harry, Ms Markle said she was happy for her sister – and praised him for being ‘such a gentleman and so savvy’.
She told the programme: ‘I would say that she (Meghan) has found her prince.
‘And, as my little sister, and being older, I would think when I get older and when I pass away you wonder will your kids and your younger siblings be left in good hands? Well, I’m thankful she is in very good hands.’
Who is Samantha Markle and how is she related to Meghan?
Samantha Grant – also known as Samantha Markle – describes herself as a writer, a mental health counsellor and a ‘blabbermouth’.
She is the half-sister of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex from her father’s first marriage.
A one-time actress and model, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2008 and uses a wheelchair.
Based in Florida, she is 17 years older than Markle and sells jewellery to raise money to fund the feature films she writes.
Twice-divorced, she has three children – Ashleigh, Christopher and Noelle.
Like her father, she once filed for bankruptcy and is estranged from her mother Roslyn – Thomas Markle’s first wife – and brother Thomas Jr.
Also known as Samantha Grant, Ms Markle has see-sawed between criticising and praising Meghan on social media.
More recently she has vented her fury, accusing the duchess on Twitter of hypocrisy and being cold and inhumane in her treatment of their father.
Since Meghan became a royal, Ms Markle has hit out at her for being ‘cold’, accused her of ignoring her father, branded Harry a ‘wuss’, and has gone as far as to say she would blame Meghan should Mr Markle die.
The length of her stay in the UK is unknown, but it is thought that she intends to confront Meghan over their father’s ill-health. Meghan is believed to have last seen her father around two years ago.
The 74-year-old did not attend his daughter’s wedding at Windsor Castle after suffering a heart attack in the lead up to the big day, according to his family.
Despite Ms Markle’s apparent determination to see Meghan, her friends believe the Duchess will not see her half-sister.
Last month, Samantha went on a furious social media tirade about her sister and her new husband.
Branding the Duchess the ‘duch-ass’, she slammed Prince Harry on his 34th birthday, saying: ‘Happy Birthday Harry! As you ‘Mack down’ on your birthday cake, think about the birthday wishes you never extended to your FATHER-IN-LAW.’
