Thomas Markle makes TV plea to Queen Elizabeth to help mend rift with duchess daughter Meghan
- Thomas Markle said he had not spoken to his daughter since they fell out in the build-up to her wedding to Prince Harry last May
- The 74-year-old missed the event due to heart surgery, amid a furore after he was found to have received payment for staged paparazzi photographs
Meghan Markle’s father directly appealed to Britain’s Queen Elizabeth on Monday to intercede and end his estrangement from his daughter, the wife of Prince Harry.
Former US actress Meghan, now the Duchess of Sussex, married Harry, the queen’s grandson and sixth-in-line to the throne, in a glittering ceremony at Windsor Castle in May.
Meghan’s father told ITV’s Good Morning Britain (GMB) he had not had contact with his daughter for months and repeated text messages to Meghan had gone unanswered.
When asked what message he had for Queen Elizabeth, 92, Thomas Markle said: “I would appreciate anything she can do and I would think that she would want to resolve the family problems.”
“All families, royal or otherwise, are the same and they should all be together certainly around the holidays,” Markle added.
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Markle said that Meghan, 37, had not sent him a Christmas card but that he was hopeful that they could at some time build their relationship.
“Please reach out to me,” he said of Meghan.
“I love my daughter very much and she has to know that … Just send me a text.”
“All I can say is that I’m here she knows it and I’ve reached out to her and I need her to reach back to me. I love her very much,” Markle said.
“This can’t continue forever.”
Harry, 34, and Meghan are expecting their first child in the spring of 2019.
“I am certainly hoping that everything goes well and that they produce a beautiful baby and I’ll get to see a little Meghan or a little Harry – that would be very nice and I look forward to that happening,” Markle said.
“I think she’ll make a great Mom.”
Meghan has faced a barrage of negative headlines in recent weeks over her relationship with royal staff.
Her father ran to her defence, telling GMB that “she’s always been very controlling, but she’s never been rude … she’s always been polite.”
When asked if she was a social climber, her father said: “She’s always been a very controlling person and that’s part of her nature but she has never been rude.”
A spokeswoman for Kensington Palace declined to comment on the interview.
