Meghan Markle’s Sister: Who Is Samantha Markle?

Learn more about Meghan Markle's relationship with her half-sister, Samantha, following Meghan's explosive tell-all interview with Oprah. 

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March 8, 2021 10:45AM EST
Meghan Markle, Samantha Markle
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Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (R) and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrive at the United Nations for the 2020 UN Nelson Mandela Prize at the United Nations (UN) headquarters in New York, New York, USA, 18 July 2022. Nelson Mandela International Day is observed on 18 July every year. Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle visit United Nations to mark Nelson Mandela Day, New York, USA - 18 Jul 2022
Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Duchess of Sussex, during the athletics section of the fifth edition of the Invictus Games, an international sporting event for servicemen and veterans who have been psychologically or physically injured during their military service 5th edition of the Invictus Games, The Invictus Games Stadium, Zuiderpark, The Hague, The Netherlands - 17 Apr 2022
Image Credit: Shutterstock/Kevin Manning/MEGA

Meghan Markle shared a number of shocking revelations during her intimate conversation with Oprah Winfrey on March 7. No topic was off limits in the interview, which later featured Meghan’s husband, Prince Harry. The Duchess of Sussex even discussed her estranged relationship with members of her family, including her half-sister on her father’s side, Samantha Markle. Learn more about Samantha, Meghan’s relationship with her half-sister, and more.

Who Is Samantha Markle?

A photo of Samantha Markle [Kevin Manning/MEGA].
Samantha Markle, 56, is the daughter of Thomas Markle and Roslyn Loveless, her father’s first wife. She also has a brother named Thomas Markle Jr. Samantha followed in her father’s footsteps and worked in the entertainment industry for a number of years as a writer and actress. Prior to changing her last name to Markle, Samantha went by the last name Grant. As news of Meghan’s relationship with Prince Harry became widely publicized, Samantha appeared on a number of talk shows in Britain and America to talk about her relationship with Meghan. Consequently, Samantha went on to publish a supposed tell-all book, The Diary Of Princess Pushy’s Sister Part 1, which comes out this year, 2021.

Meghan Markle’s Relationship With Samantha

Over the course of her relationship and subsequent marriage to Prince Harry, Meghan’s relationship with members of her father, Thomas Markle’s, family became more strained. Leading up to the royal wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Meghan’s half-sister continued to go on morning talk shows and talk about Meghan. The drama in Meghan’s family became even worse when Meghan’s father suffered a heart attack and made the decision not to fly to the United Kingdom for his daughter’s wedding. Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, was in attendance at the royal wedding.

More recently, Meghan went into detail about her relationship with her sister during her March 7 CBS interview with Oprah. “I think it would be very hard to ‘tell-all’ when you don’t know me,” Meghan said, referencing her half-sister’s book. “This is a very different situation than my dad. When you talk about betrayal, betrayal comes from someone you have a relationships with. I don’t feel comfortable talking about people I really don’t know,” Meghan explained.

“I grew up as an only child, which everyone who grew up around me knows. I wished I had siblings. I would’ve loved to have siblings. I’m so excited to be pregnant so that Archie [Meghan and Prince Harry’s one-year-old son] has someone. The last time I saw [Samantha] must’ve been at least 18, 19 years ago. Before that, 10 years before that,” Meghan shared with Oprah.

Meghan even claimed that her sister, who went by the last name Grant for a number of years, only changed her last name when Meghan and Prince Harry started dating. “She changed her last name back to Markle, I think she was in her early 50s at that time, only when I started dating Harry. So, I think that says enough,” Meghan alleged.

The Rift In Meghan Markle’s Family

Meghan Markle’s relationship with her family is quite strained [Shutterstock].
As of now, it appears that Meghan’s relationship with her father’s side of the family is fairly strained. She is close with her mother, Doria, who also lives in Los Angeles. But Meghan has been quite clear about the pain she has felt from how members of her family, including her father, worked with tabloids.

“For over a year, the UK tabloids were trying to find my dad, offering people so much money to try and find his address,” Meghan alleged. “As soon as they did, there was a huge headline that was like, ‘We Found Him! We Got Him.’” Meghan’s father memorably worked with tabloids to stage photos of himself getting fitted for a tux for her royal wedding and reading books about Britain. Thomas Markle later confirmed that the photos were staged.

As for Meghan’s future, the Duchess of Sussex and her husband are expecting their second child in early summer. Meghan and Harry will welcome a baby girl, they confirmed during the March 7 interview. The two already share Archie, who will turn two years old this May. It’s unclear if Meghan’s family, beyond her mom, has met little Archie.

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