Samantha Markle: who is Meghan’s half sister, does she have children, court case explained

Meghan Markle’s half-sister Samantha, who is also the the half sister in law of Prince Harry, has had a pretty public falling out with that side of her family. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Netflix documentary, which landed in December, didn’t exactly bridge the gap either.

Samantha took issue with some of the claims made in the docuseries, speaking to Dan Wooton on GB News where she put her side of the story across.

She has not publicly spoken about the representation of the royal couple in South Park this month, though it’s unlikely she lost muh sleep over the episode.

Samantha is suing the Harry and Meghan for defamation and injurious falsehood as a result of their bombshell special interview with Oprah Winfrey back in 2021.

She is seeking $75,000 (£62,000) in damages for the ‘demonstrably false and malicious statements’ she claims Meghan made about her - the Sussex’s lawyers are petitioning for the case to be dismissed.

Who is Samantha Markle?

Samantha Markle, 58, is Meghan Markle’s older half sister - she is the daughter of Meghan’s father Thomas Markle and his first wife Roslyn who were married from 1964-1975. Thomas and Roslyn had another child, Thomas Markle Jr., 56, who is Meghan’s half brother.

Thomas Sr. married Doria Ragland in 1979 and they had one child, Meghan, who is 41 years old. Thomas and Doria divorced in 1987. Samantha has three children,  Ashleigh and Christopher Hale with her first husband Earl Hale, and Noelle Rasmussen with her second husband Scott Rasmussen, who she divorced in 2003.

Samantha and Meghan did not see much of each other growing up as there is a 16-year age gap between the two, and they have reportedly not been in contact for more than a decade. After Meghan got engaged to Prince Harry, Samantha spoke to the press about her half-sister, labelling her ‘Princess Pushy’.

She has spoken negatively about Meghan several times in the past, comparing her unfavourably to Kate, the now Princess of Wales. She previously said: “If you want to call that cashing in, that’s fine, but I think no one in the media would refuse a paycheck for talking about the royal and, as a family, we’re not subject to royal protocol. Why would I stop living because we have a family issue going on?”

Samantha is a former model and currently works as a mental health consultant - she also wrote the memoir The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister, about her relationship with Meghan.

What has Samantha Markle said about the Harry & Meghan documentary?

The first three episodes of Harry & Meghan landed on Netflix on 8 December and Samantha has responded to claims made in the series. Her daughter Ashleigh said that Samantha resented Meghan’s relationship with Harry.

Samantha Markle appeared on GB News and responded to a clip from the documentary in which Harry said that Meghan ‘doesn’t have a father’. Samantha said: “That was all lies too. He wasn’t getting text messages and for her to allegedly say, ‘Samantha must have erased his texts’, how can I do that from Florida when he’s in Mexico?"

Samantha claimed that her father Thomas hasn’t watched the documentary and that he has been through so much with his recent health problems, which included two suspected heart attacks shortly before Harry and Meghan’s wedding in 2018, and suffering a stroke earlier this year. Samantha also asked, "Why didn’t they get on a plane and go and see my father in the hospital?"