Inside Meghan Markle's estranged family - from outspoken half-siblings and heartbroken father to niece she shared close bond with
Meghan hasn't yet reconciled with her family membersMeghan Markle is estranged from many members of her family, including her half-siblings and her father.
After she and husband Prince Harry, 41, became engaged in 2017, the Duchess of Sussex has seemingly cut off her relatives.
Although she remains close with her mother Doria Ragland, it seems her relationships with her father’s side have disappeared.
Here’s an inside look at Meghan’s estranged family and what’s happened to cause the fractured bonds.
Meghan Markle’s estranged family
The Duchess of Sussex, 44, is the daughter of Doria Ragland and Thomas Markle. Meghan has remained close to her mother Doria, who attended her wedding to Harry in 2018.
However, Meghan fell out with her father Thomas in the lead-up to her nuptials. Meghan has also cut off her half-siblings, Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle Jr.
Meghan, Samantha and Thomas Jr share the same dad and have different mothers.
Meghan Markle and her father Thomas Markle’s relationship now
In the months leading up to Meghan and Harry’s wedding, retired television lighting director Thomas was accused of staging paparazzi photos.
The images showed him browsing the internet on Meghan and Harry’s nuptials. He then didn’t attend her wedding after undergoing heart surgery.
He has since apologised for the photos and has tried to reconcile with Meghan on several attempts.
In 2019, a private letter Meghan had written to her father the year prior was published. In it, it detailed her deep feelings about their relationship. Meghan later sued the Mail on Sunday for publishing the private note.
During a court hearing in 2021, Thomas said the letter “signalled the end of our relationship”.
Since then, Thomas has reached out publicly to Meghan on several occasions. Most recently, in January 2025, Thomas announced he was moving to Asia for a “fresh start”.
However, he still made a plea to his daughter. He told the MailOnline that he wishes Meghan “no ill-will” and admitted his “dream” is that “one day I could bring my whole family together, like a ‘normal’ family”.
In December 2025, Thomas was rushed to hospital to undergo “emergency surgery”. Thomas Jr told the MailOnline: “I took dad to a hospital close to our home and they did various scans and the doctors said his life was in imminent danger.
“They raced us by ambulance, with the sirens going, to a much bigger hospital in the centre of the city. My dad has undergone emergency surgery. I would ask everyone around the world to keep him in their thoughts.”
Meghan Markle’s half-siblings
The Duchess of Sussex has two half-siblings, Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle Jr.
Both have been vocal in the press, both before Meghan married Harry and after. Before the wedding, both Samantha and Thomas took issue with not being invited to the nuptials.
Samantha, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2008 and has been in a wheelchair since, has criticised Meghan for her behaviour towards their father. In the lead-up to the wedding, Samantha publicly begged Meghan to go and see her father in hospital.
Meghan has no idea what she is missing out on because when my dad goes, it will be too late.
In November 2024, she told the MailOnline: “Meghan has no idea what she is missing out on because when my dad goes, it will be too late. Believe me, I know. You can’t get back that time. It leaves a hole in your heart.”
Over the years since Meghan began dating Harry, Samantha has lashed out on many occasions once branding the duchess “delusional” and “controlling”.
Samantha has also attempted to sue Meghan for defamation for comments the duchess made in her 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview as well as accusing her of giving information to unauthorised biography Finding Freedom.
However, both cases were dismissed.
Thomas Markle Jr’s comments about half-sister Meghan
Just like Samantha, window fitter Thomas Jr has also been vocal about his relationship with Meghan.
Back in 2018, Thomas told the Mirror that his half-sister was a “phony” who had “forgotten her roots and her family” since becoming famous.
He also urged Harry to call off his wedding to Meghan in a letter, saying it would be the “biggest mistake in royal wedding history”.
However, he later wrote another letter and apologised for his comments.
Elsewhere, in 2020, Thomas claimed he had lost jobs because of his link to the duchess. He said he “can’t get a new one because of the notoriety of being related to the duchess”.
Meanwhile, in 2021, Thomas appeared on Australia’s Big Brother where he spoke about Meghan.
In a trailer for the show, Thomas hit out at Meghan as he branded her “shallow”.
Meghan Markle’s ‘close bond’ with niece who appeared in Netflix series
Meghan also has a niece, Ashleigh Hale, who is Samantha’s daughter.
The duchess is said to have had shared a close bond with Ashleigh. Ashleigh appeared in Meghan and Harry’s Netflix series, Harry & Meghan, in 2022.
In it, Ashleigh said of Meghan: “She takes on a lot of roles for me. There’s a sister element, there’s something maternal. She’s a best friend. She’s kind of all the things.”
Meghan added in the series: “She was like a little sister.”
On not being invited to Meghan’s wedding, Ashleigh said: “I said I was hurt on some level, but I understood where it was coming from.
“To know that it was because of my biological mother that this relationship that’s so important to me was impacted in that way… To feel like because of her, it was taken away, has been hard.”
Meghan explained that “the guidance at the time was to not have her come to our wedding” as Samantha and Thomas weren’t invited either.
Read more: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle show ‘different side to their relationship’ on With Love, Meghan
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