Meghan Markle’s cutting five-word verdict on Prince Archie’s ties with the Royal Family

Meghan Markle’s mother Doria Ragland has alluded to a tussle behind the scenes of the Firm as to whom Prince Archie belongs.

In unearthed footage, below, from the Duke and Duchess of Sussexes’ self-titled Netflix documentary ‘Harry & Meghan’, Ragland defended her daughter’s decision to stand up for her child and for her wish to bring the young prince up the way she sees fit.

Ragland said: “It’s almost like it’s not your child, it’s the instituions child. She’s [Meghan] saying ‘no, this is my baby’.”

In the 2022 documentary, Ragland also admitted that “the last five years have been challenging.

Recalling how Meghan, 43, first told her she was dating Harry, Doria said: “We were on the phone and she says, ‘Mummy, I’m going out with Prince Harry,’ and I start whispering, ‘Oh my God’.”

And so it was from the beginning, it was very sort of, ‘Oh my God, nobody can know,’ ” she continued.

Doria said she noticed that Prince Harry was “handsome” and “really nice” upon first meeting him, with “really great manners.”

“And they looked really happy together,” she added. “Once it was announced that they were together, it seemed kind of like a novelty.”

Express.co.uk exclusively revealed in January that Meghan’s 67-year-old yoga teacher mum had taken up residence in the Sussexes’ guesthouse on the grounds of their Californian mansion to help the couple through “tough times”.

The source said the move was to avoid a nearly three-hour car journey from her home in View Park-Windsor Hills in Los Angeles to the couple’s Montecito home.

The source added that the close relationship Prince Harry has with Doria has come as a welcomed distraction from the troubles he has with his own family in the UK.

The rift between the Sussexes and the Royal Family is growing ever wider and hopes are fading that Harry will be able to patch things up with his father, King Charles, and brother Prince William.

“Harry appreciates the warmth and kindness that Doria brings to the family,” the source said. “He doesn’t get that from his side of the family and thinks it important that the children are close with their grandmother.