Since becoming an official member of the royal family this May, Meghan Markle hasn’t stepped one Aquazzura-clad foot out of line.
Sure, a lot has been made of her so-called faux pas—her hesitation when climbing into a waiting sedan with Queen Elizabeth II, that time she briefly crossed her legs instead of her ankles and her ever-so-slight stumble when attending the wedding of Prince Harry‘s cousin.
But by all accounts, the American-born former actress has gracefully slid into life in The Firm, studying up on local charities she’d like to work with, adopting a wardrobe of knee-length hems and fascinators and even perfecting an ever-so-slight British accent. She is, as husband Harry once predicted, “unbelievably good at the job part of it.”
Her family, however, save for her exceptionally poised mother Doria Ragland, is leaving much to be desired. Once it became clear to Meghan that her romance with Harry would lead to a diamond, a title and life in Kensington Palace, her chief fear wasn’t about giving up her Hollywood dream for a life of largesse. Nor was she particularly concerned with the intense scrutiny that would follow or abiding by a lengthy list of rules. Rather, she was most worried about “relatives who’ve screwed her over,” a source told Us Weekly. “It’s the one thing she’s struggled with most since meeting Harry, especially after the engagement.”
After all, she had a half-sister—Florida-based Samantha Grant—who seemed intent on trashing her to the press, despite not having seen her in a decade. And Thomas Markle, Jr. spent the lead-up to the wedding alternating between penning open letters to Harry, urging him not to wed his younger half-sibling, and begging for an invite to the Windsor Castle affair.
Ultimately, though, it’s been her father’s actions that have proven most destructive. It’s not that Meghan is to blame for Thomas Markle‘s increasingly hostile interviews, the latest of which came Sunday. One could argue having troublesome relatives only makes the non-blue-blooded American princess more relatable. But having to worry about when the former lighting director will launch into a diatribe next is just one more thing for the duchess to stress over as she embarks on her new, very taxing, very public role.
Mostly, Imagining Diana author Diane Clehane wrote in an article for Best Life, Meghan remains flummoxed about why her father—the same man so determined to help her feel at ease as a girl that he created a custom doll set featuring “a black mom doll, a white dad doll, and a child in each color,” she recalled in an essay for Elle UK—is making this transition so difficult. “Meghan does not understand why her father is doing all this,” an unnamed friend told Clehane. “She is trying so hard to fit in and adapt to this very new way of life and she was once again blindsided by a father who supposedly cares about her and doesn’t want to embarrass her.”
The first time was unpleasant, but ultimately forgivable. When Thomas copped to staging shots with paparazzi in an effort to clean up his image ahead of the wedding, Meghan was understandably disappointed or “hysterical” as one insider described her to Us Weekly, but she in no way rescinded her invite to have him walk her down the aisle at St. George’s Chapel. As he stated his case to both Meghan and Harry and apologized for going rogue, “They were very forgiving,” he would later reveal, and stressed again that they were prepared and excited for him to visit them at Kensington Palace and participate in their vows.
Even after he continued to ring up TMZ, giving them quotes about each new twist and turn in the will-he-or-won’t-he-attend saga, including the heart surgery that ultimately prevented him from making the trip across the Atlantic from his home in Rosarito, Mexico, Meghan was determined to let it go. The newly minted duchess phoned her dad up the day after her historic vows and there were rumblings she and Harry would soon be Mexico-bound so the prince could finally…
