Breaking News:The Untold Truth Of Doria Ragland

If you know anything at all about Meghan Markle’s mother, Doria Ragland, you know that she has a very close relationship with her daughter. Ragland was the only member of Meghan’s family at her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry, famously riding alongside her daughter in the car on the way to the wedding chapel. Watching Ragland’s face during the ceremony — especially when she teared up — it was obvious how much she adores her daughter, whom she calls “Flower.”

And in interviews and essays she’s written herself, Meghan has made it clear how much she loves her mom right back.

The mother and daughter are so close in fact, that Ragland reportedly moved in with Meghan, Harry, and their toddler son, Archie, in California in the summer of 2020. But there is so much more to the woman Meghan always describes as a “free spirit” than is commonly known.

WINDSOR, UNITED KINGDOM – MAY 19: Doria Ragland arrives at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle before the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England. (Photo by Gareth Fuller – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Though Meghan Markle is totally a Cali girl through and through, it turns out that her mother Doria Ragland’s family actually has deep roots in the midwest where she was born.

According to Cleveland.com, Ragland’s grandparents (Meghan’s great-grandparents) Netty and James Arnold met in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Hotel St. Regis where Netty worked as an elevator operator and James worked as a bell hop. The couple had several children, including Ragland’s mother, Jeanette, who is Meghan’s grandmother (is everyone keeping up so far?).

Jeanette was married twice, first to Joseph Johnson, then to Ragland’s father and Meghan’s grandfather, Alvin Ragland.

But the family didn’t stay in Ohio, and shortly after Meghan’s mother was born, the family moved to Los Angeles. Apparently the sunny West Coast life agreed with the Raglands, where Alvin worked as an antiques dealer. According to The Daily Mail, Alvin was a sharp dresser known to set up shop at the trendy Melrose Trading Post market. Presumably, this is where Ragland picked up her love of antiques

When Meghan Markle talks about her mother, she often notes that Doria Ragland is both a yoga instructor and a social worker. In a 2017 Glamour article where Meghan listed the women who’ve had the most influence on her life, including her mother, she said, “My mom’s a yoga instructor, but she does social work, as well, and she works specifically with the geriatric community.”