Meghan Markle: Family and Background - November 2017-May 2018

[French Toast]

Meghan talking about fashion, food and The Tig.

 

[Rudolph]

A backup plan in case marriage doesn’t work out :


”Meghan Markle was reportedly lined up to play Daniel Craig's next Bond girl.

The former Suits actress is said to have caught the eye of James Bond movie bosses while playing Rachel Zane in US legal drama Suits.

However, the 36-year-old star's blossoming romance with Prince Harry is believed to have hindered her eligibility, with producers reportedly believing the relationship made her 'unattainable'.

“The role more recently has gone to actresses deemed to be rising stars, and Meghan certainly was seen as that before her relationship with Harry became public, afilm source said.”

Read more : Meghan Markle was 'lined up to play Daniel Craig Bond girl but blossoming Prince Harry romance ruled her ou...

 

[Countessmeout]

Too bad Meghan didn't get the Bond offer before Harry. Would have given her and the queen something extra to speak of. ?

 

[Mirabel]

As for Meghan as the next Bond girl, well, the producers can say anything now!
Who's going to contradict that, and it gives them some free publicity.

 

[csw]

As for Meghan as the next Bond girl, well, the producers can say anything now!
Who's going to contradict that, and it gives them some free publicity.

The article never said they actually spoke to her or her agent about it - just that the producers realized she wouldn't be available.

 

[ACO]

The article never said they actually spoke to her or her agent about it - just that the producers realized she wouldn't be available.

I doubt she was in the running. Or maybe they wanted to talk to her thinking their relationship wasn't going to last and they could ride off her "royal ex" status for a while but then they up and got engaged. Either way it is some easy publicity.

 

[Rudolph]

“EXCLUSIVE: Meghan Markle's father is 'extremely hurt' by Prince Harry's claim the royals are 'the family she never had,' reveals her brother who says: 'We were as close as could be'”

Read more:/Meghan Markle's dad 'extremely hurt' by Harry's comments

 

[jacqui24]

“EXCLUSIVE: Meghan Markle's father is 'extremely hurt' by Prince Harry's claim the royals are 'the family she never had,' reveals her brother who says: 'We were as close as could be'”

Read more:/Meghan Markle's dad 'extremely hurt' by Harry's comments

It should be pointed out that Tom Jr is estranged from his father. So I'm not sure who told him his father is extremely hurt.

Honestly, the two people that come out and spoken are the ones that's estranged from...like everybody. Whereas no one else in the family that talks to each other is saying anything. I find that quite amusing.

 

[Missjersey]

“Will be” is what the brother said. This is just him opening another can of worms.

 

[Dman]

I think Harry’s words were misinterpreted and the media ran with it.

 

[tommy100]

TBF I don't see how they were misinterpreted? He might not have meant what he said but when you read what he said it is clear how it sounded. He may have misspoken but I don't think, on this rare occasion, the media are wrong in how they are seeing and reporting what he said.

Here is the quote from the BBC website:

Asked if there were family traditions to explain to his future wife, the prince said: "Plenty. We've got one of the biggest families that I know of and every family is complex as well."

"She's done an absolutely amazing job. She's getting in there and it's the family, I suppose, she's never had."

He could have meant its a different family from what she is use to, a bigger family from what she is use to or even a closer family. But that isn't what he said.

 

[Missjersey]

He did say it. I think he was speaking off the cuff and won’t make that mistake again. I’m sure he’ll also apologize privately. I don’t think we’ll hear from Meghan’s parents but the media is a different can of fish.

 

[jacqui24]

“Will be” is what the brother said. This is just him opening another can of worms.

And how he know that? He has been estranged from his father for years. Will be or is, meh, his father wouldn't tell him either way.

 

[Mirabel]

I see nothing wrong with what Harry said.
Meghan was estranged from her father at one point.
Her siblings were so much older, and she saw little of them after her parents divorced.
So I don't see how anyone could consider them a very close family.
Basically it has been Meghan and her mother.

 

[Madame Verseau]

The half brother wants his 15 minutes now. No direct quote from the father, but the press will hunt him down for comment. Jr. and Sammy have proven Harry's point to a degree; these two know they won't be invited to the wedding and they are lashing out and collecting any payouts from the tabloids. No word from Doria and her side of the family; but anyone who sold Meghan out should expect to watch the wedding on TV from their living room couch.

 

[Rudolph]

Meghan wasn’t an orphan. For Harry to say the Windsor’s are Meghan’s first family is not right. We know she’s close to her mother.

