How Meghan’s father on tiny TV on his own
THOMAS Markle watched the Royal Wedding alone from a cheap Airbnb apartment in Mexico, it emerged yesterday.
The father of the bride should have been in Windsor to walk his daughter Meghan down the aisle
But the 73-year-old pulled out, saying he had been advised not to travel after undergoing heart surgery last Wednesday.
Mr Markle had been quoted saying he would have to stay in hospital for several more days.
But he checked into a $30 (£23) a night guesthouse in Baja Malibu, Tijuana, last Thursday, two days before the wedding.
Charlotte Jane, who owns the guesthouse, said his first question when he checked in was: “Is there a TV in the room so I can watch the wedding?”
The Airbnb host said he barely left his room before checking out on Monday.
But he told her he watched Meghan’s wedding and thought she looked “beautiful”.
Ms Jane, 36, said he arrived at the one-bedroom apartment, about four miles south of his seaside home just across the border from San Diego, with a friend.
She said: “His friend picked him up from hospital and brought him to me. She said he was looking for a safe haven for him. He was really, really, nice.”
She added: “I invited him to brunch across the street with friends but he said no.
“He was really worried about being photographed. I feel like he was sad not to be there. I think if he was in good health he would have been there.
“You could tell he had just had surgery. He looked like someone who needed rest.”
Mr Markle was embroiled in controversy after colluding with a paparazzi photo agency at the same time Kensington Palace was complaining that he was being harassed by the media.
In a series of interviews with a showbiz news website last week, had Mr Markle suggested that he was too ashamed to go to the wedding.
He then changed his mind and planned to go, but then said he had had a heart attack and was unable to attend because he needed surgery.
The Duchess of Cornwall yesterday revealed that members of the Royal Family were left wondering what would happen next in the run-up to Harry and Meghan’s wedding.
Speaking during a visit to the ITN studio in London, Camilla alluded to the drama over Mr Markle’s attendance but said the wedding had all gone right in the end. She appeared to confirm that senior royals were left in the dark as much as the rest of the nation when Mr Markle pulled out of walking his daughter down the aisle.
The Duchess admitted their relief when it all came good on the day, with Charles accompanying Meghan down the aisle.
She said: “It was such a lovely day. Just everything went right.
“We all wondered whatever would happen next and then everything went right.
“The only thing is that we are all losing our voices now.”
There has been much talk of Meghan wanting to focus on women’s empowerment, but Camilla has also been visiting women’s refuges and campaigning to highlight taboo subjects such as sexual and physical violence against women.
Asked what made her seize upon such a cause, the duchess said: “It is a subject everyone knew about but rarely talks about.
“For some of the women involved it is very, very harrowing. It is a subject that has been under wraps for too long.”
She has previously revealed that some of her friends were victims of domestic violence.
Meanwhile, the photographer