Prince Harry's comment that Meghan Markle's Christmas with the royals gave her a taste of the "family she's never had" has gone down badly with his future in-laws, Meghan's half-brother Thomas Markle Jr has said.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday, Prince Harry told the BBC that Christmas had been "fantastic" and the royal family "loved having her there."
When asked whether he had to explain any family traditions to Meghan, Harry said, "Plenty, I think we've got one of the biggest families that I know of."
"Every family is complex as well, so she's done an absolutely amazing job. She's getting in there and it's the family I suppose that she's never had," Harry said.
"We were as close as we could be, as tight as we could be, that's what we were," he told the Daily Mail.
"We'd get together on Christmases, on holidays, on birthdays, on Thanksgivings… It was always somewhere, even though we lived in different parts of the city [Los Angeles] – we still all got together."
"Obviously, she had a family. She was very privileged. She got everything she ever wanted. We did the best that we could in terms of getting together for holidays and whatnot."
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He said that Thomas Markle Sr, 73, a retired cinematographer who now lives in Mexico, "will be extremely hurt" to hear the comments.
"He dedicated the majority of all his time and everything to her. He made sure she had what she needed to be successful and get to where she's at today."
Meghan's half-sister Samantha, who is writing a book about Meghan and their family, has also criticized Prince Harry's remark.
"Actually she has a large family who were always there with her and for her… No one was estranged, she was just too busy. Read my book complete with facts and photos," Samantha Markle tweeted.
