Meghan Markle's Sister, Samantha, Slams Kensington Palace's Pregnancy Announcement

Meghan Markle's half-sister Samantha Markle had a mouthful to say about the Duchess of Sussex's baby announcement. Kensington Palace released a statement on Monday confirming Meghan Markle and Prince Harry were expecting their first child together. The couple's baby is slated to arrive in the spring of 2019.

Initially, Samantha Markle seemed to be excited by her sister's pregnancy. "It just makes everything that happened over the last year disappear. I want Meghan to be happy and calm and have peace," Samantha Markle said in a statement to London tabloid The Sun on Tuesday. "Everybody needs to be positive."

Samantha Markle's following comment, however, was shaded with negativity. "I would hope that—for the sake of the baby, the family, the world and my dad—that leaving him out of the statement was not intentional," she continued.

Kensington Palace's full statement on Meghan Markle's pregnancy noted the Duchess's mother, Doria Ragland, was "very happy" to learn of the family's newest addition. The palace made no mention of Meghan Markle's father, 74-year-old Thomas Markle, whom Meghan Markle has been reportedly been estranged from since he missed her wedding in May due to health complications. It was revealed Thomas Markle participated in staged paparazzi photos in the days leading up to the royal wedding.

The omission of Thomas Markle from the palace's statement clearly bothered Samantha Markle, who hoped her father's missing name didn't mean he'd also be absent from the child's life. "I would hope my dad is included and at a proper time," she continued to tell The Sun, before adding a threatening message. "If he is excluded, I won't be happy. It is in the best interests of the baby for my dad to be included."

Samantha Markle has been one of the more outspoken members of Meghan Markle's intermediate family—aside from their father—and has continued to speak about her sister's relationship with Thomas Markle to the British press despite claiming she would no longer talk about Meghan Markle following the Duchess's wedding.