Meghan Markle’s mother was seen for the first time since her future son-in-law’s controversial comment about her family on Thursday as she strolled around Los Angeles.
Doria Ragland kept a low profile as she walked her dogs in a pair of leggings and a white long-sleeved shirt,keeping her face hidden behind a pair of sunglasses.
It was no doubt a difficult holiday for Doria, who was away from her daughter while she rubbed elbows with Queen Elizabeth and company at Sandringham.
That was a big change from last year, when Meghan returned to Toronto after spending the days before Christmas with Prince Harry and was with Doria on the holiday.
Meghan’s attendance at the annual royal gathering marked the first time a person who had not yet married into the family was invited to join divinely-righted group, and she made a smashing impression according to Prince Harry.
He revealed that in an interview with Radio 4 before going on to state: ”She’s getting in there and it’s the family I suppose that she’s never had.’
That drew a quick response from Meghan’s half-sister Samantha, who tweeted: ‘Actually she has a large family who were always there with her and for her. Our household was very normal and when dad and Doria divorced, we all made it so it was like she had two houses. No one was estranged ,she was just too busy.’
She then used the moment to also plug her upcoming project by adding: ‘Read my book complete with facts and photos.’
Samantha later promised more ‘fun details’ on that matter in the book, along with some never-before-seen photos of Meghan.
It is unclear if Samantha has a publisher at this point, but that does not seem to matter to Samantha, who took advantage of her sister’s high-profile trip to Sandringham with Queen Elizabeth and the royal family on Christmas day by tweeting: ‘Excited for my book coming out and wait until you see what our home life was like!’
The current title of the book is The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister.
‘The title is a mockery of the media,’ Samantha told the Daily Mail in November.
‘It wasn’t me who called Meg “pushy”, it was the tabloid newspapers. She is not pushy. The book isn’t going to be negative — it’s a warm, witty, honouring book — unfortunately, the negative sing-song has gone round the world.’
Samantha has been both fawning and brutal with her comments about Meghan, depicting the Suits actress as opportunistic and calculating in interviews earlier this year before doing a complete about face over the past few months.
Meghan meanwhile has said nothing in the press about his older sister.
Doria met Meghan’s father Thomas Markle on the set of the General Hospital when she was temping on the soap opera and he was working in the lighting department.
They divorced when Meghan was six and both parents spent a considerable amount of time with their daughter,
Samantha and her brother Thomas Jr are the children of Thomas and his first wife Roslyn.