Meghan Markle's mother could make her TV debut in Netflix documentary
Meghan Markle’s mother Doria Ragland could make her television debut in the couple’s bombshell Netflix documentary.
Family and friends of and are set to appear on camera and be interviewed as part of their new Netflix show, it is being reported.
The programme, titled ‘Harry & Meghan’, is expected to land on the streaming giant next month.
It is expected that the six-episode series will include interviews with people close to the couple, as well as historians and cultural commentators, the reports.
Doria Ragland (pictured with Meghan in 2018) is incredibly close with her daughter and plays a big part in her LA life
The 66-year-old is known to be particularly close to her daughter and son-in-law, and plays a big part in the lives of her grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet.
Ms Ragland, who rarely speaks in public, could make her TV debut in the programme, which is set to give the Sussexes the chance to explain why they felt they had to leave the UK.
Doria was the only family member of Meghan’s to attend the royal wedding in 2018 and was pictured chatting to King Charles at St George’s Chapel ahead of the ceremony.
Unlike Meghan’s father Thomas Markle, Doria rarely speaks about her daughter in public, but Sussex fans are likely to see a little more of her as the Netflix series focuses on their life in LA, in which she plays a big part.
Recently, Doria appeared on a Zoom call with Meghan and little Archie as the Duchess spoke to an academic, who shared a screengrab of the call on Twitter.
And on her podcast Archetypes, Meghan recently revealed her mother still uses her childhood nickname – even though she is now a mother-of-two herself.
A clip from Harry and Meghan’s documentary show the couple intimately lounging at their British home of Frogmore Cottage
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle shared a number of highly personal images in the first trailer for their new Netflix documentary. In one clip from the documentary, Meghan is seen with her head in her hands apparently weeping
In another photo, Meghan is seen sitting next to Harry on a sofa, with the duchess holding both hands up to her face while her glum-looking husband has his head tilted backwards
‘My mum still calls me Flower,’ Meghan admitted in a conversation with transgender actress Michaela J Rodriguez.
She added: ‘I’ll be a 41 year old Flower, that’s fine.’
The nickname could well be linked to 66-year-old social worker Doria’s new tattoo, which she debuted in September this year while walking around Los Angeles.
While she walked her two dogs near her home, fans spotted a flower tattoo on Doria’s arm.
In an interview with Glamour magazine before she met Prince Harry, she described her mother as ‘a free spirit’, saying: ‘My mum’s a yoga instructor, but she does social work as well and she works specifically with the geriatric community.
‘She’s got dreadlocks and a nose ring. She just ran the LA Marathon. We can just have so much fun together, and yet I’ll still find so much solace in her support. That duality co-exists the same way it would in a best friend.’
A black and white version of a famous photo of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle taken in March 2020, shortly before they quit royal duties
Another series of images show the-then actress Meghan enjoying a natural pool with her two dogs, Labrador-Shepherd cross Bogart and Guy. The image appears to have been taken while the couple were dating. She left Bogart behind in Canada when she moved to London in 2017. The former actress, who lived in Canada while filming Suits, made the heartbreaking decision to leave Bogart after moving to the UK to start her new life, because the pet was too old to fly overseas
In one photograph, Prince Harry can be seen with his hand around Meghan’s dog Guy, while a guitar is resting alongside them. It is believed the photograph was taken during the period in which Harry and Meghan first started dating, while she was continuing to film Suits. The image is likely to have been taken in Canada, where she was living while filming the show
This photo shows a solemn looking Meghan while she was back in Britain earlier this year for the Queen’s state funeral
The Sussexes’ one-minute-12-second Netflix trailer dropped last week just as Buckingham Palace was rushing to contain the fallout of a race row involving Lady Susan Hussey.
The Royal Family is said to be unconcerned with the contents of the programme, with sources telling the Telegraph they hope Buckingham Palace will not have to ‘engage’ with any claims made.
Sources at the palace said that while ‘everyone would prefer it didn’t exist’, there is little the couple can say that hasn’t already been aired in public.
The trailer for ‘Harry & Meghan’ opens with a producer asking ‘why do you want to make this documentary?’ before several dozen photos flash up of Harry and Meghan sharing time together, along with one image of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
Harry is heard saying, ‘no one sees what goes on behind closed doors’, before viewers see a photo of a distressed Meghan talking on the phone.
‘I had to do everything I could to protect my family’, the duke adds later.
The promotional poster for the documentary Harry & Meghan features an image of the couple on their Australia tour
Prince Harry, who attended the event at the South Kensington venue in his role as Captain General of the Royal Marines, wore a mess dress uniform complete with medals awarded from two tours of Afghanistan. It was also the final time that the Duke was able to go on an engagement in his official Royal Marines capacity, having inherited the rank of Captain General from Prince Philip in 2017. Meanwhile Meghan wore a red full-length £1,295 Safiyaa dress to the event. Here, she can be seen having removed the cape part of the outfit
The trailer finally cuts to his wife, who says: ‘When the stakes are this high, doesn’t it make sense to hear our story from us?’
The Sussexes have been paid a rumoured $100million (£88million) for the fly-on-the-wall series, which has left the braced for more damaging accusations from the couple.
Netflix said today in a statement: ‘At its core, their relationship looks like many others: they met, had a whirlwind romance, fell in love, got married, had children, and built a life based on shared meu values and mutual support of each other’s work and ambitions.
‘But the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are no ordinary couple. Theirs is one of the most high-profile love stories in history, and even the most plugged-in fans and followers of their story have never heard it told like this before.
‘Harry & Meghan is an unprecedented six-part documentary series that explores the span of their relationship, from the early days of the couple’s courtship to the challenges and controversies that prompted them to step back from the royal family.
‘The series includes interviews with family and friends who’ve never spoken publicly about the couple’s relationship before, as well as historians and journalists who dissect how media influenced Harry and Meghan’s relationship with the royal family and the Commonwealth at large.’
