but I’m speaking out now because
they and their PR people are con-
tinuing to ghost me out of her life.
‘Of course I’m disappointed not to
see Archie. I had hoped becoming a
mother would mellow Meghan and
she would reach out.’
He takes issue with celebrity
friends of Meghan and Harry
launching personal attacks on him.
‘People who don’t know me make
judgments,’ he says.
‘My daughter’s new A-list friends
have no right to speak about me
until they know me.’
Mr Markle says he has apologised
repeatedly for staging photographs
with the paparazzi, which appeared
in this newspaper, just days before
the wedding.
‘I was approached by a photo
agency which said it would be a
way to improve my image because
the press were making me look like
a homeless guy.
‘It was a huge mistake. I wanted
to apologise to the Royal Family
publicly but Meghan and Harry
told me not to.
‘So I texted Jason Knauf, who was
Harry and Meghan’s then press
secretary, and he asked me what
I’d like to say? I said I wanted to
apologise to the Queen and the
Royal Family and that I meant no
harm. That apology never came
out. I don’t know why.’
When he suffered two heart
attacks and ended up in hospital,
Mr Markle never heard afterwards
from either his daughter or son-
in-law and he was forced to cancel
his flight across the Atlantic to the
wedding on doctor’s orders.
‘All I’d like to ask people is, “How
would you feel if your father had a
heart attack?” I texted them [Harry
and Meghan] from my hospital bed
and told them where I was. I have
the texts to prove it. Yet never once
has Meghan ever asked me how
I’m doing. Not then, not since.’
He has been stung by critics,
particularly those in the UK, who
complain that he rarely sees his
other grown-up grandchildren –The Mail on Sunday September 1 • 2019taken when she was a student at
prestigious Northwestern Univer-
sity in Illinois.
Meghan secretly surprised her
father, an American football fan,
with tickets to see a game at Ryan
Field stadium on the campus in
Evanston, a suburb north of Chi-
cago. ‘It was a freezing cold day
and I had to keep running off to buy
more clothes to keep us warm,’ he
recalls. ‘The wind was blowing
straight off Lake Michigan but
Meghan and I had the best time.
‘I love that picture because that
was such a happy day. I have so
many happy memories like that.
‘There was never any problem
between Meghan and me until
recently. I’ve stayed quiet because
Meghan was pregnant with ArchieI
T IS a charming black-and-white
photograph taken by a proud father
of the baby he called ‘Meggie’.
Framed and taking pride of place
on the living room table, it sits
close to another picture hanging on
the wall, this one of an instantly
recognisable young woman who is beaming
with happiness as she snuggles up to her
father at an American football game.
Both photographs are, says Thomas
Markle, the estranged father of Meghan
Markle, poignant daily reminders of the rift
me but there are way more than
ten. What upsets me is when people
who don’t know me say negative
things about me. Until you know
me, what gives you that right?’
He never received an official
wedding invitation (he was forced
to abandon plans to walk his
daughter down the aisle after suf-
fering two heart attacks) and,
perhaps most sadly of all, he has
only ever seen a picture of his new
grandson on the internet.
‘Firstly, I love my daughter. She’s
my baby and this is my favourite
ever picture of her,’ says Mr Mar-
kle, as he looks at the cherished
framed picture of Meghan, then
aged two, which is published today
for the first time. ‘I took that photo-
graph and I always loved it becauseof the pensive look on her face.
That was my Meggie.
‘We were so close. I would come
home from work [he was an award-
winning Hollywood lighting direc-
tor] and I would hold her against
my chest and we would walk around
for hours and hours.
‘Anyone who knew me, the first
question out of their mouth would
be, “How’s Meg?” I talked about
her all the time. I was so proud of
her. I’m still proud of her.
‘Sometimes I get the feeling peo-
ple think I don’t love my daughter.
I do love her very much. I would
love nothing more than to put a
picture of Archie in a frame and
place it beside the one of Meghan.’
He points out the picture of him
with a 20-year-old beaming Meghanthat now exists between himself,
the daughter he loves and his son-
in-law Prince Harry.
Mr Markle’s sunny living room
overlooking the Pacific Ocean in
Rosarito, a small beach community
just south of the US-Mexico border,
is filled with pictures of all his
children, including Meghan’s older
half-siblings, Tom Jr and Saman-
tha. But only Meghan has her own
commemorative mugs, displayed
on Mr Markle’s mantelpiece, which
celebrate her May 2018 wedding
to Prince Harry and the birth of the
couple’s son, Archie Harrison, born
a year later – the grandson Mr
Markle has yet to meet.
While Mr Markle has given
only a handful of interviews and
released brief statements to cele-
brate Meghan’s pregnancy and
Archie’s birth, he says he is sub-
jected to a ‘daily barrage’ of untrue
stories about him.
Today, he is speaking out for the
first time since Archie’s birth
because he feels he is being unfairly
vilified and cut out of his grand-
son’s life. ‘I would like them to send
me a picture of Archie so I can
frame it and put it on my wall
beside the one of Meghan. Isn’t
that what any grandfather would
want? I’d love to know if he’s got
the famous Markle nose.’
It was Meghan’s 38th birthday
last month. ‘I sent her a card via
her financial adviser in LA but
received no acknowledgement,’ he
says. ‘I have no idea if she got it.
‘I’d like to do a piece saying the
ten things people don’t know about
Why can’t I meet Archie?
EXCLUSIVE
INTERVIEW
From
Caroline
graham
in RosaRito,
MexicoCHERISHED PICTURE: Thomas Markle’s favourite photo of an infant Meghan. Right: His daughter with baby ArchieThomas Markle has stayed silent
since Meghan gave birth, hoping –
in his own words – that becoming
a mother would ‘mellow’ her and
they could heal their rift. Now in
frustration, he tells the MoS he’s
all but given up hope of even being
sent a photo of his Royal grandson
I’d love to
know if little
Archie has got
the famous
Markle nose
MAX MUMBY