Inside Meghan Markle's mother Doria's wedding at 23 to Thomas Markle before split

Meghan Markle's mother Doria Ragland has been a firm fixture by her side, including at her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.

While Meghan was 36 when she walked up the aisle and became the Duchess of Sussex, her mother was much younger when she wed Thomas Markle as she married at just 23 years old in 1979. Thomas was older at 35 and already previously married and divorced with two children, Samantha Markle and Thomas Jr Markle.

Doria and Thomas' wedding day was a spiritual affair, with a relative revealing that the pair kept their engagement so quiet that the family didn't even know about the relationship until wedding invitations arrived.

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Doria and Thomas welcomed Meghan in 1981, but the couple split when she was six years old in 1987. Reflecting on her parents and their six-year marriage, Meghan previously wrote in Elle: "I like to think he was drawn to her sweet eyes and her Afro, plus their shared love of antiques. Whatever it was, they married and had me."

Doria and Thomas tied the knot in a spiritual way as they said their vows at the Self-Realisation Fellowship Temple on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. The building is a faux-Indian temple that is ornately decorated and features gold accents, stone elephants and plastic Buddhas. It was founded by Indian yogi Paramahansa Yogananda, and Doria was reportedly "fascinated" by it.

Describing the wedding, Doria's brother Joseph Johnson spoke to The Mail on Sunday: as he recalled: "It was a lovely wedding but not conventional at all. Doria was very young, just 23, but looked much younger. She had tiny white flowers in her hair. She wore a simple white dress. My son was the ring-bearer." He added that the family didn't even know about Doria and Thomas' relationship until they received wedding invitations.

Meghan made some rare comments about her parents' relationship and divorce on the Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan. Speaking to camera, Meghan explained: "There’s so much I think from anyone’s childhood that you bring with you into the present, especially when you’re the product of divorce."

Harry appeared to share her view as he joined in and added: "I think most kids who are the product of divorced parents have a lot in common, not matter what your background is. Being pulled from one place to another, or maybe your parents are competitive, or you’re in one place longer than you want to be, or another place less than you want to be. There’s all sorts of pieces to that."

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