Previously unseen home videos of the Duchess of Sussex as a homecoming queen during her high school days will air on Australian TV this weekend.
Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle Sr, and half-siblings Samantha and Thomas Jr, provided the footage to Australian news programme 7News Spotlight as part of a new set of interviews.
In a trailer released ahead of the programme, which will be broadcast on Sunday 30 May, Meghan is seen walking alongside the homecoming king at the time, while wearing a strapless gown and a tiara on her head.
Another clip shows the pair being driven round the school’s running track in the back of a convertible as they wave to their friends around them. Meghan is seen blowing a kiss to the camera filming her riding away.
As a teenager, the duchess attended Immaculate Heart High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Los Angeles.
In 2018, a photograph of her as homecoming queen with her date at the time surfaced on social media ahead of her wedding to the Duke of Sussex.
Other home footage of Meghan as a young girl will air on 7News, provided by her estranged father and siblings.
One clip shows her performing a dance with two other girls, dressed in a black tank top with a red bandana around her neck and a black hat with white trim.
Another shows her laughing on a snowy day while wearing a big red jumper, and a third shows Meghan waving at the camera while wearing a varsity jacket, with her curly hair tied back.
The home videos are interspersed with clips of Meghan’s family, with whom she has strained relationships, speaking about the duchess.
Her half-sister Samantha claims in the trailer that Meghan would “still be a waitress if it wasn’t for” their father, who has not spoken to Meghan since he took part in staged paparazzi photos before her wedding to Prince Harry.
Samantha also claimed that Meghan and Harry are “unhealthy” for each other and have a “toxic relationship”.
It comes after the 58-year-old lost a defamation lawsuit against the duchess. Samantha alleged that Meghan spread “malicious lies” during her 2021 Oprah Winfrey interview, but the case was dismissed by a Florida judge.
Meanwhile, Thomas Sr, who suffered a stroke last year, appears to ask what he can do to “fix” his relationship with his youngest daughter.
7News Spotlight said the show on Sunday will see Thomas Sr making a “desperate plea” with Meghan to “make peace with [him] before it’s too late”.
In her and Harry’s Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan, the former Suits star said that when she was younger, she was “a daddy’s girl” and was “with him a lot”. However, their relationship broke down after Thomas Sr refused to stop speaking to the tabloid press about his daughter, despite her pleas for him not to remain in contact with them any further.
The Independent has contacted the Sussexes’ representative for comment.
