She is thought to still be estranged from her father Thomas Markle – but a resurfaced blog post from the Duchess of Sussex’s now-defunct website The Tig has revealed her affection for her ‘hardworking daddy’ before he was shut out of her life.
Meghan Markle, 41, published a gushing tribute to her parent for Father’s Day in June 2014, in which she praised ‘blood, sweat and tears this man invested in my future so that I could grow up to have so much’.
But it wasn’t only her father who was applauded on her lifestyle website; Prince Harry’s wife celebrated her ‘free spirit’ mother Doria Ragland in a post shared the month before.
Mother-of-two Meghan, who is based in the US, and Doria continue to share a close relationship, with the parent appearing on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s bombshell Netflix documentary in December.
On The Tig, Meghan thanked her mother ‘for all the lessons, for all the love. For you’. Here, FEMAIL takes a look at the times the Duchess mentioned her parents on her website after the blog posts resurfaced.
MEGHAN’S ‘HARDWORKING DADDY’
Meghan Markle, 41, published a gushing tribute to her parent for Father’s Day in June 2014, in which she praised ‘blood, sweat and tears this man invested in my future so that I could grow up to have so much’
For Father’s Day in June 2014, Meghan dedicated a post to her retired Hollywood lighting director father Thomas Markle, 78.
She called him ‘thoughtful, inspiring, hardworking’ and praised him for the ‘blood, sweat and tears this man (who came from so little in a small town of Pennsylvania, where Christmas stockings were filled with oranges, and dinners were potatoes and spam) invested in my future so that I could grow up to have so much.’
The Duchess recalled her father ‘religiously’ taking her to her dance classes every Saturday morning – despite working 75+ hours a week.
She also noted his determination to light her high school musicals, as well as the fishing trips the duo would enjoy and the lessons he taught her – including writing thank you notes and to always be early to occasions.
Meghan explained that her father also helped her travel from audition to audition when she was trying to become an actress.
Yet fast forward to the wedding of Meghan and Prince Harry on Saturday 19 May 2018 – and the former actress was worked down the aisle by King Charles, then Prince of Wales, rather than her father.
Mr Markle didn’t attend the couple’s historic nuptials at St George’s Chapel in Windsor after suffering two heart attacks in California in the weeks preceding it.
He blamed them on the stress he suffered after posing for paparazzi pictures to improve his image.
He has been estranged from his daughter ever since and has never met son-in-law Prince Harry or his grandchildren Archie, three, Lilibet, one.
THE LIFE LESSONS HER MOTHER TAUGHT HER
Meghan – who is known to be close to Doria – shared the life lessons her mother taught her in a resurfaced blog post from The Tig in May 2014.
The Duchess explained how she finally understood all the moments her parent, 66, who she said was a ‘free spirit’, was trying to keep her safe, or to appreciate the outdoors or learn history.
She mentioned them jogging together, enjoying bike rides after school, cooking with one another and holidaying to Oaxaca, Mexico – and recalled visiting her grandmothers with her mother.
Meghan wrote: ‘She was keeping me safe. She was teaching me to take care of my body. She was introducing me to history, and fostering a love of being outdoors.
‘She was planting the seed for me to become a foodie. She was showing me how to be a daughter, not just in that moment, but for when I became that grown woman. For right now. And thirty years from now. She was loving me. So tightly.
‘To all of the wonderful mamas in this world, thank you. For all the lessons, for all the love. For you. I love you, Mommy,’ concluded Meghan.
Social worker Doria lives in LA and has maintained a close relationship with Harry and Meghan and her grandchildren.
Intimate family photographs in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix docuseries showed the grandmother celebrating key milestones, including Archie’s first birthday.
Former makeup artist Doria and Thomas met on the set of General Hospital and married in 1979 – before separating when Meghan was six years old.
DORIA’S SKINCARE TIPS
In another blog post shared online, but first penned in October 2016, Meghan (pictured with Doria in 2018) discussed her skin care treatments in a page titled ‘favourite facialists around the world’
In another blog post shared online, but first penned in October 2016, Meghan discussed her skin care treatments in a page titled ‘favourite facialists around the world’.
She revealed that her love for facials started after her mother introduced her to the idea when she was 13 years old.
‘It seemed so silly at the time, trekking in my school uniform to see a woman named Anika who slathered my skin with Yon-Ka products and chatted away about the importance of eye cream,’ recalled the Duchess.
‘My mom would give Anika a check (and usually some fruit she picked up for her at the farmers market, because she’s thoughtful that way) and we would drive home with my mom, ever the little bird in my ear, saying, “You must always take care of your skin,”‘ added Meghan.
The Duchess of Sussex’s other skincare tips included drinking plenty of water and applying sun cream.
HER FATHER TOLD HER TO ‘DRAW HER OWN BOX’
Meghan – in her Father’s Day post – shared how her father encouraged her to ‘make her own box’.
She recalled the moment she was asked to check just one of four options (White, Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander) for her ethnicity in her 7th grade English class.
‘I remember going home that night and telling my dad what happened, recounting how my teacher said to just “choose one” – that despite my being biracial, that I should simply choose one box and be done with it,’ she wrote.
‘And in one of those parenting moments that no guidebook could ever prep you for, my dad said words that will stay with me forever: “Draw your own box.”’
She went on to explain that her father had also previously mixed two Barbie boxed sets to make his own custom one at the time, which included ‘a black Barbie mom, a white Ken doll dad, and two kids – one black and one white… because you could only buy a white Barbie or a black one.’
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