 

[loonytick]

TBF I don't see how they were misinterpreted? He might not have meant what he said but when you read what he said it is clear how it sounded. He may have misspoken but I don't think, on this rare occasion, the media are wrong in how they are seeing and reporting what he said.

Here is the quote from the BBC website:

Asked if there were family traditions to explain to his future wife, the prince said: "Plenty. We've got one of the biggest families that I know of and every family is complex as well."

"She's done an absolutely amazing job. She's getting in there and it's the family, I suppose, she's never had."

He could have meant its a different family from what she is use to, a bigger family from what she is use to or even a closer family. But that isn't what he said.

In the context (looking at the entire answer to that question and not just a single sentence prior), I do think he was trying to make the point that the family was big and bustling and loaded with tradition in a way she hadn't experienced before, but when it came down to summarizing in that final statement he essentially left out a word to modify what sort of family experience he was talking about.

Keep in mind, the reporter had initially asked him how Meghan's first Christmas with the family went and he answered with a rather skilled (to the point that I assume it was prepared) response that turned away from their personal experience to talk about how important and enjoyable Christmas is for many families. The reporter asked again (as is a reporter's job when they don't really get an answer) and his second go was clearly more off-the-cuff, the sort of thing where you're only able to think a word or concept ahead of what's coming out of your mouth. And it seems as though he left a word out.

But the way that KP has since responded makes me suspect that Meghan told him afterward that she's A-OK with the wording that came out in the moment.

 

[jacqui24]

But the way that KP has since responded makes me suspect that Meghan told him afterward that she's A-OK with the wording that came out in the moment.

I agree. I didn't want to say it yesterday in the other thread. But I do think Meghan is ticked off at her half siblings. I don't see her ever acknowledging their antics publicly, but I see the doubling down by KP on his comments as something that would've only came out if Meghan was ok with it.

Meghan wasn’t an orphan. For Harry to say the Windsor’s are Meghan’s first family is not right. We know she’s close to her mother.

He didn't say they are the first family she's had. Close to her parents isn't the same as having a bustling large family like this.

And honestly, I took Harry's comments to mean that she just fit right in and they all feel like she's family and she them. We all know sometimes in-laws can take awhile to feel like family, even if the paper says you are.

 

[Skippy]

I think it was just an expression of Harry's protective nature. He wants to make sure Meghan feels at home with an extended, close-knit family.

But of course the guy can only state facts that the public can verify and woo betide him if he says something "wrong"...

Storm in a teacup.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

I'd be appalled if my future husband spoke in public in detail about my family, its not his business to do so in the first place. Even worse in Harry's case, whose family is not exactly role model in many regards.

 

[Countessmeout]

Meghan had TWO loving parents, still does. Tom seems to continually be forgotten or shoved aside by everyone. Like many teens, she had some estranged issues with her dad in her teens, but she has said they are close.

But as stated, being an only child is quite different then a large extended family. There seemed to be Christmases when she was with her other siblings, from photos, but she was closer in age to her niece and nephews then to her siblings.

It doesn't seem to have been meant to be an insult to anyone. Just simply that a huge extended family Christmas was a new experience for Meghan. If Meghan thought Either of her parents were insulted, she likely would have wished for some type of clarification.

 

[ladongas]

Teacup? Thimble!

 

[AdmirerUS]

Asked if there were family traditions to explain to his future wife, the prince said: "Plenty. We've got one of the biggest families that I know of and every family is complex as well." ... "She's done an absolutely amazing job. She's getting in there and it's the family, I suppose, she's never had."[/I]

Well, this is a FAMILY NONE OF US HAVE EVER HAD. Literally. Even if you believe the general advise that we all come from dysfunctional families, this is the only one extant where the matriarch has been head of State for most of the nation's populace lifetime. Who have all lived a lifetime of public and changing scrutiny that is difficult to imagine. That have job descriptions and expectations unlike anything I've ever experienced in the corporate world. Whose marriages have been precluded, occluded, encouraged, discouraged based on political winds more than on affection or love (whatever that is).

This all drifts off topic, but Harry saying his family is "different" from the one she had is a bit like me saying my family is tall. It's only offensive if someone chooses to take it that way, IMO.

 

[soapstar]

I’ve deleted and edited a number of posts that discussed the Paradise papers, Trump, Brexit, Kate’s family, the UK elections and how the younger vs the older generation feels abut the monarchy. Let’s stick to the topic which is Meghan’s family and background.

