When multiracial couple Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland were married in the 1970s, many people did not accept their relationship because of their different races. Nevertheless, they were blessed with a lovely daughter named Meghan Markle, who would one day marry into the Royal Family. It may be challenging for Meghan, as it is for a lot of other people, to talk about the fact that she has a mixed ancestry.

Even while there has been progress made in recent years toward more racial tolerance in society, this does not imply that conversations about race are any less difficult for people of color to have.

Because she was born multiracial, Meghan Markle was one of the people who was apprehensive about telling her story to the general public. She described in an interview with Elle how her parents first met and what it was like for her to grow up with a white father and a multiracial mother. Her father was white and her mother was biracial.

During a reception for the Invictus Games held at Nations Home in Zuiderpark on April 15, 2022 in The Hague, Netherlands, Meghan Markle was in attendance. | Photographs Courtesy of Getty Images

Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland, Meghan’s parents, first crossed paths in the 1970s while he was working as a lighting director for a soap opera and she was working as a temporary employee at the studio. He was attracted to her not just because of her physical traits, such as her nice eyes and curly hair, but also because of their shared passion in antiques.

THOMAS CONFRONTS THE DOCTOR DURING MEGHAN’S BIRTH

Despite the fact that their relationship was not widely acknowledged by society at the time, they went ahead and were married and eventually settled down with their daughter Meghan in Los Angeles. After being married for two years, the pair became parents for the first time to a daughter named Meghan on August 4, 1981 in the city of Los Angeles.

Thomas challenged the attending physician at the time of Meghan’s delivery in order to have him put the former “Suits” star’s true race on her birth certificate. Thomas insisted that the doctor write “mixed” rather than “Black.” At that time, residents of the United States could only tick one box to represent their family tree or ancestry. He said:

“I didn’t care whether it was black or white, but to my way of thinking, it ought to have been a mix.”

DORIA WAS MISTAKEN AS MEGHAN’S NANNY

However, despite the passage of time, the difficulties that stemmed from their mixed-race relationship persisted. Because there was less diversity in their area, Doria found herself in an awkward position when she went for a stroll with Meghan on one occasion.

Someone assumed that Doria was the child’s mother and asked her where the child’s mother was. Doria was confused by the question. Unquestionably, the talk that Doria had was not a pleasant one, and it was one that she would never forget. Meghan said:

“At that age, I was too little to understand what it was like for my parents, but I can tell you what it was like for me – how they shaped the environment around me to make me feel like I wasn’t unique but rather wonderful.”

When Meghan was seven years old, she yearned for a Barbie doll set that was titled The Heart Family. Each box included a family of four dolls consisting of a mother, a father, and two children; however, the dolls could only be purchased as either a collection of black or white dolls. Meghan’s dream was never to have a certain number of children, but she did want her family to be whole.

On Christmas morning, she unearthed a box with her name, which was decorated with glittery wrapping paper and had a present inside. She discovered the Heart Family within the box when she opened it. The family consisted of a black mother, a white father, a black kid, and a white child. She said that her father had disassembled the set in order to personalize it for her family.

Another occurrence occurred to Meghan while she was in the seventh grade. By this time, she was more mature, and there were times when her parents were unable to care for her. She recounted in her narrative, “There was a required census that I had to do in my English class.” “To identify your ethnicity, you were required to choose one of the boxes and tick it.”

The options available were White, Black, Asian, or Hispanic. There was no other alternative. Meghan was at a loss as to which option to choose, despite the fact that she was aware that she could select just one and that doing so would be analogous to selecting one of her parents over the other.

Despite the fact that her instructor instructed her to choose “Caucasian” for the race box, Meghan was unable to come to a decision right away. She was perplexed, and she was aware that her mother would experience awkwardness and sadness upon learning that she had choose one racial identity above the other. In her words:

I didn’t check any of the boxes. I left my identity undefined; it was a question mark; it was an absolute incomplete; it reflected how I felt.

After Meghan informed her father about what had occurred earlier, Thomas’ response is one that will be ingrained in his daughter’s memory forever. He told her that if it happened again, she would have to define her own boundaries.

Meghan had never seen Thomas’s furious side until that night, when she saw a sudden change in the color of his face from pale to crimson. He couldn’t stand the idea of his daughter making the same mistakes he did because of her lack of knowledge.

Thomas was aware that marrying an African-American lady was not typical in his culture; nonetheless, the depth of his love and the acceptance he received from others around him transcended all expectations. He hoped that his daughter would look beyond what the norms of society portrayed to be acceptable. Meghan said that her father’s desire was for her to discover the truth on her own.

MEGHAN’S RACE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR MANY OF THE OBSTACLES SHE FACED IN HER LIFE.

The fact that Meghan is of mixed racial heritage played a role in the various obstacles she faced, especially in her professional life. She could play a variety of characters as an actress because to the fact that she had a mixed ancestry, including that of an African American and a Latina. However, she continued to have challenges in acquiring the necessary components. Meghan said:

“It was of no consequence. I didn’t look black enough for the black parts, and I didn’t look white enough for the white roles, so that left me somewhere in the center as the ethnic chameleon who couldn’t get a job.”

Even after she married Prince Harry and became a member of the royal family, Meghan continued to face challenges relating to her race. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Meghan said that the complexion of her unborn child, Archie, was a source of contention with a member of the family while she was pregnant with him.

According to Meghan, several “concerns and talks about how dark his complexion may be when he is born” took place throughout her pregnancy.

But after Meghan and Harry’s bombshell tell-all interview, Prince William responded in a roundabout way by saying that the Royal Family is “Very much not racist.”

In recent years, not only has Meghan’s connection with the other members of the royal family been strained, but she has also become estranged from both her father and her sister, Samantha Markle. Since then, Thomas and Samantha have voiced their disagreement with Meghan’s conduct in public and have continued to discuss personal aspects of their lives.