Meghan’s family fights ‘hatchet job’ on father
THE DUCHESS of Sussex’s furious father has accused her inner circle of “stabbing him in the back” and trying to “sabotage” his dream of rebuilding their relationship.
Thomas Markle, 74, also denied requesting a cheesy “photo op” with his daughter after she wrote a heartfelt letter to him following her marriage to Prince Harry.
He told a friend: “That’s a total lie. I have never written anything like that and I would never insult Meghan by doing so. It is pure fiction, designed to put me down and humiliate me.
“It’s like they are deliberately stabbing me in the back.
“I don’t know who these people are, or why they seem to want to sabotage any possibility of my daughter and I rebuilding a relationship which was once very, very special.
“Why would I ask her for a photo op after all the media problems we’ve both faced in the past? It doesn’t make any sense. That’s not how I think and it’s certainly something I would never write or say.
“Are these people doing a hatchet job on me because they want to impress her and make sure they’re invited to royal functions? I’m tired of all this hostility and I want it to end.”
Mr Markle also claims he has frequently tried to contact his daughter directly, without success, adding: “What do I do now? I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t.” His comments come as his son Thomas Markle Jr, 53, Meghan’s half-brother, spoke out separately to defend his father, saying “nothing will silence him” and “he will never give up hope” of reuniting with Meghan.
He fears the stress is taking a toll on his father’s health and is adamant that Meghan cut her father off, not the other way around. He also called for a full family reunion.
Thomas Sr has hit back after five of Meghan’s closest confidantes defended her in a US magazine. One, identified only as a “longtime friend,” claimed in People magazine that the pregnant Duchess, 37, pleaded with Thomas to make peace, saying: “After the wedding, she wrote him a letter.
“She’s like, ‘Dad, I’m so heartbroken. I love you. I have one father. Please stop victimising me through the media so we can repair our relationship’. He writes her a long letter in return and closes it by requesting a photo op with her. And she feels like, ‘That’s the opposite of what I’m saying. Did you hear anything I said?’.” The friend continued: “It’s almost like they’re ships passing. He knows how to get in touch with her. He has never called; he’s never texted.
“It’s super-painful because Meg was always so dutiful. I think she will always feel genuinely devastated by what he has done. And at the same time, because she’s a daughter, she has a lot of sympathy for him.”
Speaking from his home in Oregon, Thomas Jr has revealed: “My father is very hurt and very confused about what happened to the relationship with his daughter.
“And he is very frustrated now because he has a grandchild coming up with the favourite person that he worshipped. He just wants to hear from his daughter and have her back in his life. I do not want to see anything bad happen to him. He has got to take more interest in his health and be a lot less stressed.”
He added: “My number one message for Meghan would be to reach out to her father and for all of us to get back together for some sort of reconciliation, come together as a family and especially with a baby on the way.
“It would mean the world for my father to be back in her life and be part of his grandchild’s life. That would be very important.”
Additional reporting by James Desborough PRINCE William told his mother
Princess Diana that “he didn’t really want to be king”.
The revelation comes in the final part of Jeremy Paxman’s new documentary – Paxman On The Queen’s Children.
The former Newsnight presenter shares details of his unexpected lunch with the “glamorous” princess in which she also likened life in Kensington Palace to an “upmarket Coronation Street... with twitching curtains”.
Paxman said: “We talked about our children and she said William often told her that he didn’t really want to be king and then Harry would say, ‘If you don’t want the job, I’ll have it.’”
It was known that the acerbic
University Challenge presenter once had lunch with the Princess but he has never spoken about it in such detail before.
Paxman is no stranger to spilling royal secrets, however.
After a weekend at Sandringham with Prince Charles, he claimed the heir to the throne would choose between seven boiled eggs offered to him at the breakfast tableeach morning.
In the documentary, Paxman also reveals that Prince Edward once went for breakfast with the Queen on his birthday but “she didn’t even know” it was his special day.
Paxman on the Queen’s Children is on Channel 5 on Tuesday at 9pm