Everything You Need to Know About Meghan Markle's Family

Meghan Markle is the newest member of the British Royal Family after she married Prince Harry on May 19, 2018. As the latest addition to one of the most famous broods in the world, we take a look at the Markle family.

The 36-year-old Markle was born in Los Angeles to Doria Loyce Ragland and Thomas Markle Sr. She has two older siblings from her father’s previous relationship. Markle herself is a divorcee, having been married to Trevor Engelson from 2011 to 2013.

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Markle shot to fame as a Rachel Zane on USA Network’s Suits. She also appeared in the movies Get Him to the Greek, Remember Me and Horrible Bosses. She also ran the lifestyle website The Tig. After announcing her engagement to Prince Harry in November 2017, she shut down her social media accounts and said she will leave acting.

The wedding is set for May 19 at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle

Here’s a look at Markle’s family.

Mother: Doria Loyce Ragland

Markle’s mother, Doria Loyce Ragland, still lives in California. She is a social worker and yoga instructor. Ragland has met Harry, even attending the Invictus Games in Toronto in September with Harry and her daughter.

Markle will be the first Royal of mixed-race heritage. Her mother is African-American and her father is Caucasian. Even before she began her relationship with Harry, Markle was open about her heritage.

“While my mixed heritage may have created a grey area surrounding my self-identification, keeping me with a foot on both sides of the fence, I have come to embrace that,” Markle wrote in ELLE U.K. in 2015. “To say who I am, to share where I’m from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident mixed-race woman.”

Father: Thomas Markle Sr.

Markle’s 73-year-old father, Thomas Markle Sr., was reportedly “overjoyed” to get invited to Markle’s wedding. A family friend told The Sun that Markle invited him to walk her down the aisle, even though he is living a “reclusive live in Mexico.”

Thomas Sr. and Markle’s mother divorced when she was 6 years old.

Before moving to Mexico, Thomas Sr. was a lighting director on Married… With Children. He won two Daytime Emmys for his work on General Hospital.

Half-Brother: Thomas Markle Jr.

Markle reportedly did not invite her estranged older half-siblings. However, the two decided to speak out when Prince Harry said the Royal Family is the “family she never had.”

Thomas Jr., who now lives in Oregon, told the Daily Mail in December that their father was “extremely hurt” by Harry’s comment.

“Obviously, she had a family. She was very privileged. She got everything she ever wanted. We did the best that we could in terms of getting together for holidays and whatnot,” Thomas Jr. said.

A source told PEOPLE that Markle hasn’t spoken with her half-siblings in over a decade.

Half-Sister: Samantha Grant

Before the engagement was announced, half-sister Samantha Grant quickly got to work on a memoir called The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister. While on Good Morning Britain in October, Grant denied it was a “slamming” tell-all book.

“First of all, it’s only a tell-all in that I go through and recant some of the beautiful nuances of our lives, our family home,” Grant said. “But more importantly it has to do with the inter-racial evolution of this country through the lens of my life and my family since the Civil Rights Act until present, and how that intersects with this recent event with my sister, you know, my feelings about it, my family’s feelings about it and how sad it was going through it all. But it’s more of a beautiful, warm, witty story of our lives and my life.”

In January, Grant told the Mirror she has not heard from Markle in at least three years.

Ex-Husband: Trevor Engelson

Markle was previously married to Trevor Engelson, a Hollywood producer, from 2011 to 2013. According to E! News, the two met in 2004 and were together six years before getting engaged.

After they tied the knot, they ended up spending most of their time apart. While Suits was filmed in Toronto, Engelson was back home in Los Angeles.

Engelson’s credits include the Robert Pattinson film Remember Me, which starred Markle, and the FX series Snowfall.

Father’s Brother: Frederick Markle

In July 2017, the Daily Mail tracked down Markle’s uncle and Thomas Markle Sr.’s brother, Frederick Markle.

The 75-year-old is the leader of the Eastern Orthodox Catholic Church in America and goes by the title Bishop Dismas. His chapel is located in Sanford, Florida. One former worshiper told the Mail he believes Frederick might be the only person who still attends the church.

“He is basically a real friendly guy but he doesn’t go for new ideas. He lives like a hermit,” close friend Barry Sterner told the Mail. “He’s got a cell phone but he can’t figure out how to switch it on. As for emails and computers, that’s all Greek to him.”

Mother’s Siblings: Saundra and Joseph

In December, PEOPLE published a photo of Markle as a flower girl at an aunt’s wedding in 1986. The photo shows her with an adorable smile, wearing a lacy pink dress with a matching hair bow.

The photo was also published by the Daily Mail, which reported that it was taken during her aunt Saundra Johnson’s wedding. Her uncle, Joseph Johnson, shared photos from a 1986 family album, which show Markle with her mother’s family.

Joseph and Saundra are Ragland’s siblings. The three were raised by their mother, Jeanette. However, Joseph and Saundra are the children from Jeanette’s first marriage. Ragland’s father was Alvin Ragland. Both marriages ended in divorce.

“Meghan was raised in a household of strong women because there were no men on the scene,” Joseph told the Daily Mail.

Royal Ancestors

According to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Markle has a very distant link to British royalty through her father’s family. She is a 24th generation descendant of King Edward III, who ruled from 1327 to 1377. That means Markle and Prince Harry are 17th cousins.