Meghan Markle’s family drama continues to haunt her long after her royal exit.
In 2022, the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged half-sister, Samantha Markle, sued her for allegedly defaming her in multiple interviews, including a 2021 tell-all with Oprah Winfrey. The case was dismissed with prejudice in 2024, which means Samantha cannot file the claims again. The elder sibling appealed the dismissal, and an oral argument has been scheduled for Sept. 9 in Jacksonville, Fla., Fox News Digital has learned.
British royal expert Hilary Fordwich told Fox News Digital that despite Meghan’s departure from royal life and attempts to move forward, she can’t escape her ongoing family turmoil.
PRINCE WILLIAM’S MISTRUST OF MEGHAN MARKLE IS STALLING PEACE WITH PRINCE HARRY: AUTHOR
“Meghan Markle has done her utmost to rebrand herself as some sort of California royalty in a desperate attempt to forge a new identity,” Fordwich claimed. “This will thwart those efforts. Regarding her own father, former Hollywood lighting director Thomas Markle, there is such entrenched bitterness, and this situation makes any reconciliation far from likely.”
“These constant airings of grievances will cause a great chasm,” Fordwich added.
A spokesperson for Archewell, which handles the office for the Duchess of Sussex, told Fox News Digital they won’t be commenting on the ongoing legal dispute.
In a statement sent to Fox News Digital, Samantha’s lawyer, Peter Ticktin, said: “The attorneys representing Samantha Markle and Meghan Markle will be making their arguments to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. As each side has fully briefed their positions, we are not going to learn much from either side. However, we can get a good idea of what is to come from the questions which the panel of three judges is more than likely to ask.”
“After the oral argument, the judges will go into a conference and determine whether the case should be reversed and remanded to the trial judge or if the judge’s decision will be affirmed,” he said. “As the whole question is to be addressed as a matter of law, where all the allegations of the complaint are deemed to be true for this purpose, there is a good chance that the court will reverse the trial judge.”
“The question is, assuming that all the allegations of the complaint are true, are the false allegations that Samantha was a part of a group of racists who are attacking Meghan Markle sufficient to be defamation under Florida law?” Ticktin added.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
In 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back as senior royals, citing the unbearable intrusions of the British press and a lack of support from the palace.
Since the couple’s move to California, Meghan has been building her business empire. Her lifestyle brand, As Ever, launched earlier this year. Season 2 of her lifestyle series, “With Love, Meghan,” premiered Aug. 26.
Samantha, 60, claimed in her original filing that Meghan, 44, made defamatory statements during her interview with Winfrey when she said she “grew up as an only child,” People magazine reported. Samantha argued that she and Meghan “were close during childhood” but drifted apart after Meghan began dating Prince Harry.
According to the outlet, Samantha also claimed there were defamatory implications when Meghan said during that same interview that Samantha “changed her last name back to Markle” after she began dating Harry. District Judge Charlene Edwards Honeywell determined in a 2023 ruling that telling Oprah she “grew up as an only child” was a protected opinion.
“As a reasonable listener would understand it, [the] Defendant merely expresses an opinion about her childhood and her relationship with her half-siblings. Thus, the Court finds that Defendant’s statement is not objectively verifiable or subject to empirical proof,” Honeywell wrote.
Royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams told Fox News Digital that Meghan’s family estrangement looms heavily over her, casting a dark shadow on her efforts to reinvent herself as an entrepreneur.
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
“One of the strange characteristics of Meghan is that she plays at being so relentlessly positive yet only appears to get on with her mother,” he claimed. “One of the reasons she is struggling with her work is that people don’t buy it. She is not genuine. Whatever her father’s faults are — and they are considerable — he did play a huge role in bringing her up.”
Meghan has repeatedly accused Samantha and their father of selling stories to the British tabloids.
“I said, ‘I just need you to tell me, and if you tell me the truth, we can help,’ and he wasn’t able to do that,” Meghan recalled to Winfrey, 71, about confronting her father about speaking with paparazzi.
At the time of the televised interview, which was viewed by nearly 50 million people globally, Meghan was expecting her second child.
“And that, for me, has really resonated, especially now as a mother,” she said. “I look at Archie, I think about this child [on the way], and I genuinely can’t imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child. I can’t imagine it. So, it’s hard for me to reconcile that.”
Meghan also said of her sister to the TV host: “I think it’d be very hard to tell all when you don’t know me. And I mean, this is a very different situation than my dad, right? When you talk about betrayal, betrayal comes from someone that you have a relationship with, right? I don’t feel comfortable talking about people that I really don’t know. But I grew up as an only child, which everyone who grew up around me knows.”
Doug Eldridge, founder of Achilles PR, told Fox News Digital that ongoing legal disputes involving family members cause more harm than good for any public figure.
“The world of he said/she said familial disputes often seems like a tangled extension cord; no matter how you twist, pull, or loosen, it only seems to get tighter and more convoluted,” he explained.
“You have no idea where the beginning or the end is,” he said. “Far be it from me to say someone else should reconcile with a family member, but I will say this: anytime you choose to litigate or publicize your family issues in front of a global jury of your peers, it never leads to a winning outcome. Everyone loses.”
WATCH: MEGHAN MARKLE WILL NEVER WIN OVER UK PUBLIC AGAIN, AUTHOR CLAIMS
Eldridge noted that sparring would only play out on the world’s stage.
“Meghan married into the royal family, and that means a lifetime of media coverage,” he said. “She has also, in the past, strategically sought media attention in hopes of garnering viewer and reader sympathy. However, that media spotlight has always been a two-way street. If you consistently use the microphone and stage to denigrate others while positioning yourself as the victim, you have to understand that eventually, you too will be the subject of allegations and even litigation.”
“The court of law has regulations, standards, and protocol; the court of public opinion does not,” he warned.
Royal expert Ian Pelham Turner argued to Fox News Digital that Meghan has been unfairly targeted by Samantha.
“It is open season on Meghan,” he claimed. “She obviously has a big target on her back … Can she shake off her troubles, build relationships again and … keep her brand afloat while looking after Harry and the children? … She is capable of doing this. She is immensely strong and determined. I hope she wins the battles and the war.”
Meghan and Harry are raising their two young children in the wealthy, coastal city of Montecito, Calif. She is preparing to launch a holiday special of her lifestyle series on Netflix.
