Thomas Markle has claimed Meghan and the royal family have “cut him off” and he hasn’t spoken to his daughter in at least 10 weeks.
In a lengthy, unpaid interview with The Mail on Sunday, the Duchess of Sussex’s father heavily criticised the royal family, its staff and his own daughter.
The 74-year-old Mexico resident said after previously criticising the royal family, a phone number he could use to contact Meghan’s palace aids had been “disconnected” and he had no other way of contacting her.
“I’m really hurt that she’s cut me off completely,” he told the UK newspaper.
Thomas pinned the fracture in his and Meghan’s relationship down to his staging of paparazzi photos before her wedding to Prince Harry on May 19. He also said a recent interview where he told Good Morning Britain he thought Meghan and Harry would have kids soon contributed.
The retired lighting director said he feared that he wouldn't get to meet any of the children the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may have.
"How tragic is that, to deprive a child of its grandfather because I said a few things critical of the royal family?"
Thomas also told Mail reporters Peter Sheridan and Caroline Graham that because of his heart condition and general poor health, he didn't expect to live for much longer. Bizarrely, he suggested Meghan may be better off with him gone.
"Perhaps it would be easier for Meghan if I died. Everybody would be filled with sympathy for her."
The outspoken family member added though that he hoped he and the 36-year-old would "reconcile" before he died.
However, statements he gave in the interview may make that reunion harder.
"What riles me is Meghan's sense of superiority. She'd be nothing without me. I made her the Duchess she is today. Everything that Meghan is, I made her," he told the paper.
He made clear he resented his ex Doria Ragland's image of the ideal parent, adding that his income allowed Meghan to get a good education and opened up opportunities to her.
"And did I get any recognition for it? Any thanks? She doesn't even speak to me now. How cold is that?"
The last time Meghan publicly spoke about her father was in a statement released by Kensington Palace announcing that he would not attend her wedding.
"Sadly, my father will not be attending our wedding. I have always cared for my father and hope he can be given the space he needs to focus on his health," she said.
Last month, Thomas told Good Morning Britain that Prince Harry had asked for his permission to marry his daughter and suggested their relationship had been in a good place before the paparazzi photo controversy.
He said Meghan had been upset when he told them he couldn't make it to the wedding.
"They were disappointed. Meghan cried, I'm sure, and they both said 'Take care of yourself, we are really worried about you,'" he said.
"I absolutely wanted to walk my daughter down the aisle."
Top Comments
It seems to me that it's like making a mountain out a mole hill. I mean is this really a good reason to distance yourself from a parent who loves you. I'm sure that if he dies without reconciliation she will regret it in the future. So he made a few bucks by talking to the paparazzi. Big deal ! Stories on Harry and Meghan are everywhere anyway (that's to be expected when you are in the public eye) and I'm sure he only had good things to say about her. .To me the whole thing is ridiculous and by refusing contact they only add fuel to the fire. When all is said and done, I don't really give a darn what they do!
You don't seem to understand. He rubbished her and smeared her, he did not have good things to say about her.
It would be different if he did. She has reached out to him many times, and every time she gets burned. Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and over again expecting a different result. He owes her a reconciliation by being a decent parent for once. The onus and regret will be on him. Not on her. She did everything she could. On his deathbed, he will regret it all.
How do you know 'she has reached out many times'? It seems odd that Prince Harry was never introduced to Mr Markle during their courtship?
"She'd be nothing without me. I made her the Duchess she is today. Everything that Meghan is, I made her"
What compete and utter garbage. Megan was in her mid-30s when she married Prince Harry - and he'd been out of her life (apart from occasional contacts) for y-e-a-r-s. He'd left her mother and gone off with someone else when Meghan was still in her youth.
If he made her what she is, then how come he is an ignorant boor and she is a gracious, intelligent, well-mannered pubic figure?
I think he is probably referring to her childhood where they lived in an upscale LA neighbourhood, he was able to send her to a private school and helped her with Uni fees. His brother, organized an internship for Meghan at a South American Embassy. Meghan's mother did a runner for a few years and Meghan went to live (as a teenager) with her dad. Meghan didn't suddenly morph into a well mannered, gracious public figure. Those qualities would have been instilled in her as a child. The Jesuits have a saying, 'give us the child and we will give you the man'. It is just unfortunate for Thomas Markle that he is now superfluous to her new life.
"Meghan didn't suddenly morph into a well mannered, gracious public figure. Those qualities would have been instilled in her as a child. The Jesuits have a saying, 'give us the child and we will give you the man'"
What does that say about the other Markle children? Thomas had them all to himself with his new wife. Meghan's mother had no influence. Look at how they've turned out.
Paying for someone's education, organising a work opportunity for them etc, does not guarantee how that individual will respond to those opportunities. It does not predict how they will develop and grow. Many people have had private educations and gilt-edged work placements given to them - and yet they have turned out to be quite despicable or, at the very least, mediocre individuals.
I don't see any evidence that Meghan views her father as superfluous to her life. She has been at great pains to include him from the outset. Contrastingly, Thomas Markle has behaved appallingly throughout - as have
his other children. He has basically excluded himself from her life by his continual lies, attempts to shame her publicly, selling stories to the press, etc.
We are indeed a mixture of nature and nurture. The Jesuits were (in many ways) correct in their appraisal of the influences of early childhood. Ignatius Loyola wrote wisely on this. However, did all of the children passing through their hands turn out exactly the same? Did they not produce criminals and morally dubious people as well as upright and outstanding citizens?
Nature is just as important as nurture. Meghan did not "suddenly morph" into the person she is now - gracious and well-mannered, as you rightly say. But your comment implies that she must have been something quite different beforehand - spiteful and uncivil? We have no evidence of that. It seems that from childhood onwards Meghan was quite a lovely person. If only the same could be said of her half-siblings, all of them highly influenced by Thomas Markle.
You can't buy purchase quality in character. The Jesuits were a notoriously poor religious order: their effects on character (positive and negative) were not purchased.
Children have no choice in being born. They should not have to owe their parents anything for parents simply doing the job they should be doing.
"The Jesuits have a saying, 'give us the child and we will give you the man'." I think is in very poor taste to even bring that up, considering the Royal Commission into Child Abuse in Institutional Settings. Quite often, they take a child and give back a broken man.
The Jesuit saying refers to children by age 7, when did Markle do a runner, after that?