Samantha Markle slams 'liar' Meghan Markle over niece's invite to royal wedding

Samantha Markle is unhappy over how she was blamed for her daughter, Ashleigh Hale, not getting an invite to Meghan Markle's wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018. She says the Duchess of Sussex lied because she had not wanted to invite her niece at all.

The third episode of the "Harry & Meghan" Netflix series sees Ashleigh talking about her strained relationship with her own mother. She says she and her brother did not grow up with Samantha because they were brought up by their grandparents. It was only in 2007 that they reconnected but also quickly fell out because of their differing opinions about the former "Suits" star.

In the series, Ashleigh and Meghan also talk about the close bond they have with photos showing the fun times they had together before she married Prince Harry. Ashleigh describes her aunt as her "sister," "best friend," and "maternal" figure all rolled into one.

However, Ashleigh was not at Meghan's wedding. The Duchess of Sussex explained in the series that she was advised against inviting her niece because there was so much drama surrounding Samantha.

Ashleigh admits, "To know that it was because of my biological mother that this relationship that's so important to me [Ashleigh's relationship with Meghan] was impacted in that way... To feel like, because of her [Samantha], it was taken away, it's been hard."

Speaking about this revelation with Sunrise, Samantha insists that Meghan lied about it being her fault. She knew that her daughter was not at the wedding but that had nothing to do with her.

"It kind of saddened me but it is surprising to hear that there was a narrative spun that made Ashleigh feel like she was not invited because of something having to do with me."

Samantha then cites a "royal insider who knows that [decision] was up to Meghan." She continues, "So Meghan lied to my daughter, which made my daughter, I think feel begrudging of me a little bit, thinking it was my fault."

"...I found out that the royals did not say that, Meghan said that. Meghan then lied to my daughter and made my daughter feel like there was something wrong with me that prevented her from going to the wedding."

Samantha calls the story a "horrible lie" and "horrible manipulation." She then accused Meghan of using lies and manipulation to pit family members against each other as she admits that it is "very sad" that the Duchess of Sussex did that to Ashleigh.