Prince Harry may not have intended any offence, but one comment he made about Christmas with the Royal Family ended up igniting a long-running feud with Meghan Markle’s relatives.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have not spent Christmas with the Royal Family since 2018, the year they married. At the time, the festive gathering at Sandringham marked Meghan’s first Christmas with the royals, and by all accounts, the couple appeared to enjoy the celebrations.
Shortly after the holiday, Harry spoke about the experience during an appearance on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
While reflecting on how Meghan had settled in, the prince praised his wife and made a remark that would soon spark controversy.
Speaking about Meghan’s first royal Christmas, Harry said: “She’s done an absolutely amazing job. She’s getting in there and it’s the family I suppose that she never had.”
He went on to describe the festive period as “fantastic” and added that his relatives “loved” having Meghan as part of the celebrations.
Although the comment appeared to be made warmly and without malice, it struck a nerve with Meghan’s family in the United States, particularly her half-sister, Samantha Markle.
According to reports at the time, Samantha took to social media to publicly criticise Harry’s remarks.
She insisted that Meghan had grown up with a stable family life and rejected the suggestion that she was missing a sense of family before marrying into the monarchy.
Samantha wrote: “Our household was very normal and when dad and Doria divorced, we all made it so it was like she had two houses. No one was estranged,” she said.