Who is Ashleigh Hale? Netflix’s ‘Harry and Meghan’ reveals Meghan Markle’s close relationship with niece was strained by Samantha Markle’s work with tabloids.
Harry & Meghan, Netflix’s splashy new docuseries about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, premiered today and offered royal watchers an avalanche of never before shared material. There are new photos of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s kids Archie and Lilibet, fresh details about 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 attorney not only reveals that she has a close relationship with Meghan, but that royal advisors pushed her aunt and now uncle to not invite her to their wedding to avoid tabloid scandal.
Ashleigh Hale also sheds new light on Meghan Markle’s relationship with her openly hostile sister, Samantha Markle, and reveals that she herself is no longer speaking with her mother.
Harry & Meghan is a six part docuseries directed by Oscar and Emmy winner Liz Garbus that purports to tell the story of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s romance from their point of view. The first three episodes dropped today, December 8, and the final three will premiere on Netflix on Thursday, December 15. 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 main villain of the show so far isn’t the Royal Family, but the UK tabloid press. However, if there’s one person who gets the villain edit, 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 the British tabloids and even wrote a tell-all book about “Princess Pushy.” The Duchess of Sussex has long maintained that she never had a close enough relationship with her half-sister to even have a falling out with Samantha.
