MARKLE’S FATHER DROPPING OUT OF CEREMONY

LONDON Meghan Markle’s father will not walk the royal bride down the aisle, after he pulled out of his daughter’s wedding to Prince Harry Monday.

Thomas Markle, 73, said he would no longer be flying to Britain, after embarrassing disclosures about his dealings with the paparazzi. Markle, who lives alone in Mexico, was last weekend revealed to have collaborated with the paparazzi for a series of photographs. The disclosure was particularly embarrassing after Kensington Palace had issued repeated warnings to the media not to publish pictures of him, insisting he had no wish to take part in any personal publicity.

The photographs, printed in the tabloid press, aroused suspicion after showing Markle exercising in public, reading a book called Images of Britain, being measured for a suit, and looking up pictures of his daughter in an internet cafe. Meghan Markle’s half-sister, Samantha Grant, who is no longer in contact with Ms. Markle, said she had suggested their father pose for “positive” photographs. “The media was unfairly making him look bad, so I suggested he do positive photos for his benefit and the benefit of the Royal Family,” Grant said. “He’s now decided not to go (to the wedding) because he doesn’t want to embarrass the Royal Family or his daughter,” TMZ reported. The decision leaves arrangements for the wedding in doubt, and Meghan Markle without her father on the biggest day of her life.