The grandfather Meghan Markle adored died tragically outside her mom’s home after tripping on his dog’s leash as he walked the pet, DailyMail.com can disclose.
Markle was filming Suits in Toronto when Alvin Ragland, who had been a huge presence in her life, suffered the fall and died days later.
DailyMail.com can disclose, however, that Ragland’s influence in her life can be seen to this day in standing up against racial injustice – and her taste in interiors.
Alvin was found unconscious outside the olive green home where Meghan’s mother Doria lives in the View Park-Windsor Hills suburb of LA also known as the ‘black Beverly Hills. The two lived there together in his later years.
A Los Angeles coroner’s case report unearthed by DailyMail.com says he passed away just nine days after he fell aged 82.
He was found by neighbors less than 200 feet from his front door with the dog leash still wrapped around his ankles.
The LA Coroner ruled his death an accident, writing in the synopsis: ‘According to his daughter, neighbors found the decedent lying in the street at approximately 1200 hours on 3/3/11. The decedent had apparently been walking his dog when he tripped and the leash was found wrapped around one of his ankles.’
Alvin was taken to hospital by ambulance where he was diagnosed with bleeding on the brain. He underwent brain surgery but never regained consciousness, passing away on March 12, 2011.
The report added his cause of death was ‘blunt head trauma’ and ‘foul play is not suspected’.
Meghan was said to be very saddened by her grandfather’s death, which happened while she was away in Toronto preparing for her new show Suits.
Alvin may well have been a proud guest at his granddaughter’s historic wedding to Prince Harry this weekend alongside Harry’s grandfather Prince Philip if he hadn’t had fallen victim to such a bizarre accident.
A family source told DailyMail.com: ‘Meghan loved her grandfather very much and he absolutely loved her. He would have loved to have seen her fall in love and marry Prince Harry and she would have loved him to live to see it too.’
DailyMail.com spoke to old friends of the hardworking Los Angeles antique dealer who used to travel far and wide to flea markets in a ‘beat up car packed with junk’.
Well dressed and with an impressive Afro, Alvin spent his Sundays at the trendy Melrose Trading Post market in Los Angeles, lugging an eclectic collection of antiques from his ‘beat up’ El Camino pick up truck to his assigned lot.
Vendors there still remember Alvin fondly and were amazed when DailyMail.com informed them he was the grandfather of Meghan Markle – who will become part of the British royal family this Saturday.
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SOURCE: RYAN PARRY, HUGO DANIEL
Daily Mail
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