MEGHAN DAD: I HUNG UP ON PRINCE HARRY
Royal groom berated him for fake photos before his wedding He was banned from giving a speech and didn’t get invitation
THOMAS MARKLE last night revealed how he dramatically hung up on Prince Harry during a heated telephone call – after the MoS exposed him for staging paparazzi photos.
The Duchess of Sussex’s father said he was ‘upset’ by Harry’s tirade, which came as he recovered in hospital from a heart attack. And though he accepts Harry was ‘absolutely right’ to admonish him, he described the timing of the phone call from the Prince as ‘rude’.
Today, in his most explosive interview yet, Mr Markle also confesses that he lied to the Prince when Harry asked him if he had co-operated with a paparazzi photographer to pose for shots – one of
which showed him apparently being fitted for a wedding suit. Mr Markle told his soon-to-be son-inlaw that he was simply being ‘measured for a hoodie’.
In our searingly frank and revealing interview – which Mr Markle vows will be his last – he adds that:
Meghan told him there would be ‘no room’ for his speech at her wedding, leaving him feeling ‘hurt’;
Claims of a rapprochement between him and the Royal couple are wrong and that they have not spoken for months;
He ‘doesn’t care’ about the Royals and wants his old life back.
Mr Markle, 74, made global headlines in May when he pulled out of walking his daughter down the aisle days before her wedding at Windsor, blaming a heart attack.
His shock decision came the day after The Mail on Sunday revealed he had been colluding with a paparazzi photographer to pose for staged photos.
Today we can reveal details of the remarkable calls that took place between Mr Markle and Prince Harry following our exposé.
Though they have never met, Harry and Mr Markle had enjoyed a series of ‘warm and chatty’ phone conversations after Meghan told him of her romance with the Royal. Among other things, they discussed what to do when news of the relationship became public – and Harry advised Mr Markle to avoid the paparazzi at all costs.
Mr Markle recalled: ‘Harry told me that I should never go to the press. That it would end in tears. He said, “They will eat you alive.” He was right.’
Instead of taking Harry’s advice, Mr Markle made a secret arrangement to pose for a series of pictures – a decision he now bitterly regrets. The photos made £100,000 for the photographer and a smaller amount for Mr Markle.
On Friday, May 11, the MoS informed Kensington Palace of the revelations we were to publish two days later after we discovered CCTV footage of Mr Markle collaborating with the photographer.
Harry called Mr Markle to ask if he had co-operated for shots which showed him, among other things, supposedly being fitted for a wedding suit.
At this point, Mr Markle admits, he lied to the Prince.
After our story appeared, Harry and Meghan called Mr Markle again, though by then he was in hospital recovering from a heart attack. Mr Markle said the Prince told him: ‘If you had listened to me this would never have happened’.
Mr Markle said he told Harry: ‘Maybe it would be better for you guys if I was dead… then you could pretend to be sad.’ ‘Then I hung up.’ In hindsight, he admits Harry was ‘absolutely right’ to criticise him. Yet it was Meghan who dealt perhaps the most painful blow when she told her father he would not be allowed to make a speech at the wedding. ‘That hurt,’ he said.
Mr Markle added: ‘I’m not mad at Harry. I’m not mad at Meghan. I love them. I wish them well. But as for the rest of it, f*** it. I’m done.’
Kensington Palace declined to comment last night.
‘I’m not mad at Harry or Meghan. I love them’