Thomas Markle Sr: Rift between Meghan and her father grows

Meghan Markle’s estranged father, Thomas Markle Senior, revealed in an exclusive interview with Sunrise that he has been approached about taking his daughter and her husband, Prince Harry, to court in order to see his grandchildren.

Despite having never met his grandchildren, Archie Harrison, 2, and Lilibet Diana, 3 months, the 77-year-old said he had been contacted by “several lawyers” offering pro bono legal services so he can meet his grandchildren for the first time.

When pressed by Sunrise hosts David Koch and Natalie Barr, Thomas admitted that he would never do that, saying that “is like turning this into some kind of game and using them as pawns”. He continued, “they should not be used, they are just kids, babies.”

During the interview, Thomas also shared that he had contacted Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, in a last-ditch attempt to regain contact with Meghan and her children. He revealed that he had also not been able to make contact with Doria.

“Doria and I did always get along, it should not be a problem but I’m sure that Doria does whatever Meghan and Harry tell her to do,” he shared. “That seems to be a dead-end for me as well”.

Thomas has not spoken to his daughter since becoming estranged before her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.  The father and daughter grew disconnected after a rocky few years. In November 2017, it was reported that Thomas had become reclusive in the wake of Meghan and Prince Harry’s engagement. At the time, Thomas was described by his son, Meghan’s brother, as “a total recluse”, “hiding” in a seaside hut on the coast of Mexico to avoid paparazzi.

In an interview featured in The Daily Mail in 2020,  Thomas shared the true extent of his relationship with Meghan, stating “My daughter dumped me one day before she got married, she has dumped my family, she has dumped Doria’s family, she has dumped every family and now she’s dumping the British family”.

In the now-infamous Oprah tell-all with Meghan and Prince Harry, Meghan said that she would never be able to “reconcile” with her father for staging photos with paparazzi and leaking a personal letter to the press in 2018, in the lead up to Meghan and Prince Harry’s nuptials.