Meghan Markle's family have been under intense media scrutiny since she announced her engagement to Prince Harry in November 2017.
Her relatives are in many ways unlikely in-laws for Britain's royal family: Markle's parents are divorced, her half-siblings opinionated, and her father once declared bankruptcy.
HERE IS A LOOK AT THE WINDSORS' NEW IN-LAWS:
MARKLE'S FATHER
Thomas Markle married Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, in 1979. They split when Meghan was six years old.
He stayed in contact with his daughter, although their relationship was sometimes troubled. Nevertheless, in a 2016 Instagram post on Father's Day, she wrote "[t]o this day your hugs are still the very best in the whole wide world".
Today, Thomas Markle leads a quiet life in Rosarito, on Mexico's Pacific coast. He won $750,000 in the lottery in 1990, but later declared bankruptcy.
He has been the figure of much gossiping in the British press, with tabloids recently snapping him getting fitted for a suit at a backstreet tailor's near his Rosarito home.
Following the embarrassing photos, he withdrew from the wedding and now won't be walking his daughter down the aisle at St George's Chapel in Windsor. Prince Harry is reportedly still to meet his future father-in-law.
MARKLE'S MOTHER
Markle is thought to be much closer with her mother, who raised her as a single parent.
Last year, Markle told Glamour magazine, "We can just have so much fun together, and yet I'll still find so much solace in her support".
In a 2014 post in her now-defunct blog The Tig, Markle affectionately described her mother: "Dreadlocks. Nose ring. Yoga instructor. Social worker. Free spirit."
Ragland is a social worker and is reportedly still working with drug addicts in Los Angeles, despite being in the spotlight since the engagement, according to the Daily Mail.
In the week leading up to the nuptials, Ragland will to spend time with Harry's family, including his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Harry has already met Ragland several times. In the first sit-down interview with him and Markle, the prince told the BBC: "Her mum's amazing!"
MARKLE'S HALF-SISTER
Markle's relationship with her half-sister, Samantha Grant, has also generated a lot of media attention, in part due to Grant's controversial statements.
In the past, she has suggested that Markle could do more to financially support their father, telling Australian TV show A Current Affair that "Honestly, what she could spend in a weekend would greatly help Dad".
In 2016, Grant told Britain's The Sun that Markle was motivated by "social climbing".
Grant lives in Florida and, like Markle, was also in acting and television, although with less success. She now plans to write a book, entitled The Diary of Princess Pushy's Sister.
It is unclear whether she will be a guest at the wedding next week.
MARKLE'S HALF-BROTHER
Thomas Markle Jr is also reportedly still waiting for an invite - although it seems unlikely after he wrote a scathing letter published last week in celebrity gossip magazine In Touch.
According to the report, he described the upcoming nuptials as "the biggest mistake in royal wedding history". Addressing Harry, he added, "Meghan Markle is obviously not the right woman for you", adding that she is a "jaded, shallow, conceited woman that will make a joke of you and the royal family heritage".
MARKLE'S EX-HUSBAND
Markle was married to Hollywood producer Trevor Engelson for less than two years, before they divorced in 2013.
He is planning an untitled comedy about a man whose wife leaves him for a British prince, with Fox having commissioned a pilot episode, according to entertainment news site Deadline. The project claims to be fictional.
Australian Associated Press
