Meghan Markle 's claim that she was not allowed to invite her niece to her wedding has been described as "a complete lie" by a royal source.
In the third episode of the docuseries 'Harry and Meghan', which aired yesterday on Netflix, the Duchess of Sussex opened up about her relationship with her estranged half-sister Samantha Markle as well as her niece, Ashleigh Hale.
Meghan claimed she was never close to Samantha, who has been openly critical of her since she began dating Prince Harry in 2016, giving interviews and even writing a book calling her 'Princess Pushy'.
The Duchess of Sussex said in the documentary: "Suddenly it felt like she was everywhere. I don't know your middle name, I don't know your birthday. You're telling these people that you raised me, and you've coined me 'Princess Pushy?"
However, Meghan said she is very close to Samantha's daughter, who was raised by her paternal grandfather but reconnected with her mother for a short period in 2007.
Meghan recalled: "I just remember my dad saying...'Samantha found her daughter and I was like...'Oh if you have her email address, I want to email her."
When Meghan and her Ashleigh got in touch, they "hit it off", becoing very close and going on vacations together, the Duchess said.
Talking in the documentary, Ashleigh said Meghan has "a sister element", as she explained: "I think she takes on a lot of roles for me. There's a sister element, she's maternal, she's a best friend."
But Ashleigh said she cut off her relationship with her mother completely as Samantha began talking to her about Meghan in a resentful way when she began dating Harry.
In the series, Meghan said she wanted to invite Ashleigh to her wedding in May 2018, but claimed she was advised by the palace's press team that she should not invite her as it would be difficult to explain why her niece was there and her half-sister was not.
She explained: "I was in the car with H, and I called her and I had her on speaker phone and we talked her through the guidance we were given and why this assessment was made. And that's painful."
Ashleigh said: "I think I said I was hurt on some level, but I understand where it was coming from.
"To know that it was because of my biological mother, that this relationship that's so important to me was impacted in that way. To feel like because of her it was taken away was hard."
A royal source, however, claimed that the press team was desperate for Meghan to have more family and friends at the wedding, branding her claims about her niece as a lie.
An insider told The Sun : "It's a complete lie. Meghan said she didn’t want her exposed to the media."
In the new series, Harry also claimed the royals asked why Meghan should be "protected" from media speculation, alleging he was told it was something all royal women - including Princess Diana and Kate - have gone through.
Speaking in episode two of 'Harry & Meghan', he claims the Palace told them to say nothing when it came to stories printed about them - which is in line with the family's 'Never Complain, Never Explain' motto.
The couple also shared intimate pictures and footage of Harry proposing to Meghan at Kensington Palace back in 2017.
Harry explained he wanted to pop the question earlier but was not able to because he had to ask permission from his grandmother.
He recalled: "I did pop a bottle of champagne while she was roasting a chicken, and that slightly gave the game away. I just said 'Oh I had it lying around, whatever'.
Meghan laughed: "It was a Magnum."
Viewers were shown how Harry set up electric candles and a candle in the North Garden of Kensington Palace with Meghan video-calling her friend.
An image was then shown of Harry on one knee alongside Meghan's dog Guy and he says: "Of course I got down on one knee. Of course I did."
And Meghan added: "He was down on one knee and I was like 'yes' we were so joyful and excited. We thought 'we're doing this!'"
