The surprising gift Prince Harry and Meghan Markle received from mother Doria Ragland

Meghan Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland, are incredibly close, with the 68-year-old standing by her daughter’s side through thick and thin.

Doria even lived with Meghan and her husband, Prince Harry, for over a month in Frogmore Cottage after they welcomed their son, Prince Archie. 

The social worker passed down several of her own traits to her daughter, including her love of food.

Her choice of Christmas gift lent itself perfectly to Meghan’s cooking hobby, as the mother of two revealed in episode six of her Netflix show, With Love, Meghan. 

While Meghan was busy dehydrating citrus fruits for her margaritas, she shared that Doria had gifted her and Harry a food dehydrator for Christmas. 

“My home also has a lot of fruit trees,” she said in the episode. “We share it with friends and donate to a local food bank.”

Doria also made an appearance on the show when she joined Meghan’s garden party in the series finale. 

Decked out in a sleeveless caramel-coloured knit vest and loose leopard print pants, she looked radiant as she greeted her daughter. 

While admiring Meghan’s brunch spread, Doria asked: “Are the greens from the garden?” to which the Duchess replied: “Yes, greens are from the garden.” The proud mother replied: “It’s lovely. Nice job!”

Meghan explained on the show how much Doria’s cooking influenced her growing up, despite the pair moving around a lot. 

“I have a very, very high tolerance for spicy, and I love it,” she said. “I crave it. Even at a young age, we didn’t have a lot, but we travelled. My mom was a travel agent. We would just try so many different flavours in so many different places.”

She continued: “My mom would make gumbo, and soul food has a lot of flavour and a lot of kick to it. I crave that, and I always gravitate to that level of heat. So I am ushering my family into my palate, but I love it.” 

Meghan has never failed to gush about the yoga instructor, who welcomed the Duchess when she was 25 years old. 

In 2014, she praised her mother’s strength in an emotional post on The Tig, Meghan’s now-defunct blog. 

“She was keeping me safe. She was teaching me to take care of my body. She was introducing me to history, and fostering a love of being outdoors,” the 43-year-old shared. 

“She was planting the seed for me to become a foodie. She was showing me how to be a daughter, not just in that moment, but for when I became that grown woman. For right now. And 30 years from now. She was loving me. So tightly.” 

Doria split from Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle, two years after her birth in 1981, and they officially divorced in 1987. He had previously welcomed kids Samantha and Thomas Jr. with his first wife, Roslyn Loveless. 

Just days before Meghan and Harry’s wedding in 2018, Thomas underwent heart surgery and was unable to walk his daughter down the aisle.