All About Meghan Markle’s Parents, Mom Doria Ragland and Dad Thomas Markle

Meghan Markle‘s parents were introduced to a world of royal attention in 2016, when her relationship with Prince Harry became public.

Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland met in California and wed in 1979. They welcomed Meghan in 1981 and eventually divorced in 1987.

Meghan and Thomas have been estranged since her 2018 royal wedding to Prince Harry, following his admission that he staged paparazzi photos with a British tabloid. He did not attend the nuptials.

“I’ve lost my father,” the Duchess of Sussex told Oprah Winfrey in March 2021.

Meanwhile, Ragland is a doting grandmother to her daughter’s two children: Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

“Meghan draws a lot of strength from her mother. Doria is classy, chic and confident, but not unapproachable,” Meghan’s longtime friend and makeup artist Daniel Martin told PEOPLE in May 2018. “I definitely feel Meghan gets a lot of that from her mother.”

Here is everything to know about Meghan Markle’s parents, Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland.

Ragland and Thomas met in California

Ragland was born in Ohio on Sept. 2, 1956, while Thomas grew up in Newport, Pa.

The former couple met in California on the set of General Hospital, where Thomas was a lighting director and Ragland was temping as an assistant makeup artist, per Vanity Fair.

“I like to think he was drawn to her sweet eyes and her Afro, plus their shared love of antiques,” Meghan wrote in a July 2015 essay for Elle.

Ragland and Thomas eventually married in 1979.

They welcomed Meghan in 1981 

Two years after tying the knot, Thomas and Ragland welcomed Meghan on Aug. 4, 1981.

When Meghan was young, Ragland gave her the nickname “Flower.” The Duchess of Sussex revealed the sweet moniker on her now-defunct lifestyle blog The Tig, listing her many nicknames as “Meg, MM, M&M, and Flower (which my mom has called me since I was little).”

Ragland and Thomas divorced in 1987

In 1987, when Meghan was 6 years old, Ragland and Thomas divorced.

The Duchess of Sussex later reflected on their split in the 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, noting that her parents “co-parented well” before sharing a poem she wrote at age 12 about navigating life between two households.

In it, she described being shuttled between “two houses, two homes, two kitchens, two phones … two places that I stay.” She expressed a childhood longing for “a nuclear life, with a happy dad and his loving wife.”

Meghan has two siblings

Before meeting Ragland, Thomas was married to Roslyn Loveless for eight years, according to Vanity Fair. The former couple welcomed two children together: Samantha and Thomas Jr.

“Meghan has no relationship with her half-siblings, nor has she ever had one,” a source close to the former Suits star told PEOPLE in May 2018. “They were out of the house by the time she was born.”

Thomas and his son currently live in the Philippines, and Thomas Jr. informed the Daily Mail in December 2025 that his dad had undergone surgery to amputate his left leg.

“My dad is being very brave,” he told the outlet. “His foot turned blue, then black. It happened very quickly. I took him to a local hospital, and they did some scans and an ultrasound and said the leg had to be amputated.”

Thomas Jr. continued, “There was no option. I was told the leg had to be removed, and it was a case of life or death.”

Meghan reached out to her dad following his emergency operation, a spokesperson for the Duchess of Sussex told PEOPLE.

Ragland faced challenges during Meghan’s early relationship with Prince Harry

In the 2022 Netflix docuseries Harry & Meghan, Ragland opened up about the early days of her daughter’s relationship with the royal.

“We were on the phone, and she says, ‘Mommy, I’m going out with Prince Harry,’ and I start whispering, ‘Oh my God,’ ” she recalled.

“And so it was from the beginning, it was very sort of, ‘Oh my God, nobody can know,’ ” she added.

According to Ragland, Harry was “handsome,” “really nice” and had “great manners” when she first met him. “And they looked really happy together,” she said of Meghan and Harry. “Once it was announced that they were together, it seemed kind of like a novelty.”

After Meghan and Harry’s relationship was made public in 2016, Ragland noted that she felt “stalked by the paparazzi.” She explained, “I felt unsafe a lot. I can’t just go walk my dogs. I can’t just go to work. There was always someone there waiting for me.”

In 2023, Doria joined Meghan and Harry in New York City for the Ms. Foundation 2023 Women of Vision Awards: Celebrating Generations of Progress & Power. Meghan was named one of the year’s Woman of Vision Award honorees, and posed with her mother and husband on the red carpet.

Following the event, Meghan, Doria and Harry were allegedly involved in a “near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi,” a spokesperson for the couple confirmed to PEOPLE.

The trio were making their way back to a friend’s private residence, where they were staying, when half a dozen blacked-out vehicles allegedly pursued their car in an attempt to take photos of the couple and Doria.

Ragland escorted Meghan to her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry

After meeting Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip for the first time at Windsor Castle the day before Meghan’s royal wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018, Ragland spent the evening with her daughter at Cliveden House Hotel.

The following morning, Ragland traveled with Meghan to St. George’s Chapel in a red Rolls-Royce. However, despite speculation that Ragland would walk her daughter down the aisle after it was revealed that Meghan’s father wouldn’t attend the wedding, the bride chose to walk solo before being joined by then-Prince Charles halfway to the altar.

For her role as mother-of-the-bride, Ragland wore a bespoke pale green dress and day coat designed by the creative directors of Oscar de la Renta, Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim. She accessorized with a custom Stephen Jones hat and Aquazzara heels.

Meghan and Thomas are estranged

Meghan and Thomas were once close. But their relationship has fractured, largely because Thomas admitted he staged paparazzi photos and cooperated with tabloid media leading up to her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry, which Meghan viewed as a betrayal of trust.

Thomas ultimately pulled out of attending the wedding, and he later expressed regret over the incident, saying in March 2021, “I wish I hadn’t done the whole thing.”

In Harry & Meghan, Harry said he “shouldered” some of the blame for the fallout between his wife and Thomas.

“She had a father before this, and now she doesn’t have a father,” he said, adding, “If Meg wasn’t with me, then her dad would still be her dad.”

Ragland is a doting grandmother

Ragland became a first-time grandmother in 2019 when Meghan and Prince Harry welcomed their son, Prince Archie. The Duchess of Sussex’s mother was in London for the baby’s birth on May 4, 2019, with a statement from the royal family saying Ragland was “overjoyed by the arrival of her first grandchild.”

She was also present when Meghan and Harry introduced the newborn to the Queen and Prince Philip.

Ragland became a grandmother for a second time with the arrival of Meghan and Harry’s daughter, Princess Lilibet, in June 2021.