Doria Ragland

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Doria Ragland is the daughter of Jeanette Arnold (1929–2000) and her second husband Alvin Azell Ragland (1929–2011).[5] Her mother was a nurse, and her father was an antique dealer who sold items at flea markets.[6] Ragland's maternal grandparents, James and Netty Arnold, worked as a bellhop and an elevator operator at the whites-only Hotel St. Regis on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland.[5][7][8] When Ragland was a baby, her parents moved to Los Angeles.[5] She attended Fairfax High School.[6] Ragland's parents divorced, and in 1983 her father married Ava Burrow, a kindergarten teacher,[9] who is close to Ragland's age and to whom Ragland remained close after that marriage also ended in divorce.[10] Ragland has two older maternal half-siblings, Joseph Jr. and Saundra Johnson, and a younger paternal half-brother, Joffrey Ragland.[11][lower-alpha 2]

After high school, Ragland worked as a makeup artist, where she later met her future husband Thomas Markle while employed at the studio for the television show General Hospital. She later worked as a travel agent and she also owned a small business, before filing for bankruptcy in the mid 2000s.[12] She went on to complete a Bachelor of Arts in psychology.[6] In 2015, Ragland passed her social work licensing exam in California, after having received a Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California in 2011.[13][14] Ragland worked as a social worker for a mental health clinic, Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services, in Culver City, California for three years.[15] Ragland resigned from the clinic in May 2018,[16][17] soon after Meghan's wedding ceremony. Ragland has also worked as a yoga instructor.[18]

Ragland was married to lighting director Thomas Markle, at Paramahansa Yogananda's Self-Realization Fellowship Temple in Hollywood by Brother Bhaktananda on December 23, 1979.[19][20] She and Markle had a daughter, Meghan, on August 4, 1981.[20][lower-alpha 3] Their marriage ended in divorce in 1987[18] or 1988.[21] The divorce was reportedly amicable, and both contributed to the raising of their daughter.[6] Ragland resides in View Park–Windsor Hills, California,[22][23] in a house she inherited from her father in 2011.[6] She has accompanied her daughter to public events such as the 20th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women and the Invictus Games. She attended the wedding of her daughter and Prince Harry, a member of the British royal family, in 2018.[24][25]

On May 6, 2019, Ragland's first grandchild, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, was born and Ragland flew from Los Angeles to the UK to see her grandson and his parents.[26] In July of that year, she also attended her grandson's christening, which was held at the private chapel at Windsor Castle.[26]

• Doria Ragland at IMDb