Meghan Markle's brother-in-law charged with domestic violence after 'hitting her sister Samantha'

Meghan Markle's brother-in-law Mark Phillips has been arrested after an alleged domestic violence incident involving the Duchess' sister. Photos / Getty Images, Supplied

Meghan Markle's brother-in-law has been arrested after an alleged domestic violence incident involving the Duchess' sister.

Mark Phillips, 62, was taken into custody on December 14 after he reportedly hit Samantha Markle, who is wheelchair-bound and needed help getting off the toilet.

According to the Daily Mail, Phillips became angry at her request for help and smacked her "on the right side of her face in the ear area."

He then allegedly fled their home, but was soon caught by police.

Earlier this year, Samantha appeared on the Channel 7 breakfast show to declare the Duchess of Sussex was the reason behind the rift in the British royal family.

Samantha Markle, the sister of the Duchess of Sussex, has broken her silence to the world on Sunrise this morning following Harry and Meghan's decision to split from the royal family. https://t.co/G8ooIN7XFd #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/yACoKnJavW

— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) January 9, 2020

"I have said that if she will do this to our family, she would do it to yours," she said. "We (her family) all felt, as the world knows, very ghosted.

"The world mocked me as being jealous and bitter and I was just being very honest in saying, 'look, I love her, she is my sister, but humanitarians and diplomats don't behave like this'."

Samantha, 55, became renowned for blasting her half-sister - who she grew up with but became estranged from as they got older - around the time of Meghan and Harry's royal wedding in 2018, as she wasn't invited to the nuptials.