Is Meghan Markle’s ‘bullying’ half-sister Samantha to blame? The Oprah Winfrey interview reminded us of the other family drama Buckingham Palace would rather avoid

Mar 10 , 2021

Half-sisters Samantha and Meghan Markle. Photo: @samanthamarkle/Twitter

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s tell-all Oprah Winfrey interview set tongues – royal and otherwise – wagging, after the Duchess of Sussex took shots at “The Firm” in the already infamous two-hour CBS special.

The couple have previously spoken about the attacks they have received from the British press, but this time they used the interview to dish the dirt on Markle’s alleged treatment from the royal family itself. Much of the controversy was said to be around Meghan’s race and also the drama within her own family.

The major source of Markle family secrets is her half-sister, Samantha. After not getting invited to the royal wedding (nor was she at Meghan’s first wedding to Trevor Engelson in 2011), Samantha went on the rampage, blasting her sister for, well, everything. In January 2021, she even released a memoir, The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister Part 1, continuing to ride on the Meghan fame-train.

Here’s what else you might need to know about Markle’s half-sister, Samantha.

The Markle connection

Samantha and Meghan share the same father, Thomas, but they have different mums. Samantha is 17 years older than Meghan and the age-gap meant that although they were siblings, they were never particularly close. In an interview with US Weekly in 2017, after Meghan and Harry announced their engagement, Samantha admitted it had “been a bit” since she had spoken to her sister.

A bit? E! News reported that at the time of the engagement, they had not spoken for 23 years. Samantha lives in Florida with her boyfriend. She has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair.

The change of surname

Samantha has been accused of cashing in on her sister’s fame. Previously known as Samantha Grant, she changed her surname to Markle shortly after Meghan and Harry got engaged, and has since admitted to getting paid for interviews which centre around her sister. Samantha has defended the cash injection, telling Good Morning Britain:“Let’s face it, we all have to survive. Money makes the world go round, so if you want to call that cashing in, that’s fine.”

The Meghan trash talk

Samantha has been driving the narrative against Meghan since the Suits actress and Prince Harry announced their engagement, with neither of Meghan’s half-siblings, Samantha and Thomas Jr., invited to the May 2018 royal wedding. That set off a tsunami of attacks from her on social media and in interviews. She told The Sun Meghan was a “social climber” and when the big day arrived, invited a TV crew to watch her reaction to the nuptials. Samantha was suspended from Twitter after complaints of cyberbullying and now has two private accounts.

The tell-all book

The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister Part 1. Photo: Barnes and Noble

When Harry and Meghan announced their engagement, Samantha confirmed she would be writing a memoir, The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister Part 1. She dismissed claims that it was a tell-all, instead describing it as the story of her life. In the memoir she describes Meghan as a “monster”, “cold-hearted” and “controlling”. The description on Amazon says, “The truth is stranger than fiction.” In an interview with 7News Australia, she also confirmed Meghan did not tell her or her dad that she was pregnant with baby No 2.

Calls for a reconciliation

Samantha visited Buckingham Palace in 2018, without an appointment, only to be turned away. In an interview with Jeremy Vine on the UK’s Channel 5, Samantha said that a lot of things had “spun out of control” and that had everyone been invited to the wedding, none of their family drama would have happened. She said she loved Meghan either way.

Behind the infamous paparazzi set-up

In the weeks leading up to the royal wedding it was revealed Meghan’s father, Thomas, was behind staged pictures of him getting ready for his daughter’s big day. According to Newsweek, Samantha admits that it was actually her who arranged the photographer. She said she was not paid for the photos (her father was) but she had set-up the picture opportunity to establish a different narrative after “other photographers had been so disparaging, intentionally”. Meghan’s father then suffered an apparent heart attack and did not walk her down the aisle. It has since been confirmed that Meghan and her father have not spoken, after extracts of a letter to him were controversially published in the UK press in 2019.

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Royalty

Samantha was not invited to her half-sister Meghan’s royal wedding to Prince Harry and was later turned away from Buckingham Palace – did she deserve it?
Her memoir The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister Part 1 has been labelled a ‘cash-in’ and she was also suspended from Twitter for accusations of cyberbullying