Their difficult relationship has sadly played out in the public eye ever since Thomas Markle chose to set up a series of paparazzi shots ahead of his daughter Meghan’s wedding to Prince Harry – before pulling out at the last minute after suffering a heart attack.
And now, in what could be his lowest blow yet, Thomas has shared extracts from a heartbreaking five-page letter – which was allegedly written by the Duchess of Sussex herself – with the Mail on Sunday, showing the depths of his daughter’s grief over their estrangement.
Reportedly written after her wedding, the letter accuses Thomas of “breaking her heart into a million pieces” before pleading with him to stop lying and speaking to tabloid newspapers without first trying to speak to her.
“Daddy, it is with a heavy heart that I write this, not understanding why you have chosen to take this path, turning a blind eye to the pain you are causing,” the letter reads.
Meghan goes on to beg: “If you love me, as you tell the press you do, please stop. Please allow us to live our lives in peace,” before adding: “Please stop lying, please stop creating so much pain, please stop exploiting my relationship with my husband.”
She later hits out at Thomas for attacking Prince Harry in public, despite him always being “patient, kind and understanding” to him, before then accusing her half-sister Samantha of creating a web of lies that Thomas has simply followed.
Elsewhere, despite both Thomas and Samantha repeatedly claiming that they have tried to reach out to Meghan but either get blocked, or don’t have her phone number, the letter states that her number has never changed and she has no record of Thomas ever trying to contact her.
“Your actions have broken my heart into a million pieces – not simply because you have manufactured such unnecessary and unwarranted pain, but by making the choice to not tell the truth as you are puppeteered in this. Something I will never understand,” the letter reads.
It comes after five of Meghan’s friends, who refused to be named, gave interviews to US magazine People last week, in an attempt to defend the duchess against negative reports in the media over the last few months.
They were also the first people to reveal the existence of the letter and said Meghan wrote it in an attempt to mend their rift privately.
Shockingly, rather than seeing the letter as an olive brach, Thomas told the Mail the letter felt like a “a dagger to the heart” which left him “devastated.”
In his response, also published by the news outlet, Thomas addresses Meghan’s claims that she sent help to his home after hearing he had suffered a heart attack, but had no response. Thomas insists he was in hospital at the time with his “second heart attack”.
He also addresses the allegations that he has publicly attacked Harry, claiming that: “The only I said is if we had a disagreement, ‘get over it’.”
He allegedly signs off the letter by asking both Meghan and Harry if they would pose for a photo with him “for the world to see”, adding: “If you and Harry don’t like it? Fake it for one photo.”