Meghan Markle pays touching tribute to her mother Doria Ragland during Colombia tour

Meghan Markle pays touching tribute her mother Doria Ragland

Getty
Dorothy Reddin

By Dorothy Reddin


Published: 19/08/2024

- 21:12

The Duchess of Sussex said her mother is one of the women who inspires her the most

Meghan Markle paid a touching tribute to her mother Doria Ragland during her tour to Colombia.

Whilst speaking at a talk on "Afro women and power" in Colombia, the Duchess of Sussex said her mother is one of the women who inspires her the most.


Meghan, 43, added that life can be "full of surprises" and "quite complex".

The mother-of-two paid tribute to Doria Ragland, 67, and gushed over her three-year-old daughter Lilibet at the event in the city of Cali's theatre while Prince Harry sat in the audience.

Meghan Markle and Doria RaglandMeghan Markle pays touching tribute her mother Doria RaglandGetty

She told the crowd the story about how she wrote to Procter & Gamble at age 11 to ask the brand to change its "sexist" soap commercial - and argued it showed the importance of people using their voice.

The duchess said: "[I] encourage our daughter [...] at three she has found her voice and we are so proud of that.

"For me, I find inspiration in so many of the strong women around me. My mother being one of them.

"Life is full of surprises and can be quite complex.

Meghan Markle and Doria Ragland

Meghan Markle is extremely close with her mother Doria Ragland

PA

"So much of how I approach things is about less of the fight and how do we wash things over with love and kindness and generosity.

"You see something wrong and you go and fix it.

"As women, we are multi-taskers and fixers. We all know how much representation matters."

Ragland is the mother of Meghan and the ex-wife of Thomas Markle.

Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle made the comments during an event celebrating and empowering Afro-Colombian women, in Cali, Colombia

Reuters

Meghan Markle and Doria Ragland

Meghan Markle and Doria Ragland photographed in New York last year

Getty

She married Thomas Markle in 1979 but they divorced in 1987.

The mother-daughter pair are close, with Ragland still calling her daughter "Flower". She attended Meghan's wedding to Prince Harry in 2018.

The 67-year-old was born in Cleveland, Ohio, to a nurse mother and an antique dealer father and later worked as a social worker and a yoga instructor.

In 2022, Ragland took a leading role in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's Netflix series.

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