TALK OF THE TOWN: Is Doria the REAL power behind Meghan Markle’s throne? Duchess of Sussex – and her husband Prince Harry – ‘always turn to her mother when they need advice’ and she is becoming her ‘ONLY trusted advisor’
She’s fast becoming notorious for ignoring or firing her Royal advisers, and now my sources tell me that there’s one person that Meghan – along with husband Harry – always turns to when they need vital advice: her mother Doria.
In fact, palace insiders suspect that Doria’s fingerprints are all over several major decisions the Duke and Duchess have made in recent months – and that she is well on the way to becoming Meghan’s only trusted adviser.
Based in Los Angeles, but a regular visitor to Windsor, Doria is on the phone at all hours of the day advising Meghan on everything from living arrangements to post-natal recovery and staff issues.
Doria Ragland, pictured with her daughter Meghan Markle, left, outside Cliveden House Hotel on the night before her wedding to Prince Harry. Palace insiders say Doria has become a major adviser to the Duchess
Palace insiders say Doria is a regular visitor to Windsor and is constantly on the phone to Meghan
Some say it was Doria, while staying at Windsor, who fired one of the three nannies Meghan employed during the six weeks after baby Archie was born. Now Royal circles are wondering if she’s behind some of Meghan’s other life decisions and other staff appointments, too.
‘People think Doria is hippy-dippy and chilled out because she’s a yoga instructor,’ says my source.
‘But, like any mother, she’s hard as nails when it comes to protecting her daughter.
‘Meghan’s nickname is Tungsten and she inherited that steely determination from Doria who is, at Meghan’s request, very hands-on in her life.
‘Harry adores Doria and thinks she’s incredibly wise,’ the source added. ‘These days, the Sussexes trust very, very few people even in their own respective families.
‘Doria is one of the last family members either of them can turn to, and consequently she’s extremely influential in their lives.’
According to palace insiders, Prince Harry ‘adores Doria’ and considers her ‘incredibly wise’
Despite having just hired a new private secretary from the Foreign Office and recently recruited press adviser Sara Latham, Meghan and Harry’s world is certainly getting smaller.
Last November, Meghan’s PA Melissa Touabti quit after six months amid reports she’d been reduced to tears, and weeks later the couple’s private secretary Samantha Cohen resigned after 17 years with the Royals.
In January, Meghan’s female bodyguard departed after six months and assistant private secretaries Amy Pickerill and Heather Wong have also left this year.
Of course, we now know that Meghan has sadly cut ties with her father and Harry seems to have largely sidelined his own brother.
With Harry having no mother of his own to turn to, I only hope that Doria is strong enough to take all this on.