Meghan Markle’s mom, Doria Ragland, was surprised to discover during her visit to Frogmore Cottage that the Royal Family placed very tight restrictions on her daughter.
The restrictions were so tight that she and her daughter were not even allowed to go out together for coffee.
Omid Scobie, who co-authored a book about the Sussexes, titled Finding Freedom, made the claim in an article published in Harper’s Bazaar.
Megan Markle lived with Prince Harry at Frogmore in Windsor after their wedding in 2018 and Doria visited them in the summer of 2019.
Scobie wrote that during her visit to Frogmore, Doria became worried about Markle’s isolated existence.
“Her isolated existence stood out in particular to her worried mother, Doria Ragland, who during a summer 2019 visit to Frogmore Cottage was surprised to discover that neither she nor her daughter was able to go out into Windsor town to pick up coffees,” Scobie wrote.
According to Scobie, a source said that Doria told her daughter, “You’re stuck in here.”
Express reported that when Doria learned that Markle and Harry were stepping down as senior working members of the royal family, she was happy that her daughter was “putting her mental health and wellbeing first.”
The royals told Meghan Markle they wanted her to ‘lie low’
Scobie added that Meghan lived under enforced isolation and that “royal family members and aides” did not allow her to go out for lunch with friends or enjoy other social outings with them.
The royals, according to Scobie, insisted that she was receiving too much media coverage and that it would be better for her to “lie low.”
“Lunch with friends could have momentarily lifted her spirits, but social outings were dismissed by royal family members and aides who said it would be better to lie low,” Scobie wrote.
Markle talked about living in isolation during the Oprah interview
Scobie appeared to confirm Meghan’s claim during Sunday’s interview with Oprah that she felt isolated and lonely when she lived with Prince Harry as a senior member of the Royal Family. She said she was not allowed to leave the house and meet with friends.
Markle said the royals were preoccupied with their public image. She recalled members of the royal family telling her that “you can’t do this because it’ll look like that.”
She said that when she asked whether she could go and have lunch with her friends, she was told, “No, no, no, you’re oversaturated, you’re everywhere, it would be best for you to not go out to lunch with your friends.”
According to Markle, a member of the royal family came to her and told her to “just lay low for a little while” because she was “everywhere right now.”
Markle was surprised by the statement because she had only left the house twice in four months.
Markle and Prince Harry have since moved to California
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have since moved to Santa Barbara in California where they live in a $14.7 million mansion.
They moved to California in July 2020 after announcing in January 2020 that they were stepping down from their roles as senior members of the royal family.