Prince Harry's barbed-wire swipe that 'intensified rift' with Meghan Markle's family

once made a cutting remark about s family that allegedly intensified the rift between the two camps. The Duchess of Sussex since her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018.

Speaking on Radio 4 in 2017 , the Duke of Sussex talked about bringing Meghan into the Royal Family and whether there were any traditions that he needed to explain to her. Harry said: "Plenty. We've got one of the biggest families that I know of and every family is complex as well. She's done an absolutely amazing job." The duke added: "She's getting in there and it's the family, I suppose, she's never had."

But his comment left Meghan's estranged family unimpressed, according to a royal book.

Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand's Finding Freedom claimed: "Harry's comment only heightened the already tenuous family dynamic and foreshadowed what was to come."

Meghan's half-sister, Samantha , made a tweet on Harry's claims, saying: "Actually she has a large family who were always there with her and for her.

"Our household was very normal and when dad and Doria divorced, we all made it so it was like she had two houses. No one was estranged, she was just too busy."

In 2019, speaking on a Channel 5 documentary titled Meghan And The Markles: A Family At War, Samantha said that Harry's comment was hurtful, explaining: "The first thing I thought was, 'I don't think Harry has been given the full story'.

"Something was not right. Though we weren't the classic family together on schedule for every holiday, we were family.

"Then we questioned why... why would she be embarrassed about her family? Why would you need to set the stage differently? It was starting to feel like she wasn't reaching out to the family."

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have never commented on the claims.