Duchess’s estranged father: ‘Meghan was demanding, never rude’
Royal Correspondent
WHEN the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father hoped to resume contact with her after he was caught colluding with the paparazzi, he claims he tried letters, text messages and family interventions to no avail.
His next step, it appears, is to release to the world, via a tabloid newspaper, handwritten childhood cards, photographs and extraordinary details of his daughter’s first wedding. Thomas Markle, who has not spoken to the pregnant Duchess in months, has produced a dossier of “evidence” he believes will prove their once-close relationship, from aeroplane tickets to a hospital form he says proves he suffered a heart attack preventing him from walking her down the aisle in May.
Mr Markle, who lives in Mexico, has already taken part in numerous interviews for tabloids and television, and has now released handwritten cards sent from his daughter. One included $2,000 from the Duchess, then Meghan Markle, for Mr Markle to put towards a holiday, and another reads: “I love you with all of my heart now and forever.”
In claims about his daughter’s first wedding, to Trevor Engelson in Jamaica in 2011, Mr Markle alleged guests had been given marijuana, insisting neither he nor the bride had used it but that it was considered “no big deal in Jamaica”. Ms Markle, he said, had “micro-managed everything”. Asked by The Mail on Sunday about recent negative reports about the Duchess, he said: “I don’t recognise this person. The Meghan I know was always sweet, kind, generous. She was always demanding but never rude.”
He said had sent text messages, letters and a note via his ex-wife, Doria Ragland, but confirmed he was no longer in touch with the Duchess or her new husband.
Relaying an alleged conversation he had with Prince Harry while in hospital receiving treatment for his heart, Mr Markle said: “I apologised to Harry on the phone and all he said was, ‘If you’d listened to me [about how to deal with the media], none of this would have happened’. There are convicts in prisons who have murdered and committed all kinds of horrible crimes, and their daughters still visit them.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have never publicly responded to Mr Markle’s claims. Kensington Palace declined to comment yesterday.
It also emerged yesterday that Samantha Cohen, the couple’s private secretary, intends to leave the role after their baby is born in the spring.