Megflix: Inside Ashleigh Hale, Samantha and Meghan Markle's relationship and ... trends now
The controversial ‘Megflix’ documentary threw new light on the complicated relationship between Meghan, her half-sister Samantha Markle and niece Ashleigh Hale, Samantha’s daughter.
Meghan and Samantha have been estranged for years, and likewise Ashleigh, 37, told the programme that she doesn’t speak to her mother Samantha, having been brought up by her paternal grandparents since the age of six.
But thanks to her father Thomas Markle, Meghan was able to reconnect with her niece around 2007.
The two women soon hit it off and holidayed together, forming a strong relationship, like ‘sisters’. But when it came to drawing up the guest list for her nuptials to Prince Harry, Ashleigh was not invited, to the A-list wedding, apparently because of the frosty relations between Meghan and Samantha.
Ashleigh Hale, 37, broke down in tears as she describes how she was 'uninvited' the royal couple's wedding because of her mother
Meghan described the conversation she had to have with Ashleigh and explain the reason why she could no longer attend as 'painful'
Ashleigh told Netflix that as Megan and Harry’s relationship developed: 'Communication with Meg became less and less frequent... my impression was that her relationships were being managed on some level.’
Recalling Meghan relaying the ‘painful’ decision to her, immigration lawyer Ashleigh tearfully said on the documentary: 'I think I said I was hurt on some level, but I understood where it was coming from.
'To know that it was because of my biological mother that this relationship, that's so important to me, was impacted in that way. I feel like because of her, it was taken away. It's been hard.'
Meghan spoke of 'the guidance' she had received from the palace press team on the matter and her 'compassion' for their concerns over explaining the tension between Ashleigh's estranged mother Samantha and Meghan.
Yet Meghan appeared to dodge any personal responsibility for the decision not to invite Ashleigh, instead blaming ‘guidance’ from royal aides.
Meghan claims the guidance at the time was to not have Ashleigh attend her and Harry's wedding
Meghan said: 'The guidance at the time was to not have her [Ashleigh] come to our wedding.
'I was in the car with H, I called her [Ashleigh] and I had her on speakerphone and we talked her through what guidance we were being given and why this assessment was made and that’s painful.'
As part of their $100million deal with Netflix, the privacy-conscious couple has handed over a trove of pictures and video from their relationship.
These included snaps of Meghan with Ashleigh on a trip to New Orleans before she met Harry, as well as Meghan standing by Ashleigh's side on her wedding day.
The two women grew close after Meghan emailed her niece, with Ashleigh claiming there were 'long emails' back and forth several days a week.
Ashleigh claims that Samantha, right, was the reason that she was not allowed to attend her aunt's wedding to Prince Harry
Meghan said: 'My dad said that Samantha had found her daughter and I remember saying, oh if you have her email address, I want to email her.
'I think we both crave the same thing. I wanted a
