Doria Ragland’s voice ‘signals concern’ talking to Meghan on podcast

Doria Ragland's royal introduction discussed by experts

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Doria Ragland, 66, appeared on her daughter Meghan Markle’s podcast, Archetypes, in a surprise appearance. The Duchess of Sussex, 41, shared the soundbite on her podcast when Doria FaceTimed her daughter for a few seconds as Meghan was recording the show from her Montecito home in California. 

Meghan said the spontaneous moment made her reflect on the way in which Doria, who lives close by in Los Angeles, has supported her throughout her life. 

She also joked that they still do a handshake she came up with when she was eight years old and said that being a mother can be “the most thankless unpaid labour there is”.

The Duchess said: “So, a few weeks ago while I was working on this very episode, my mum called. She actually FaceTimed.” In the outtake, Meghan could be heard saying: “Oh sugar, my mum’s FaceTiming me.”

She then picked up the phone and could be heard saying: “Hey, Mummy,” with Doria replying “Hey, how’s my girl?”. Meghan added: “Hey, I’m okay, I’m hanging in there, it’s okay, I’m recording right now. Do you want to see?

“We’re just doing some podcasting. Can I call you back in a little bit?” Doria commented: “I have on a smiley face,” with Meghan repeating, “I have on a smiley face, I love you.”

Judi James, a professional voice analyst and body language expert spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk to offer her opinion on Doria’s voice and what it says about her as a person.

She claimed: “Doria is so much in ‘Mummy’ mode here. Her voice is set at a higher pitch as though she is talking to a child and Meghan immediately modifies her softer, lower, more soothing pitch that she uses on her podcast to mirror and match her mother’s mother/child energy.

“Meghan’s ‘Hey mummy’ shifts her state to that more childlike state that complements her mother’s next few words of caring, nurturing concern. ‘How’s my girl?’ is spoken in full nurturing mode rather than pitched to sound like a shared joke or a rhetorical question.

“Doria elongates the word ‘girl’ as she asks, signalling concern and a desire to offer love and comfort. It sounds like the tone a mother uses when she really does want to offer time to listen to her daughter share any problems, worries or troubles as well as any good news.

“This very brief communication hints that Doria is there to support Meghan and offer a listening and probably approving ear whenever needed.”

Meghan took the occasion of her mother calling her while she was recording to bring up something they have been sharing since she was a child.  

“My mum, she did this thing I do. You may have heard this clicking sound that she was doing,” she said. 

“All right, gang, my mum literally just pulled out a reference of what I came up with as a cool handshake to do with her when I was about eight, which was snap scissors, cut chicken,” she said, laughing. 

“I’m 41 years old. And she’s like, ‘okay’,” Meghan laughed into the microphone. “It’s great. And it just put me right back into the past thinking about my childhood and our little quirks together. 

“And then with this episode on my brain, it got me thinking about all the ways my mum supported me, how she took care of me and the house and herself and how she just juggled so much,” the Duchess added.

“The amount that women carry, that they navigate – it’s immense, and it’s often the most thankless unpaid labour there is,” she added. 

“There’s no union, there’s no lunch break. There’s nothing like that. At home, women just work really, really hard,” Meghan added. 

“A lot of that work is born out of necessity, but so much of it is also born out of expectations,” she said. 

The Duchess of Sussex also spoke of her relationship with motherhood in her latest podcast episode, with First Lady of Canada Sophie Trudeau as a star guest. 

The friends spoke about the challenges of parenting and being a partner to two famous men in an episode called, Good Wife/Bad Wife, Good Mom/Bad Mom.

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