Meghan Markle's estranged half brother sends her Christmas card with plea to 'mend our family'
Meghan Markle’s family members have been relentless in their pursuit to rebuild a relationship with her ever since she married Prince Harry and became the Duchess of Sussex, and their latest move is a Christmas card sent by half brother Thomas Markle Jr., with a message inside pleading for a reconciliation.
Markle, of Grants Pass, Ore., told DailyMailTV he believes that spending Christmas in England with the royal family is going to make the duchess nostalgic for the family she’s cut off. “I’m making a point to reach out to Meghan again with a personalized Christmas card to her saying we should all put our differences aside and remember the family we had before.”
The card, which features an embellished Christmas tree on the front with the message “Have a warm and cozy Christmas,” opens up to a handwritten note addressed to both Meghan and Harry. It reads: “May we all have a wonderful Christmas this year. It would be nice to mend our family back together for the New Year. We miss you, Love you and are very proud of you.” The Christmas card is signed by Markle on behalf of the entire family.
Markle told DailyMailTV he recalls many Christmases that Meghan happily celebrated with her family, and said he hopes to re-create that bond with the pregnant duchess if only she’d allow her birth family back into her life. “I think everybody misses not being around some sort of family for Christmas,” he said. “Especially when it’s not something they’re really used to.” He said he believes her new holiday tradition will leave her feeling like she’s “missing something.”
He recalled that those Christmases throughout Meghan’s childhood were usually spent at the home of her grandmother, Jeanette Ragland, where Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland — Markle’s stepmother — would cook dinner. Markle — who is 15 years older than Meghan — said the Raglands helped reintroduce his family to holiday tradition. “Our family hadn’t done that for many years when I was growing up. We just did that a few times as young children in Chicago.” The Raglands were a big family, he said, and the holidays had “a homey feeling because everybody was happy, everybody was in a good mood, everybody left their baggage outside the door and it was all about family which was pretty important. It was nice.”
Meghan particularly loved Christmas, Markle recalled, and would be spoiled with piles of gifts. “Doria gave Meghan a love of big Christmas family celebrations but I think we all did as well,” he told DailyMail.com. He also noted how much his Christmas means to Thomas Markle Sr., their 74-year-old father, who’s made repeated claims that Meghan has cut him off. “My dad really likes Christmas. It was the one time of the year for him to really shine and I guess if my dad had one favorite day of the year, it would be Christmas,” Markle told DailyMailTV. “He goes really upbeat and Santa Claus-y. His favorite holiday of the year is Christmas.”
Now, Markle says he is worried that his dad will be celebrating the holidays alone at his home in Rosarito, Mexico, without any acknowledgment from Meghan at all. Markle Sr. — who previously told the Daily Mail he planned to spend Christmas with friends giving out gifts to children in need — has made many of his own public pleas to reconnect with his daughter. Most recently, he admitted in an interview with Good Morning Britain that he texts his daughter every day and sends letters to her at Kensington Palace in hopes that she’ll agree to speak with him again, but he gets no answer. He said he hasn’t spoken to his daughter since the day before her wedding, which he could not attend due to heart surgery.
He told Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan that he’s not sure why his daughter is “ghosting” him. “I love my daughter very much,” he said. “I wish she would reach out, send me a text, anything. There has to be a place for me. I’m her father.” He then pleaded directly with Meghan in the video interview: “Please reach out to me.”
Meghan’s half brother believes the holidays are the perfect time to put rifts aside and make time for family. He said he hopes at the very least she’ll reach out to their father, and if she reaches out to him he’ll be surprised yet delighted. “With everything that’s gone on for the last two years, I think the New Year is the perfect time for a new beginning for her, for the family,” he told the Daily Mail. “Just to start over, start fresh and make some sort of contact. Definitely to let my father see his grandchild when it’s born.”
If Markle Jr. expects a reconciliation, though, he may have some of his own amends to make after publicly disparaging Meghan on several occasions. In May, he penned an open letter to Prince Harry, badmouthing the future duchess and imploring Harry to cancel the royal wedding, calling it “the biggest mistake in royal wedding history.” He wrote in the typo-riddled note, “It’s very apparent that her tiny bit of Hollywood fame has gone to her head, changing her into a jaded, shallow, conceited [woman], that will make a joke of you and the royal family heritage.”
Meghan’s half sister, Samantha Markle, has been even more vocal on all things Meghan-related. She seems to cycle between public trolling of the duchess and public apologies — and most recently called the couple’s Christmas card “sad” and “rude.”
In November, Samantha Markle revealed that she’s working on a tell-all book to be released in spring 2019 — a possible attempt to upstage the birth of the royal baby. Markle Jr., on the other hand, is holding out hope for an invite from Meghan after she gives birth. “I would feel pretty honored if she opened up her door and invited the Markles in to see their new relative, the new baby,” he told the Daily Mail. “It would mean a lot.”
Meghan has remained silent about the Christmas card and has never addressed her family with the media, though she seems to remain close with one relative: her mother. Meghan will spend the holidays at Sandringham, the queen’s estate in the English county of Norfolk. Despite reportedly receiving an invite directly from the queen, Meghan’s mother has opted not to spend the holidays with the royals.
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day.
