Meghan letter ‘dagger to heart’

THE estranged father of the Duchess of Sussex has revealed the full contents of a sensational letter she wrote to him shortly after her wedding.

The letter’s existence emerged last week after five close friends of the Duchess gave anonymous interviews to a US celebrity magazine.

They said she was so upset by her father Thomas Markle’s public attacks on her and Prince Harry that she penned the anguished letter begging him to patch up their differences privately. But last night Mr Markle said the letter is far from conciliatory and has left him feeling “devastated”.

The bombshell five-page letter, sent in August last year, lays bare the depths of the Duchess’s estrangement from her father.

She accuses him of breaking her heart “into a million pieces” by giving interviews to the press, fabricating stories and attacking her new husband. The Duchess ( pictured) also admonishes her father for siding with her half-sister Samantha as she “silently suffered at the hand of her vicious lies”.

She goes on to complain Mr Markle has made no attempt to contact her – and chastises him for falsely telling journalists he is the one who has been shunned – a criticism he vehemently rejects. She also accuses her father of snubbing her and Prince Harry’s offers to help when he pulled out of attending their wedding.

Mr Markle, who lives in Mexico, said he never intended to make the handwritten missive public “out of respect for Meghan” – but says he was forced to do so because its contents had been falsely portrayed. Contrary to claims made by the Duchess’s friends, he said the letter made no attempt to heal their bitter rift. “I thought it would be an olive branch. Instead, it was a dagger to the heart,” Mr Markle, 74, said.