Gran Jeanette ... queen of the Meghan clan
WHILE Prince Harry’s grandmother is one of the wealthiest – and most famous – women in the world, Meghan Markle’s gran was raised in very different circumstances. But she was no less formidable.
Jeanette Ragland, who died in 2000 aged 71, was the daughter of a hotel bellboy and a lift operator. ‘She was like the man of the family, and the wife and mother. She was quite a pistol,’ said her son, Joseph Johnson last week.
When Jeanette suffered a stroke in later life, Meghan helped nurse her. Joseph, 68, said: ‘Meghan would sit there, talk to her, hold her hand, cook for her and take care of her – whatever she could to bring comfort. She loved her grandmother.’
And, according to Joseph, Jeanette helped raise Meghan while the star’s mother Doria was working.
‘My mother babysat while Doria was pursuing her career,’ said Joseph. ‘When Doria got off work she would go over to my mother’s house to pick her up.’
Jeanette’s father was James Arnold, a bellboy at the St Regis in Cleveland, Ohio, where he fell in love with its lift operator, Netty.
Jeanette grew up in Cleveland where she married Joseph Johnson Sr. The couple had two children: Joseph Jr and Saundra.
‘I think she was 19 or 20 when they married, she was young,’ said Joseph. ‘They separated when we were two or three, and she raised us alone.’
For five years Jeanette struggled as a single mother. ‘She did her best. She always worked and kept us fed and clothed,’ said Joseph.
Alvin Ragland became Jeanette’s second husband, and is father to Meghan’s mother, Doria. But the union did not last. ‘Jeanette didn’t marry a third time. One of her goals was to keep her family together, so I think her life was a great success,’ added Joseph.