While the royal family is no stranger to gossip and tabloid headlines, it was Meghan Markle's family that was making a splash during preparations for the royal wedding. Despite being advised not to discuss their family with the media by both Meghan and the royal family, her half-sister, Samantha Grant, and her father, Thomas Markle, got caught up in the media attention in a major way.
When news of the royal engagement broke out, Samantha began doing interviews speaking about Meghan's background, her family life growing up, and more. She started referring to herself as Samantha Markle despite not having used the name in some time. She tried to counter reports of Meghan's story being a rags-to-riches tale and claimed to know a lot about Meghan, despite the fact that the two haven't seen each other in a decade.
Later, Samantha made headlines when she admitted she was behind the photo shoot Thomas Markle did showing his preparations for the royal wedding — photos that ultimately embarrassed him and began rumors he might not attend the royal wedding. A health issue later cemented his inability to attend.
Samantha is now in the spotlight for blasting the Duchess of Sussex in a rant on her Twitter account, and the comments are less than sisterly for sure.
Twitter is Samantha's chosen platform to speak out on.
Samantha has turned to Twitter to air her feelings about Meghan's role in the royal family several times leading up to and after the royal wedding. This is one of her earliest tweets slamming Meghan from her original account @SamanthaMGrant, which was public at the time.
She later made the account private but continued to speak out on the royal wedding. She made it clear that she and others she felt to be key members of Meghan's family had not received invites, while "1,000 strangers" were invited.
She deleted her original Twitter account and switched to a private account, @SammyMarkle64. Her attacks on Meghan often are on behalf of her father, whom she feels is being grossly mistreated by both Meghan and the royal family.
Her Twitter rant earlier this month was particularly scathing.
Samantha has started aiming her attacks at Prince Harry, whom she blames for allowing his family to encourage Meghan to dismiss her own. She even brings Harry's late mother, Princess Diana, into her attacks, which is inexcusable regardless of how strongly she feels.
She even went so far as to say Harry should have married ex-girlfriend Cressida Bonas, whom Samantha claims "is more like Diana" than Meghan.
Many have speculated that this whole ordeal must be incredibly difficult for the newly minted duchess, who is trying to find her bearings in the royal family while dealing with her own family blasting her in the public at every turn. Samantha challenges that they're just as embarrassed at her "fake" behavior.
Samantha insists that these harsh messages are all from a place of love and wanting to reconcile their family, but many in the public believe she's trying to milk her 15 minutes of fame for all it's worth.
But her latest Twitter rant is positively venomous.
Samantha has now taken to Twitter to flat-out blame Meghan for their father's health problems. Thomas Markle reportedly suffered a heart attack right before the royal wedding, the official reason for his inability to attend.
As photos surfaced of Harry and Meghan attending a tribute to Nelson Mandela, Samantha slammed her sister for not keeping in touch with their father. Thomas Markle has recently spoken out to the media alleging the royal family is blocking all contact between him and his daughter.
Samantha, like her father, says she will keep saying her piece publicly until the issue has been resolved.
The public doesn't view the Markles favorably.
The constant media outcries have not given the public a favorable opinion of Meghan's family.
Many feel bad for Meghan in this situation. It's an incredibly unique predicament that doesn't seem to have a right way of being handled, but she's dealing with it as best she can.
People are questioning why the Markles are choosing to exploit the situation. Samantha has made claims that with Meghan's considerable fortune, she should help her father through his dire financial straits. As this Twitter user points out, Meghan has been a working actress for many years and had money that her family could've asked for prior to the royal family's involvement.
People are also blaming the media, particularly tabloids, for giving the Markles a platform to speak on. They believe that they should try to protect Meghan by shutting these things down rather than giving them attention.
While Meghan and the royal family have yet to speak out on any of this, and probably won't unless absolutely necessary, it's sad to see Meghan's family using the media to try and attack one of their own. It must also bring up difficult memories for Harry, whose mother's relationship with the media caused her a great deal of distress her entire life. We hope that all the families involved find peace and allow the newlyweds the happiness they deserve.
