I think Harry sees a lot of his mum in Meghan, she really cares for others...
»»Fears for sick dad but she’s all smiles ahead of rehearsal »»Her mum to meet Queen today as cake secrets are revealed
Earlier, the bride-tobe issued a statement revealing her sadness that her dad Thomas, 73, is too ill to walk her down the aisle.
Meghan, who has been in tears with worry after he had a heart scare, said: “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 added: “Please know how much Harry and I look forward to sharing our special day with you on Saturday.”
Mum Doria Ragland, 61, is now the favourite to walk her down the aisle.
The social worker and yoga teacher will meet the Queen today, after being introduced to Wills and Kate and their children yesterday. She flew into the UK on Wednesday from her home in Los Angeles and is staying at Kensington Palace with Meghan and Harry.
Soon after landing she met Prince Charles and Camilla for tea at Clarence House, which sources said she “very much enjoyed”.
She will join Meghan at the Cliveden House Hotel in Berkshire tonight and travel in the car with her to the chapel tomorrow.
Before yesterday’s rehearsal, Meghan is understood to have spent time with her closest friends, including stylist Jessica Mulroney and author Lindsay Roth.
In Windsor yesterday fans began to camp out on the procession route where the couple will ride in an Ascot Landau carriage in what is likely to be the year’s most-watched TV event.
One big surprise will be the lemon and elderflower cake, the final design of which will be revealed tomorrow. Claire Ptak, owner of the Violet Bakery in East London, has been working with her team of six for five days at the palace. She said the cake will be displayed in an “installation”, adding: “It’s a non-traditional layout… a slight shift from tradition.”
The layered lemon sponge is drizzled with an elderflower syrup specially created for the couple, decorated with a white elderflower Swiss meringue buttercream, and topped with Meghan’s favourite peonies and roses.
It is made with 200 Amalfi lemons, 10 bottles of Sandringham Elderflower Cordial, 20kg each of butter, flour and sugar, and 500 organic eggs from Suffolk. The cake will be served to the 600 guests at the lunchtime reception in St George’s Hall after the ceremony. Thomas Markle told US website TMZ on Monday that he was pulling out of attending after embarrassment over paparazzi photos he staged. On Tuesday he told TMZ he needed surgery after a heart attack. Meghan called and texted him, telling him she loved him and was not annoyed with him about anything. He told TMZ he had three stents fitted, adding: “I’m OK. It’ll take a long time to heal. Staying in hospital a few more days. Not allowed to get excited.”
Thomas Snr and Doria later moved with Meghan to Hollywood, but shortly after their relationship began to falter. They split by the time Meghan was six.
Thomas Jnr said: “I think as Meg was still quite young it shielded her a little from the break-up, which was quite acrimonious. The fact Dad worked such long hours protected Meg.
“He still spent any moment away from work with Meg. You can see Dad’s influences in her to this day.
“Two years ago before her relationship with Harry was really out there, she thanked him on Father’s Day on Instagram for what he’d done for her, including the work ethic installed in her.”
Thomas Jnr said his dad’s own hard work helped him provide Meghan with “the best education he could afford”. It began at private elementary school Little Red School House in Hollywood, in the late 1980s. Former pupils include Johnny Depp’s daughter Lily-rose. Meghan left around 1992 to join Immaculate Heart High School.
Thomas Jnr said: “Dad would help with the staging of school plays, which Meg took to like a duck to water. She was never more at home than in front of an audience. It’s what makes her so at ease when meeting people.i think people fell in love with Diana because they saw her vulnerability. Meg is not like that, but she does share the sense of empathy Diana had.”
He added: “It’s difficult to think how far Meg has come. It’s not like she came from a poor background. Far from it.
“But to think where she is set to live is incredible. At school, Meg was obsessed with anything princess. She loved all the Disney movies which featured them. Never did I think, watching her grow up, would she become one herself.”
Far from poor, Meg was richest in Dad’s affection
THOMAS JNR ON MEGHAN’S UPBRINGING