MUM FLIES TO THE RESCUE
She arrives to walk Meghan down aisle – as confusion still reigns over missing father
MEGHAN Markle’s mother arrived in London yesterday to help support her daughter through the continuing drama over whether her father will attend Saturday’s royal wedding.
After being rushed through a private VIP terminal in the US, Doria Ragland flew into Heathrow where she was met by some of Prince Harry’s most trusted aides and whisked to Kensington Palace by royal Jaguar.
The presence of Miss Ragland, 61, who is extremely close to her daughter and still calls her ‘flower’, will undoubtedly calm Miss Markle’s nerves in what has been an unexpectedly fraught and hugely emotional week.
With only two days to go, royal aides were still unable to confirm whether her father Thomas Markle will walk her down the aisle at Windsor Castle.
It appears increasingly unlikely however, that the reclusive Mr Markle, 73, will travel to Britain. It is claimed that he has suffered heart problems and is awaiting surgery, so may not be well enough to fly to the UK from his home in Mexico.
Miss Markle, 36, has told the former Hollywood lighting director that she is standing by him after weekend allegations that he was paid by a paparazzi to take part in a series of staged photographs in the run up to the big day.
Mr Markle has appeared to flip-flop over whether he will attend, at first appearing to say he would not, then saying he didn’t want to miss being a part of history and then changing his mind again to say it would depend on whether doctors would release him from hospital.
The episode has been a huge embarrassment to Buckingham Palace and has left aides facing questions over their handling of their issue.
Sources insisted, however, that strenuous efforts have been made to help Mr Markle, who is said to be a ‘proud’ man and reluctant to take help from his daughter.
They said that Meghan and Harry were forging ahead with their final preparations.
Friends of the couple told the Mail that while Meghan is ‘deeply concerned’ about her father’s physical and mental health, she is determined to focus on what she has left to do.
Her best friend Jessica Mulroney has arrived with her three children – Ivy, Brian and John – who were yesterday announced as being among the couple’s ten bridesmaids and page boys.
Meanwhile Miss Ragland, a yoga instructor, flew into Heathrow on an overnight flight from Los Angeles.
Dressed casually in a T-shirt, linen trousers and canvas pumps, and carrying a suit bag containing what is believed to be her Burberry wedding outfit, she was picked up from the steps of the aircraft by a royal fleet Jaguar.
She was driven to Heathrow’s VIP Windsor suite, where Harry’s assistant private secretary Amy Pickerill was waiting with an immigration officer. A member of staff from the private office carried her bags.
Miss Ragland, described as a ‘free spirit’ by her daughter and ‘amazing’ by Harry, was taken to Kensington Palace where she will stay until Friday.
She will not have long to shake off any effects of jet lag. It is thought she will meet the Queen, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, in the next 24 hours.
On the night before the wedding she and her daughter will move with the bridal party to historic Cliveden, a 25-minute drive from Windsor Castle.
It is widely thought that should her former husband, with whom she is said to be ‘barely on speaking terms’, fail to show, it will be Miss Ragland who has the task of walking her daughter down the aisle. Some royal insiders have also questioned whether Prince Charles might step in to do the honours.
Senior royal sources dismissed reports that the ongoing family ‘soap opera’ had caused opprobrium in the Royal Family.
‘Let’s just say that this is a family well used to personal dramas and everyone feels desperately sorry for Meghan, particularly as it has all happened just days before her wedding day,’ said one.
‘At the end of the day, her father is his own man and she cannot control him.
‘Everyone could not be more supportive of her. Everything is going ahead as planned.’
Miss Markle’s nephew, Tyler Dooley, has said he hopes his grandfather will travel but said: ‘We’ll just have to wait and see.’
To add to the confusion, sources close to the Markle family told the Mail yesterday that Mr Markle had already been diagnosed with a heart condition and was due to undergo surgery to fit a stent, the same operation Prince Philip underwent in 2011, early next week – on his return from London.
‘A family used to personal dramas’