Meghan Markle’s older brother delivers a blunt message to Prince Harry today: Get on and propose to my sister because she is a ‘hot commodity’.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV, Thomas Markle Jr, 51, told of his pride in his younger sister and said the 36-year-old actress has always been destined for big things.
Markle Jr, of Grants Pass, Oregon, said: ‘I hope Prince Harry proposes. She’s a hot commodity right now – he better get on it.
‘I do have a sense of pride in Meghan being successful. It was just obvious from day one that she was destined to be somewhere really big.
‘She’s always been a princess. She’s carried herself on that level from day one.’
Meet the family: Thomas Markle Jr and his fiancée Darlene Blount are inviting Prince Harry to their own wedding – and Meghan Markle’s brother is telling Harry he need to propose soon
Get on with it: Thomas Markle Jr is telling DailyMailTV that his younger sister is a ‘hot commodity’ and that her royal boyfriend needs to hurry up with a proposal. The couple have been to private events together, including the wedding of friends in Jamaica
Close since childhood: Thomas Markle Jr was a teenager when his sister Meghan arrived. She brought a lot of joy in our family, being in that she brought us closer together,’ he says.
Part of the clan: Meghan Markle (left) was still a child herself when her father Thomas Markle (center) became a grandfather thanks to his son Thomas Jr’s marriage to Tracey Dooley (right). Their sons Thomas Dooley (second from left) and Tyler (second from right) are now adults
Always a princess: ‘She’s carried herself on that level from day one,’ Thomas Markle Jr tells DailyMailTV as he urges Prince Harry to propose to the actress
The call comes ahead of the first ever public appearance by the couple, who will be at Prince Harry’s Invictus Games in Toronto later this month.
The prince, who left the army after serving as an Apache pilot in Afghanistan, has made the games for wounded and injured service personnel his personal project and they are being held in Toronto which Markle has made her home town while filming Suits. She is expected to be at his side during his week in the Canadian city.
Markle confirmed the romance this month in a Vanity Fair interview this month saying: ‘We’re a couple. We’re in love.
‘I’m sure there will be a time when we will have to come forward and present ourselves and have stories to tell, but I hope what people will understand is that this is our time.’
The actress has been welcomed by Harry’s immediate family, including his brother Prince Williams and sister-in-law the Duchess of Cambridge. There have even been unconfirmed reports she may have met the Queen.
Now the welcome is being extended to him from Meghan Markle’s own family – which her brother compared to ‘the Dukes of Hazzard and the Simpsons’.
Markle Jr is the only son of Meghan’s father, Emmy-award winning television lighting director Thomas Markle Sr, 73, and his first wife Roslyn, 72.
The couple, who were both living in Chicago, Illinois, when they met and married, also had a daughter, Yvonne, but split when their son was 10 in 1976.
Yvonne, who has since changed her name to Samantha, now lives in Silver Springs, Florida, with her boyfriend Mark Phillips, 59, and is estranged from the rest of the family.
After the divorce, Roslyn moved with her two children to Albuquerque, New Mexico, while Thomas Sr relocated to Los Angeles, California, to pursue a career in TV and film.
Roslyn also had another child, with son Bobby Lucero now 35.
And it was in Los Angeles, while working on the set of medical drama General Hospital, that he met make-up artist turned yoga teacher Doria Ragland, now 61, who would go on to become his second wife.
In August 1981, the pair welcomed their only child – Rachel Meghan Markle, now a potential member of the royal family thanks to her 18-month romance with Prince Harry, 33. She does not use her first name.
Along with Samantha and Markle Jr, Meghan’s extended family includes retired teacher Ava Burrows; Doria’s 64-year-old stepmother, who now lives in Indio, California, and her son Joffrey Ragland, 34 – the actress’ half-uncle.
And on the Markle side of the family there was grandmother Doris, who died in 2011 aged 91, and the Suits star’s uncle Frederick, 75, of Sanford, Florida, who goes by the name of Bishop Dismas and runs a small tumbledown church.
Other members of the clan include Samantha’s youngest daughter, Noel Rasmussen, 18 – from whom she is also estranged – and Markle Jr’s two sons: Tyler and Thomas Dooley.
Describing the large family, Markle Jr said: ‘I would describe my extended family as a cross between Married With Children and Dexter probably.
‘Let’s see, probably the Dukes of Hazzard and the Simpsons vs. the royal family.’
Markle Jr. remains close to his parents and has nothing but good things to say about Meghan, but he and Samantha have long been estranged – with the family split over her plans to write a tell-all book called The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister.
