The Irish Mail on Sunday

Meghan’s shattering letter to her father

- From Caroline Graham IN LOS ANGELES

THE full content of a sensationa­l letter written by Meghan Markle to her estranged father shortly after her wedding can be revealed for the first time today.

Its existence emerged this week after five of her close friends gave anonymous interviews to an American celebrity magazine.

They said Meghan was so upset by her father Thomas Markle’s public attacks on her and Prince Harry that she wrote the anguished letter begging him to patch up their difference­s privately.

But last night, Mr Markle said the letter, extracts of which are published here, is far from conciliato­ry and has left him feeling ‘devastated’.

The bombshell five-page letter, sent in August last year, lays bare the true depths of Meghan’s estrangeme­nt from her father. In elegant script, she accuses him of breaking her heart ‘into a million pieces’ by giving interviews to the press, fabricatin­g stories and attacking her new husband.

She also admonishes her father for iding with her half-sister Samantha – who has attacked her in the press – while she ‘silently suffered at the hand of her vicious lies’.

Meghan goes on to complain that 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 her father vehemently refutes.

She also accuses her father of snubbing her and Prince Harry’s offers to help when he pulled out of attending their wedding following two heart attacks and accuses him of being ungrateful for money she has given him.

The former award-winning Hollywood lighting director, who now lives in Mexico, said that he never intended to make the handwritte­n missive public ‘out of respect for Meghan’ – but says he has been forced to do so now because its contents have been falsely portrayed.

Contrary to claims made by Meghan’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 last night.

He dismissed suggestion­s he has made no attempt to patch things up since her wedding. He showed this newspaper texts which he says prove he reached out multiple times to his daughter and the son-in-law he has never met.

The US magazine People claimed to ‘put the record straight’ over Meghan’s relationsh­ip with her father and criticism of her style as a royal. It was based on interviews with five friends – at least one of whom is thought to be one of Meghan’s co-stars in Suits, the legal drama in which she starred for six years.

The duchess came under fire over her apparent decision to allow her confidante­s to defend her in the extraordin­ary interview, without, it is understood, involving Kensington Palace. The palace has refused to comment on whether the magazine’s anonymous sources had cooperated at the direct request of Meghan or with her tacit approval.

Former Buckingham Palace press secretary Dickie Arbiter, who worked for both Prince Charles and the late Diana, Princess of Wales, feared the decision would only exacerbate issues. He said: ‘Assuming – and as these sources are anonymous we don’t know for sure – that this was done with her agreement, it has opened a Pandora’s box. The issue with her father is an open wound and I’m not entirely sure it is the best idea to aggravate that.’

Last night, Mr Markle said it was unfair for his daughter’s friends to use the media to ‘spin a line’ while he was being criticised for ‘giving a handful’ of interviews to the press.

In the article on Wednesday, Meghan’s friends said she was so dis- tressed by her father’s public criticism that they feared the ‘emotional trauma’ could harm her unborn child.

They reveal she was devastated by his response to the letter, in which he suggested father and daughter pose for press pictures. One friend said: ‘She feels like “that’s the opposite of what I’m saying. I’m telling you that I don’t want to communicat­e through the media, and you’re asking me to… Did you hear anything I said?”’

Mr Markle said he had suggested the photo op as a way of showing the world they could be friends again, describing Meghan’s reading of it as ‘tragic misunderst­anding’ he wishes he could put straight.

The rift between Meghan and her father began after, just days before her wedding in May last year, it emerged that he had colluded with the paparazzi to stage a series of lucrative photo opportunit­ies.

Such was his humiliatio­n that he

offered to pull out of attending the wedding and was later prevented from going after suffering two heart attacks.

Since then, he has given a series of damaging interviews in which he has spoken of his dismay at being cast adrift by his daughter and the royal family.

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