Post-Megxit: How’s Meghan Markle’s relationship with her parents?

Ever since Meghan Markle joined the royal family, scrutiny around her own life has been rife. Markle’s addition to the family came with a departure from traditions on multiple occasions. 

The biggest clue for all the rumours & theories, the one impetus for all the conjecture came with the announcement from the Duke & Duchess of Sussex in March 2019 that they wanted to have a household separate from the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge Harry’s brother & sister-in-law, William & Kate. With that, they embarked on their own communication channels, staff, and social media accounts. 

Since the birth of Archie in May last year, the royal fans had been picking up signs & cues that hinted at certain friction within the royal household. The Sussexes went on a holiday to Canada, upon returning from which they dropped the bombshell announcement to trump all other announcements. 

It was the final nail in the coffin: The Sussexes made their first public expression of the intention to give up the royal life in January 2020. They issued a press release that stated, “We intend to step back as ‘senior’ members of the Royal Family and work to become financially independent while continuing to fully support Her Majesty The Queen.”

The change came with a major physical displacement, too. “We now plan to balance our time between the United Kingdom and North America, continuing to honour our duty to The Queen, the Commonwealth, and our patronages.” By April 1, they’d stopped using their titles.

The move ruffled a lot of feathers with tabloids, royal fans, and even the royal members. Tabloids claimed it was a “selfish” step or “an atrocious lapse of judgment.” But to any keen observer, it was amply clear how unhappy the couple was with the royal lifestyle, particularly in their ITV documentary.

Harry has always been close to his mother’s memory & resents being in the public eye because, as he mentioned, he is reminded of his mother’s unfortunate demise when he looks at camera flash, paparazzi, and the like.

Meghan and her parents

Meghan’s own family come with their own set of drama, ups & downs, controversies. It’s a widely publicised fact that Meghan & her father Thomas have been estranged since before the royal wedding of 2018. But the reckless ways of the press have only made sure that the relationship never gets repaired. 

While we keep hearing different versions of what actually went down, it’s said that Meghan & Thomas Markle had a good father-daughter relationship during her years of growing up, even though her parents were divorced. 

In fact, it’s said that she was so close to her dad she cried because he couldn’t be present at her wedding. The complications arose when a tabloid released some pictures of Thomas leaving a store, carrying cigarettes & beer. The press’ invasion into Thomas’ private life & every step has been blamed, time & again, for the sourness in their relationship.

Things got even more interesting when, less than a week before the wedding, press photos of Thomas at  Tuxedo fitting were leaked & later it was claimed that Thomas had staged the leak, that he was behind the fake paparazzi shots. He admitted he’d staged the pictures, but added a good reason behind his actions.

He shared, “They’d take all kinds of pictures of me to make me look negative, so I thought this would be a good way to improve my look. Obviously, all that went to hell. I feel bad about it, I apologize for it, and that’s all I can do.” The official statement mentioned he couldn’t attend the wedding citing health issues, whereas sources put the entirety of the blame on tabloids.

Tabloids have never been kind to Meghan & in a recent step, the Sussexes decided to take the legal course of action against The Mail. It’s been mired in its own fair share of controversies.

On the other hand, Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland was seen in attendance at her wedding. Sources claim that the mother-daughter duo isn’t very close either, that Doria would only get to see Meghan once or twice in a year even during her daughter’s acting days. It suggests that Meghan isn’t as close to her mother as the photographs suggest.