Who is the father of Meghan Markle's children?
Executive summary
The father of Meghan Markle’s children — Prince Archie Mountbatten‑Windsor and Princess Lilibet Mountbatten‑Windsor — is Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan’s husband; the couple married in May 2018 and have two children together [1]. Public reporting also emphasizes Meghan’s own father, Thomas Markle Sr., as her biological father, but he is not the father of her children [2].
1. Direct answer: Prince Harry is the father
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is the biological father of Meghan Markle’s two children: their son Archie, born in 2019, and their daughter Lilibet, born on June 4, 2021 — both children are publicly described and styled as members of the Mountbatten‑Windsor line and were born to the couple during their marriage [1].
2. Documentary evidence and mainstream reporting that support this
Authoritative biographies and major outlets documenting the Sussexes’ family explicitly identify Harry as Meghan’s husband and the father of their children; encyclopedic summaries of Meghan’s life note her marriage to Prince Harry in May 2018 and list Archie and Lilibet as the couple’s children, tying parentage to that union [1]. Contemporary news coverage of family developments, including pregnancy announcements and birth reports, uniformly treat Prince Harry as the father in profiles and coverage of the family [1].
3. Why the question sometimes causes confusion: Meghan’s estranged father
Some public attention conflates Meghan’s own parentage with the parentage of her children because Meghan’s father, Thomas Markle Sr., has been a persistent subject of tabloid coverage and family disputes; reporting documents that Thomas Markle is Meghan’s biological father and that he and Meghan have been estranged since the run‑up to her wedding after his admission to staged photos [2] [3]. Several outlets note Thomas Markle has said he has not met Harry and Meghan’s children and has offered conflicting accounts about contact with Meghan, which fuels public misunderstanding about who fathered Archie and Lilibet [3] [4].
4. Public narratives, competing agendas and misinformation risks
Coverage of the Markle family often carries implicit agendas — tabloids seeking salacious angles about family rifts, advocacy or sympathetic pieces emphasizing reconciliation, and official statements shaping the Sussexes’ public image — and these competing narratives can blur simple facts for casual readers; while Thomas Markle’s personal and medical updates dominate some headlines, they do not change the parental fact that Harry is the father of Meghan’s children [5] [4]. Reporting from mainstream reference sources and outlets consistently distinguishes between Meghan’s parental lineage (daughter of Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland) and the parents of her children (Meghan and Harry) [2] [6] [1].
5. Practical takeaway and limits of reporting
The incontrovertible, documented answer is that Prince Harry is the father of Meghan Markle’s children, Archie and Lilibet, as established by birth announcements and biographical records tied to their marriage [1]; reporting demonstrates that public confusion arises from attention on Meghan’s estranged father Thomas Markle but the sources reviewed do not provide evidence that would contradict Harry’s paternity, nor do they suggest any alternative parentage for the Sussex children [2] [3]. This analysis is limited to the provided reporting and does not assert facts beyond what those sources record.