On another note, I’ve had to delete some comments regarding Samantha Grant. I understand that she is a controversial person, but some of the comments in this thread have crossed a line. Calling her loony, crazy, nuts, mentally ill, vile and referring to her as Meghan’s “supposed family” is not acceptable (neither is referring to Kate’s uncle as "Uncle Bang Bang"). We expect our members to be respectful of the people they are discussing. Criticism is fine, but personal insults and attacks are not. This is a public forum and anyone can see your words, so please be mindful of the things you say.

Thanks.

 

[ACO]

Not bothering to link it but now her estranged brother is harping about how hurt he is. The brother who says in the same article he hasn't talked to her since 2011. Okay. It makes more and more sense why Meghan wants nothing to do with the Markle side of her family,

 

[Countessmeout]

Not bothering to link it but now her estranged brother is harping about how hurt he is. The brother who says in the same article he hasn't talked to her since 2011. Okay. It makes more and more sense why Meghan wants nothing to do with the Markle side of her family,

Its already been linked and discussed.

Meghan does have something to do with the Markle side. Her father. She is close to her niece, Samantha's daughter. There also seems to be at least one nephew, her niece's brother, who has not spoken out.

 

[ACO]

Meghan is actually close to her parents. I am sure she has talked to them since all this happened. I doubt nor her parents are paying these siblings any mind. I doubt any of them care about their obvious attention seeking antics.

 

[Rudolph]

“Prince Harry dropped a clanger at the end of his guest editorship of Radio 4’s Today programme this week.

“When asked by the BBC how Meghan Markle had coped with her first Christmas at Sandringham, Harry reported that it had been ‘fantastic’. His fiancee, he said, had ‘really enjoyed it’.

“Yes, they had an ‘amazing time’; yes, there was a complicated knot of Windsorian traditions to be explained to an incomer, but it had all ‘been fun’.

And then came the howler.

‘She’s done an absolutely amazing job. She’s getting in there,’ he enthused. ‘It’s the family, I suppose, that she never had.’

Uh-oh. Sound the in-law warning klaxon. Run the Jolly Roger up the flagpole of family friction. Set the dials for stormy waters. The family she never had? The family she never had? What is she, an orphan?”

Read more: Jan Moir: Prince Harry has broken rule number one

 

[Osipi]

Meghan's Christmas this year was unlike any she probably ever had before. First there was the extended family lunch. Then the celebrations at Sandringham with the inner circle of the family. Totally unique experience of uncles and aunts and cousins by the dozens among great aunts and uncles and cousins twice removed and so forth and so on. No matter what the relationship, if you are in any way related to a monarch of 91 years old and her husband at 96 years old, you were part of the family. Count all these people up and its a huge bunch. This is Meghan's new family. This is the family that will gather en masse for the wedding.

Meghan's family that she's had since birth is a horse of a different color. As the parents divorced when Meghan was still very small, there wasn't that sense of family unity we see with the Windsor clan. A lot of people on the outs with each other and not talking or being of such an age difference that the closeness of growing up with siblings just wasn't there. Of course Meghan was extremely close with both her mother and her father but in the true sense of the word, the family sense of togetherness was missing. I'm willing to bet my last turkey sandwich that there has never been a huge gathering for the holidays with *all* her familial relations in one place.

To me, the complaints made by half siblings to the media prove the point. If they had been the family that they claim that Meghan always have had, they would be the ones supporting Meghan and not trying to make Harry the scapegoat by denigrating his statement. Not only were some of her half siblings estranged from each other, they're doing a bang up job of making themselves look pretty bad by bleating to the press.

So, we can expect the Windsor family with aunts and uncles and cousins by the dozens at the wedding. What we won't see is a united Markle family there to celebrate the union. That, I think, is the proof in the pudding.

 

[MARG]

Coming from a large extended family who got together every Christmas, I can see what Harry was saying. I grew up with uncles, aunts and cousins sitting around the Christmas table and it was a wonderful thing.

The point was that it was the one time everyone stopped to smell the roses so to speak. We all caught up on the annual news, hugs, cuddles, celebrations of achievement in school, university, work. It all comes together because it's the one time of year we were all in the same place at the same time.

One thing never changed though and I would bet my last dollar it is the same for a lot of families, certainly the royal family, we all went out of our way to make it special for the kids. I've lost count of the number of windows broken with backyard Cricket games over the years.

If you are lucky enough to have something like. it's a very different sort of special as an adult, especially being the favourite aunt or uncle that spoiled the kids rotten, and I am not talking about presents.

I suspect that was the sort of "family Meghan never had" that Harry was talking about. Big, rowdy, related and loving, and every year there were more and more people as the annual 'Christmas' was hosted on a rotating basis as we didn't have anywhere as big as Sandringham!