The newly-minted Duchess of Sussex’s estranged half-sister Samantha has been included in a “fixated persons list” with Scotland Yard, The Sunday Times reported, adding that the 53-year-old woman, who has more than once criticized the royal newlyweds in interviews and personal tweets since their engagement a year ago, poses a “reputational risk” to the royals in general.
“Someone like Samantha presents a risk rather than a threat. She is not committing criminal offences, but she is causing concerns for the royal family”, the edition cited a police source as saying.
The issue reportedly boils down to “a big potential for some major embarrassment” for the royal family, with the duchess’s personal protection officers believed to have spoken to detectives from Scotland Yard’s Fixated Threat Assessment Centre about Samantha, The Times wrote, adding that Samantha’s “pattern of unwanted and persistent behaviour” would have been discussed by the duchess and her protection officers “during briefings”.
The FTAC’s website, meanwhile, puts it explicitly that among its goals is to “to assess and manage the risks from lone individuals who harass, stalk or threaten public figures”. Scotland Yard, however, didn’t directly assess the reports as correct, saying:
“We do not confirm the identity of any person who may or may not be of interest to the police unless that person has been charged”.
While Kensington Palace declined altogether to comment to The Times on the issue, Samantha, who suffered from multiple sclerosis in 2008 and has since been moving around in an electric wheelchair, blasted the reports as ludicrous and blasted the media outlets, including The Australian, where she had read about it, as “fake news”:
“This is ridiculous as I’m in an electric wheelchair and I live on a different continent LOL and advocating for doing the right thing by our dad is hardly fixation. Stop your lying nonsense or be sued”.
Meghan is known to have been in a tense rift with her father, Thomas Markle, since she tied the knot with Harry, with a source telling US Weekly earlier this month that the former actress had “completely cut” off her father after all of his “betrayal”. Thomas was not even present at Meghan and Harry’s big day in May and despite the tradition, didn’t accompany his daughter through the aisle in Windsor. The reason was reportedly a heart attack in wake of a paparazzi photo scandal, after which he angrily spoke about their estrangement and billed the royal family as “cult-like” — “like Scientologists or the Stepford family”.
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Meghan’s half-sister Samantha attempted to turn up without prior notification at Kensington Palace in October, reportedly aiming to push the two sides to reconciliation, but was turned away by gate guards. She later sent a Christmas card to Meghan telling her the “time was now” to “end the rift” with her estranged father Thomas.
“Dad has been trying to contact you and is very hurt because you are avoiding him”, remarked Samantha, who is reportedly writing a book about her sister called In the Shadows of The Duchess, which was previously named The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister. “Life is short and you know Dad is wonderful”, she wrote.
Thomas Markle in turn made an appearance on Good Morning Britain, where he called for his daughter to get in touch with him:
“I love my daughter very much and she has to know that. I would really appreciate if she would just call me, reach out to me somehow, send me a text, just say you're there and you're hearing me”, the 74-year-old former lighting director said emotionally.
