Meghan Markle’s rocky relationship with her family has once again come under the spotlight — and it’s all thanks to a comment Prince Harry made years ago that still sparks fury.
During a 2017 interview with BBC Radio 4, Harry was asked if he had to explain any royal traditions to Meghan. His answer, while casual, caused a ripple effect that still echoes today.
“Plenty,” Harry replied, adding, “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.”
But it was his next remark that set off a firestorm. “She’s getting in there and it’s the family, I suppose, she’s never had,” he said — a statement that deeply offended Meghan’s relatives.
At the time, Meghan’s half-sister Samantha Markle was quick to fire back. She slammed Harry on Twitter, claiming Meghan did have a family — and that they were always there for her.
“Actually, she has a large family who were always there with her and for her,” Samantha tweeted. “Our household was very normal… No one was estranged, she was just too busy.”
Samantha’s anger reflected the larger backlash from the Markle family, who felt unfairly erased from Meghan’s narrative as she stepped into royal life.
According to the book Finding Freedom, the comment only worsened already strained ties. The authors said Harry’s words “heightened the already tenuous family dynamic.”
The book also implied that this was just the beginning of more division and tension between Meghan and her American relatives — especially her father, Thomas Markle.
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Despite Meghan’s rise to global fame and her marriage to Prince Harry, her father Thomas Markle never met his grandchildren or even his royal son-in-law.
Thomas Markle has repeatedly spoken out in the media, begging to reconnect with his daughter. Yet, the distance between them has only widened in recent years.
Meghan has remained largely silent on the issue, maintaining her focus on building a new life in California with Harry, Archie, and Lilibet — far from royal pressures and family feuds.
Still, public curiosity about her fractured family life refuses to fade, especially as old clips like Harry’s 2017 remark resurface time and time again.
The tension between Meghan and her family has fueled endless headlines, documentaries, and interviews — with each side telling a different version of the truth.
As Meghan and Harry continue to reinvent their public image, their past remarks keep catching up with them — especially those that hit close to home.
And for many, Harry’s offhand comment about Meghan’s lack of family may have opened a wound that never quite healed — not just for Meghan, but for those she left behind.
