Meghan Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland arrive at Cliveden House Hotel on the National Trust's Cliveden Estate to spend the night before her wedding to Prince Harry. Photo / Getty Images
Meghan Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland arrive at Cliveden House Hotel on the National Trust's Cliveden Estate to spend the night before her wedding to Prince Harry. Photo / Getty Images
Baby Sussex's grandmother has all the makings of being a very groovy granny indeed.
"Dreadlocks. Nose ring. Yoga instructor. Social worker. Free spirit. Lover of potato chips and lemon tarts," was how Doria Ragland, 62, was described by her daughter, back in 2014.
Ragland is expected to be a strong presence in her new grandson's life, just as Meghan's own grandmother "Granny Jeanette" is said to have been for her. But though she won't be just around the corner as Meghan's granny was during her childhood (she still keeps her modest bungalow in the Crenshaw district of Los Angeles, inherited from her father), the five-month renovation of Frogmore Cottage on the Windsor Estate is said to include the construction of a "granny wing", which Ragland can call home when she is in the UK.
And Ragland is approaching her duties as a grandmother seriously, enrolling for grandparenting lessons with classes in care for newborns at LA's Cradle Company.
Business owner Brandi Jordan has a clientele that includes Hollywood mums such as Megan Fox, Rosamund Pike and Julia Stiles. She is flown to delivery rooms and nurseries around the world, commanding fees of up to $10,000 a time, the Daily Mail reported.
Jordan is known as "The Baby Sleep Fairy" for her legendary ability to soothe crying infants, and among well-heeled new parents her pearls of wisdom on childbirth and after-care have earned her "guru" status.
Two of the company's teachers have been coming to Ragland's home to train her in breastfeeding and lactation consultancy, basic baby care, CPR and first aid.
"Meghan wants to avoid hiring staff if possible once her first child arrives," a source told a British tabloid. "The thought of having her mum move in with them and take on the role of baby nurse is the best possible solution to that. It's something Doria has always wanted to do anyway. She already specialises in prenatal yoga."
And the Duchess, who has spoken frequently of her close bond with her mother, will certainly want her to be around as much as possible.
Britain's Prince Harry speaks at Windsor Castle about the birth. Photo / AP
"We can just have so much fun together, and yet, I'll still find so much solace in her support," she has said of Ragland. "That duality coexists the same way it would in a best friend."
Prince Harry, meanwhile, has called his mother-in-law "amazing", and it is likely they will be hoping that Ragland can pass some of her calm demeanour, grace and humility to their son.
"Both my parents came from little, so they made a choice to give a lot," the Duchess wrote on her now-shut blog, The Tig, in 2016. "Buying turkeys for homeless shelters at Thanksgiving, delivering meals to patients in hospice care, donating any spare change in their pocket to those asking for it, and performing quiet acts of grace - be it a hug, a smile, or a pat on the back to show ones in need that they would be all right."
Ragland, born in Los Angeles to an antique dealer father and a mother who was a nurse, has also instilled in her only daughter a strong sense of being a citizen of the world - a trait likely to be passed on to Baby Sussex.
Meghan Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland arrive at Cliveden House Hotel on the National Trust's Cliveden Estate to spend the night before her wedding to Prince Harry. Photo / Getty Images
In a recent interview, the Duchess's uncle revealed this world vision came from Granny Jeanette, who was especially resilient and socially aware.
People gather outside Buckingham Palace to take pictures of the notice placed on an easel to formally announce the birth of a baby boy to Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan. Photo / AP
Ragland, who worked as an air stewardess for a time, took her daughter, aged 10, to visit disadvantaged children in Rwanda, see the slums of Jamaica and experience poverty in Mexico.
"My mother raised me to be a global citizen, with eyes open to sometimes harsh realities," the Duchess has said.