According to Samantha, the book will include her memories of the Suits actress and will ‘deal with my bi-racial family in a candid, warm, personal and socially important way’.
But Markle Jr and slammed Grant, 52, for badmouthing Meghan and the rest of the clan.
Mommy memories: Meghan Markle remains close to her mother, Doria Ragland, 61, who still lives in Los Angeles, and has spoken of her pride in her parents’ friendship and closeness despite their split when she wasa child
Daddy dearest: Thomas Markle was already a father of two older children when he and Doria Ragland welcomed Rachel Meghan – she does not use her first name
Lasting love: Meghan Markle and her mother Doria Ragland, 61. The possible future wife of Prince Harry has spoken of her close relationship with Ragland, who brought her up as a single mom in Los Angeles
Not all plain sailing: Thomas Markle Jr was arrested at home in January and charged with drunkenly holding a gun to Darlene Blount’s head. The charges were dropped and the couple are now engaged
He said: ‘She’s going to find a way to bring the spotlight into her lap whether she has to talk bad about the entire family or Meghan or whoever.
‘She’s been this way — very negative against the whole entire family — since everybody can remember.’
He tells DailyMailTV the tome is just another attempt to steal the spotlight and disparage the 36-year-old.
He said: ‘She’s battered this whole Meghan thing since day one and she’s obviously doing this for her little flash in the pan fame and fortune.
‘Telling the whole world about her pushy princess sister, which is just horrible [and] not even true.’
Should the 36-year-old become a real princess, her in-laws would include the Queen, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Had she survived the Paris car crash that killed her at the age of 36 in August 1997, the actress’ mother-in-law would have been Princess Diana; like Meghan, one of the most photographed women in the world at the time of her death.
More colorful members of the extended Royal family include the Duchess of Cambridge’s uncle, Gary Goldsmith; a louche businessman who was once caught on camera snorting cocaine and boasting of his connections at his villa, the ‘Maison de Bang Bang’ on Spanish party island Ibiza, in 2009.
Following Pippa Middleton’s marriage in May to stockbroker James Matthews, the extended family now also includes reality television playboy Spencer Matthews, 28, who stars in Made In Chelsea and once claimed to have bedded more than 1,000 women.
Meghan’s own family has no shortage of quirky characters, not least Markle Jr himself, who in January, was arrested and charged with drunkenly holding a gun to the head of girlfriend Darlene Blount, 37.
A mugshot taken shortly after the arrest shows the 51-year-old looking red-faced and rumpled and he later told DailyMail.com that it is the worst picture of him ever taken.
But, Markle Jr, who had the charges against him thrown out in February, is now engaged to soft-spoken Blount, having proposed to her on her birthday.
Also a sister: Samantha Grant, 52, is estranged from both Meghan and Thomas Jr. She is planning to write a book critical of the actress but the rest of her family are upset at the plan
Meet the Markles: Meghan’s uncle is Frederick Markle, 75, who styles himself Bishop Dismas and runs a tumbledown church in Sanford, Florida. Her father’s first wife is Rosyln Markle, 72, who is Thomas’ mother, who lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Also in the clan: Noel Rasmussen is Meghan’s niece. The 18-year-old is estranged from her mother Samantha Grant, Meghan’s sister. Thomas Markle’s mom Roslyn went on to have another son Bobby Lucero, now 35.
Discussing the arrest, he told DailyMailTV: ‘I did get into some trouble and it was a domestic altercation and the case was dropped before it even went to court.
‘Darlene and I have always, you know, loved each other.’ He added: ‘Darlene and I, we’re actually made for each other, so on her birthday we got engaged.’
Markle Jr, who previously offered to throw a bachelor party for Prince Harry in Las Vegas should he get engaged to Meghan, has now extended an invitation to the royal to attend his own celebration.
‘I hope Prince Harry comes to my wedding,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘And I do want Harry to come to my bachelor party. I offered to throw him a really good one but I haven’t heard back yet.’
Should stunning brunette Meghan get engaged to her red-haired boyfriend, Markle Jr is hoping for an invite to London for the royal nuptials.
But even if the invitation doesn’t come, the 51-year-old says he will always be proud of the younger half-sister he adores.
‘It was nice having Meghan around [as a child],’ he said. ‘She brought a lot of joy in our family, being in that she brought us closer together.
He added: ‘I do have a sense of pride in Meghan being successful. It was just obvious from day one that she was destined to be somewhere really big.’
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