Harry & Megan, Netflix’s sizzling new docu-series about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, premiered today and offered royal viewers an avalanche of never-before-shared footage. There are new photos of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s children Archie and Lilibet, new details on how the couple met and fell in love, but the biggest bombshell comes in Episode 3. We meet Ashleigh Hale, Meghan Markle’s niece and Samantha Markle’s biological daughter . The immigration lawyer not only reveals that she has a close relationship with Meghan, but also that royal advisers have urged her aunt and uncle not to invite them to their wedding to avoid a tabloid scandal.
Ashleigh Hale also sheds new light on Meghan Markle’s relationship with her openly hostile sister Samantha Markle, revealing that she herself no longer speaks to her mother.
Harry & Megan is a six-part documentary directed by Academy Award and Emmy winner Liz Garbus that purports to tell the story of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s romance from her perspective. The first three episodes aired today, December 8th, and the final three will premiere on Netflix on Thursday, December 15th. The first half of the series introduces us to the retired royal couple and details how they met (on Instagram!?) and fell in love. The show’s main villain so far isn’t the royal family, it’s the British tabloids. However, if there’s one person who gets the villain cut, it’s Samantha Markle.
Samantha Markle is Meghan Markle’s older half-sister from her father’s first marriage. After Meghan Markle became engaged to Prince Harry in late 2017, Samantha Markle began feeding negative stories about her sister to British tabloids, even writing a tell-all book about Princess Pushy. The Duchess of Sussex has long claimed she was never in a close relationship with her half-sister to the point of feuding with Samantha. However, we learn Harry & Megan Episode 3 that there is someone in Samantha’s orbit, the Meghan is close with. Samantha’s biological daughter, Ashleigh Hale.
Harry & Megan on Netflix: Who is Ashleigh Hale, Meghan Markle’s niece?
Ashleigh Hale introduces herself as an immigration attorney and “Meg’s niece” in Episode 3 of Netflix Harry & Megan. We learn that she is the biological daughter of Meghan Markle’s half-sister Samantha Markle, but she and her brother were raised by their paternal grandparents. These grandparents were given custody of Ashleigh when she was around two years old, and she and her brother were eventually legally adopted by them. As such, Ashleigh emphasizes that Samantha is her “biological” mother.
Sometime in 2007, Ashleigh reconnected with Samantha Markle for the first time since she was six. Meghan Markle then says she remembers her father asking “Samantha just found her daughter” at the time and asking Meghan for Ashleigh’s email address. Ashleigh says her relationship with Meghan began with lengthy back-and-forth emails that led to texts, calls and regular communication. Meghan invited Ashleigh on vacation and they share photos and memories of their trip to New Orleans.
Ashleigh Hale says Meghan Markle has filled many roles for her. “There’s a sister element, there’s something maternal. She is a best friend. She’s kind of everything.” Meghan Markle says that “Ash” was like “her little sister.”
Ashleigh Hale says after news of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s engagement broke, Samantha Markle began “voicing a lot of angry words about Meg”. Hale says she felt there was “a certain resentment.” She added that no matter what she said, Samantha Markle became “more angry” at her half-sister. Hale says she and her birth mother stopped talking. “You know, some people just can’t be reasoned with,” she said.
We later learn that Hale received “less and less communication” from her aunt following Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s engagement. Meghan Markle describes herself as “turtling” at the time. This was the time Samantha Markle told the tabloids that she still hadn’t been invited to the wedding. The royal communications team decided that inviting Ashleigh Hale to the wedding but not her mother would be a PR disaster, and they convinced Meghan and Harry they couldn’t invite Ashleigh to the event.
Meghan Markle describes a “painful” phone call with Prince Harry, during which the couple had to explain this “guidance” to Hale. Then Hale says she told them she was “hurt on some level, but I understood where it came from.”
“Knowing that this relationship, which is so important to me, was marred in that way because of my birth mother… Feeling like it was being taken away because of her… It was tough,” Hale said.
So don’t worry, die-hard royal fans! Meghan Markle’s family comes off a lot worse in the first three episodes Harry & Megan. And half-sister Samantha Markle comes out worst. The show sympathizes with Thomas Markle, revealing that he and Meghan were close until tabloids seduced him with bribes, but Samantha certainly gets the villain cut.
The last three episodes of Harry & Megan Premieres on Netflix on Thursday, December 15 and is set to pick up the story right at the fairytale wedding.