MEGHAN’S DAD TAKES ON THE QUEEN
Thomas Markle strikes again.
“I think the Queen will be very angry” —Royals expert Angela Levin
Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle Sr, has further strained his relationship with the royal family since he took Queen Elizabeth to task for refusing to make his acquaintance after reports surfaced that she would see US President Donald Trump during his London visit on July 13. “If the Queen is willing to meet our arrogant and insensitive president, she has no excuse not to meet me,” the 73-year-old told TMZ in a fiery rant. “I’m nowhere near as bad.”
Markle, who missed his daughter’s May 19 wedding to Prince Harry due to a heart attack he suffered three days prior, said he believes the Queen has put him in the “penalty box” after he was paid a reported $13,000 to do a tell-all interview with Good Morning Britain hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid. But royal experts say that insiders were blindsided by the interview and are reportedly fuming over Markle’s comments that he wasn’t “wowed” by son-in-law Prince Harry, whom he said told him to “give Trump a chance.”
“I think the Queen will be very angry,” royal commentator Angela Levin has said. “She is absolutely the model of the stiff upper lip and not saying anything that is too political.”
Since the GMB interview aired on June 18, Markle said he has not had any contact with anyone from the royal family, including the newly dubbed Duchess of Sussex, who is said to be “upset” over the tell-all even though her father praised the royals for welcoming his 36-year-old daughter into the family, declared that Meghan was an “improvement” to the firm and asserted that the addition of a bi-racial person was “long overdue.”
Markle also addressed rumours that Meghan was “left in tears” after her father staged photos in exchange for money in the lead-up to the wedding. “I spoke to them both and apologised,” he told Morgan and Reid. “I realised it was a serious mistake, but it was hard to take it back. I had been seen as a negative for an entire year and I wanted to improve my look.” Although Markle claimed Meghan cried when he couldn’t make her wedding, royal watchers say her mother Doria Ragland, 61—who separated from Markle when their daughter was 2—has been the constant support for her daughter during the tumultuous past few months and was the parent whom Harry asked for permission to marry the former Suits actress.
Even so, an undeterred Markle has said he plans to visit the newlyweds in London, although royal commentators wonder if the former film lighting director has damaged his chances of a get-together with his daughter, his new son-in-law and the royal matriarch.
“It’s another bombshell blindsiding the palace,” Princess Diana’s former butler, Paul Burrell, told GMB on June 19. “It’s extraordinary that Meghan and Harry didn’t know this was going to take place. Why didn’t her father tell her? You just chucked a big rock into the royal pool and there’ll be ripples, and the ripples are coming.”