Meghan Markle has a very nice niece, she’s the daughter of her half sister, Samantha Markle. Her name is Ashleigh and in part 3 of the Harry and Meghan doc that hit Netflix this morning we meet her. In fact, Meghan and Ashleigh have long had a strong friendship despite Samantha and father Tom’s antipathy to the royal couple.
This is just a little of what we learn in episode 3, where the real meat of the first chunk of episodes is revealed. The first three episodes address how the royal couple met, the lengths they went to keep their relationship from the press for a while, and how they dealt with Meghan’s sudden deluge of press while she was shooting “Suits” in Toronto.
We also meet Meghan’s mother, Doria, who I have to say comes across as a very sweet, self effacing woman who was smart enough to leave Thomas Markle when Meghan was two years old. Meghan says in the show that she never had a relationship with Samantha, who is considerably older. When Samantha’s daughter, Ashleigh, who was given up her adoption, entered the picture, the two younger women hit it off.
But the Markles got so out of control as the royal wedding approached that Ashleigh was told by the Palace she couldn’t attend the event. It seems as though this may have caused a rift, but Ashleigh is interviewed and perhaps we’ll learn in future episodes that the friendship has been mended.
In the meantime. Harry and Meghan is a little more than a puff piece. A lot of friends of the couple are interviewed, and there are receipts — copies of texts to back up Meghan’s stories of how the father and sister sold her out.
What hasn’t come up yet is any mention of Meghan’s first marriage, and also allegations of racism within the palace walls. So stay tuned. But the doc is well made. They are an articulate couple, they know their minds and they’re certainly not disrespectful of the royal family — yet. It’s clear that Harry saw his place in the hierarchy as not vital, he wanted a life for himself just as his mother did, and has made that happen. Maybe I’ve been duped, but I kind of liked them.
To be continued…
