Long before the public interviews, documentaries and accusations that came to define the Sussex saga, there was a quieter controversy — one that, years later, continues to resurface in royal discussions.
According to past reports, Meghan Markle was said to be deeply disappointed that her mother, Doria Ragland, did not receive a royal title after Meghan married into the British Royal Family.
While the claim first emerged some time ago, it is now being revisited by royal commentators as another example of the cultural and personal clashes that marked Meghan’s time within the monarchy.
At the time, National Enquirer reported that Meghan felt sidelined by the Palace’s refusal to grant her mother any form of aristocratic recognition.
According to the publication, Meghan would have welcomed the Queen elevating Doria Ragland to the rank of Countess — a move that, if true, would have broken with centuries of royal convention.
An unnamed insider was quoted as saying Meghan explored various ways to enhance her mother’s standing within royal circles, driven by a belief that Doria should not be treated as secondary or excluded.
The same report even suggested Meghan had considered whether a title could be obtained through unconventional means — a claim never substantiated, but one that nonetheless caused outrage among royal traditionalists.
The Queen’s reported response
According to those accounts, Queen Elizabeth II was said to be firm and unequivocal.
Royal protocol, tradition and precedent were not negotiable — and the idea of granting a title to a royal in-law’s parent was reportedly dismissed outright.
The Queen, sources claimed, had no intention of allowing what she viewed as entitlement to override the structure of the monarchy.
Whether exaggerated or not, the story quickly became symbolic of a deeper tension: Meghan’s perceived desire to reshape royal customs — and the Palace’s refusal to bend.
A relationship strained by expectation
Royal observers now argue that this episode, whether fully accurate or not, reflected a broader mismatch of expectations.
Meghan, raised outside the aristocratic system, appeared to view royal status as something that could be extended or adapted to reflect personal relationships.
The Royal Family, by contrast, operates on rigid lines of hierarchy, lineage and restraint — where titles are inherited, not requested.
That fundamental difference would later play out in far more public ways.