Meghan Markle is seen in unearthed family photos illustrating idyllic, happy childhood Duchess’s cousin Shawn Johnson reveals

She’s now one of the most photographed women in the world but back in 1981 she made her debut to a much smaller fan base.

Pictured in previously unseen DailyMail.com photos, this is Meghan Markle shown for the first time as a newborn: cradled in the loving arms of her maternal grandmother Jeanette.

A second photo shows her peering up at the camera, cozy in a black hoodie and bearing a striking resemblance to her own five-year-old son Archie at the same age.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, the now Duchess of Sussex‘s cousin Shawn Johnson, 43, said: ‘She was always really sweet. She was kind and she always had a star quality about her.

‘She was infectious with just the way she was and really mature for her age. She was always really looking after us and making sure that we’re all doing fine.’

Childhood photos and Meghan Markle’s cousin Shawn Johnson paint a portrait of a very happy family and upbringing that had the Duchess of Sussex at its center and saw her lavished with a private education and treated to luxury vacations. She is pictured above in her youth in an undated picture 

Among DailyMail.com’s exclusive cache of photos are shots of the future Duchess of Sussex beaming on the beach alongside a childhood friend during a trip to Hawaii

Another adorable baby photo shows Meghan peering up at the camera, cozy in a black hoodie (left) and bearing a striking resemblance to her own five-year-old son Archie (pictured right in 2019) at the same age

Shawn is the son of Joseph Johnson, Markle’s maternal uncle who died aged 72 of congestive heart failure in August 2021.

Although the pair lost contact in their early twenties, Shawn says he hopes to get back in touch with his cousin who is currently estranged from everyone in her family with the exception of her mother Doria, husband, and children.

Photos showing Markle interacting with her family as a child make the estrangement all the more baffling, particularly in the case of her father Thomas – seen with his arms wrapped around her in one of DailyMail.com’s exclusive photos.

The pair have not spoken since her April 2018 wedding when the retired lighting director suffered a heart attack and canceled his plans to attend at the last minute.

Shawn Johnson is Meghan’s cousin through her maternal uncle Joseph Johnson, who died aged 72 of congestive heart failure in 2021

At the same time, he was exposed by the Mail on Sunday as having staged a series of paparazzi photos – among them shots of him getting measured for a suit and jogging near his home in Rosarito, Mexico.

Thomas, who has never met Prince Harry or his grandchildren Archie and Lilibet, has since become increasingly outspoken, desperately pleading with his daughter to let him see her, all to no avail.

But during Markle’s childhood, he was the axis on which her world turned along with her mother Doria.

Shawn paints a portrait of a very happy family – one that had Meghan at its center and saw her lavished with a private education and treated to luxury vacations in Hawaii, as well as a transatlantic trip to London where she was famously photographed outside Buckingham Palace with her childhood best friend Ninaki Priddy.

Among DailyMail.com’s exclusive cache of photos are shots of the future Duchess of Sussex beaming on the beach in Hawaii as well as enjoying a trip to Disneyland – a far cry from the modest upbringing she claimed she had in a 2021 letter to Congress, where she described having to) worked from age 13 and having to ‘make ends meet.’

Unearthed photos shared with DailyMail.com show Meghan Markle as a newborn, cradled in the loving arms of her maternal grandmother Jeanette

Meghan publicly fell out with her father Thomas Markle following her engagement to Prince Harry in 2018 and the two remain estranged, but family photos have illustrated a close father-daughter bond between them during her youth

Meghan is currently estranged from nearly everyone in her family with the exception of her mother Doria (pictured in 2018), husband, and children

In that missive, Meghan claimed her parents had struggled to afford a $4.99 Sizzler salad bar meal for her and that she had been forced to get a job at 13 to make ends meet. 

But according to her cousin, she ‘definitely had enough’.

Shawn explained: ‘I don’t think any of us were really well off, but we had enough, and she definitely had enough.

He added: ‘Doria loved her a lot. We could see that, and we all loved her and we’re happy that her life turned out the way it did for her.’

Shawn, who lives in Merced, California, told DailyMail.com he hasn’t seen his cousin in nearly two decades but remembers their joint childhoods being very happy.

The embroiderer and graphic designer said: ‘We used to go down there for all the holidays and go to Los Angeles and visit them.

‘We’d be at my grandmother’s house, and we’d all get together. We all had a pretty good childhood growing up.

‘Meghan definitely helped make that childhood great – she was a big part of it. It was really nice just going out there for the holidays, hanging out with her.’

The proud cousin added: ‘We just had that feeling she was going to do something amazing.

Photos show Meghan was fortunate enough to enjoy family trips to Disneyland as a child

Thomas Markle was exposed as having staged a series of paparazzi photos in the lead up to his daughter’s royal wedding and has since become increasingly outspoken, desperately pleading with his daughter to let him see her, all to no avail

Doria Ragland, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex attend the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Awards in May 2023 in New York City

‘We didn’t know what but we were still shocked by what she actually did.’

He added: ‘I have no bad memories, no anything of her having any weird attitude issues or anything like that.

‘She was always just really, even later in the teenage years, she was really mature and kind of ahead of the curve.’

Since fleeing the Royal Family in 2020 and setting up home with Prince Harry, 39, in Montecito, the couple have become increasingly controversial.

First, in March 2021 came the infamous Oprah interview in which the pair first claimed one of the royal family had made racist comments about the color of an as yet unborn Archie’s skin.

Later the same year, Markle wrote a widely derided letter to Congress claiming to have endured a struggling childhood – in stark contrast to DailyMail.com’s photos showing her holidaying in Hawaii and enjoying trips to Disneyland as a child.

A Netflix documentary aired in December 2022 caused yet more controversy with Markle seen making a mocking curtsey and taking potshots at the Prince and Princess of Wales.

2023 began with Harry’s bitter memoir, Spare, which proved to be riddled with inaccuracies and full of salacious detail – including his use of Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream to heal his frostbitten penis.

The couple have become increasingly controversial since leaving the UK and moving to California in 2020, beginning with their infamous 2021 sit-down with Oprah in which they spoke out against the Royal Family

Harry and Meghan made a surprise appearance at the world premiere of Bob Marley: One Love last month

That was followed by a mocking edition of South Park called ‘The Worldwide Privacy Tour’ and then, in May, widespread derision after the couple claimed to have been the victims of a ‘high speed paparazzi car chase’.

Their story rapidly fell apart with both the NYPD and Mayor Eric Adams casting doubt on their version of events, while photos showed them crammed into the back of a slow-moving taxi.

Despite the controversy that follows his cousin, Shawn says he thinks some of the criticism has gone too far and says he is horrified by some of what he reads online.

He said: ‘Some of the stuff is just so harsh, and I know it’s fake. You just try to chalk it up to internet culture, and that’s just the way people are around celebrities.

‘I’ve even seen [stories about me] – there’s an article, it’s not one of the popular stories, but this said that me and Meghan were dating or something like that.

‘It’s a picture where we were young at the time and she had just, I don’t know, a little belly or whatever. We were just kids but there were people speculating on TikTok.’

Shawn added: ‘There was another story where she was doing some kind of charity work or whatever, and then people just said, oh, that’s fake.

‘Or she’s just doing that for attention – she just can’t do anything right whatsoever. I always remember her as the person who couldn’t really do too much wrong – it’s so strange to see it switched up.’