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Thomas Markle today denied criticism of his daughter for quitting as a royal is laced with racism as he blasted Meghan and Harry’s ‘preaching’ on the environment before insisting he has not given up hope of a reconciliation.
The Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father has spoken to Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on ITV 1’s Good Morning Britain in his first live TV interview since she left Britain for Canada, calling the decision ’embarrassing’ and ‘hurtful’ to the Queen.
The Sussexes have received stinging criticism for their bombshell choice to resign as senior royals after just 20 months of marriage – but Mr Markle is sure this is not because his daughter is mixed-race.
Speaking from California he said: ‘I’m having trouble buying that. There’s never been a problem with Meghan in terms of her race. I think England is far more liberal than the US, I don’t think she is being bullied in anyway, or any shape, because of racism’.
He added: ‘I think they’ve hurt the Queen. I think they’ve hurt the royals – and it just doesn’t work to be going to another country and serving England. It’s never going to work. I‘m a little embarrassed and feeling very sorry for the Queen’.
Piers Morgan then asked if the couple’s use of private jets when urging the world to tackle climate change was hypocritical, Mr Markle said: ‘I think it is, if you are preaching to do that then you should be responsible. Take a note from your brother [William] and take public transportation’.
The 75-year-old today revealed he now plans to do a major interview every month in the hope his daughter will ‘reach out’ to him.
Meghan’s mother Doria, Thomas’ ex-wife, was his last hope but has failed to respond to his letters, he said, adding: ‘We have had no conversations, so obviously she [Doria] is avoiding me or has been told to’.
And when asked what he would say to Meghan if she was watching the show this morning he said: ‘I would tell her: ‘I love you, let’s sit down and work this out’,’ and his message for Harry would be: ‘Man up and fly down and see me and we will talk’.
It is not yet known if Thomas was paid for the GMB interview, but he is understood to have secured £7,500 to appear on the show in 2018 and is said to have earned five-figures from a bombshell 90-minute documentary on Britain’s Channel 5 last week.
Thomas Markle has again reached out to Harry and Meghan and said he wants to see them – and meet Archie for the first time – on British breakfast TV today
The Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father has spoken to Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid (left) on ITV 1’s Good Morning Britain in his first live TV interview since she leave Britain for Canada, calling their decision ’embarrassing’
In another extraordinary TV interview, Mr Markle revealed:
- He will do a big interview every 30 days in the hope it will push his daughter into contacting him;
- Duchess’ father has even written to Meghan’s mother Doria to try and reach out to his daughter but has received no answer;
- Thomas urged Harry to ‘man up’ and fly down to meet him in Mexico – saying he should have done it two years ago;
- If Meghan is listening to him today he’d say: ‘I love you, let’s sit down and work this out’;
Mr Markle has not spoken to his daughter since the eve of her wedding to Harry in May 2018, calling the couple’s decision to quit as senior royals the ‘dumbest thing’.
He says his health has faltered since they became estranged and although he admits his media interviews will upset Meghan and Harry, he still hopes they will be reunited.
He said: ‘I love my daughter, I’d love my grandson and I’m sure I’d love Harry if I met him.
‘I will always hope we can come together at some point – but the break from the royals is causing problems and what I’m saying will causing problems but I’m really disappointed at what is going on. I’m disappointed as a grandfather, that I’ve never met my grandson, and I miss my daughter’.
He added: ‘It’s silly it’s gone on for too long, I would like to make peace with Meghan and Harry’.
He said he is ’embarrassed’ by Harry and Meghan’s decision to break ties with Harry’s family and flee the UK.
Asked what he would say to people who are critical of him doing TV interviews, Mr Markle told Good Morning Britain: ‘I would tell them to try being in my position for a while and see what it’s like – have a family member ghost you and not speak to you, and see how you feel.
‘It’s something that stays with you 24/7 every day, and it never goes away.
‘It’s always on your mind. You wake up with it. You go to sleep with it. It’s very hard to deal with.’
Mr Markle said his message to the Duke of Sussex is: ‘Man up and fly down to see me. And we’ll talk.’
Asked what he would say to Meghan, he told Good Morning Britain: ‘I’d say I love you and let’s sit down and work this out. She was the closest thing to me for years and years and years, until she went off to college and even then.
‘This is ridiculous. We should get together.’
Asked about the possibility of meeting Meghan and Harry at court as part of her legal action against Associated Newspapers, owner of the Mail on Sunday, Mr Markle said: ‘If it comes to meeting them in a courtroom, that’s great. At least I’d finally get to see them.’
He went on to say he did not want a ‘battle’.
Thomas Markle last night warned that ‘everything will come out’ if he faces daughter Meghan in court.
The Duchess of Sussex is suing a newspaper for publishing a personal letter she sent to him in August 2018.
Mr Markle has already agreed to be a witness and pledged to expose what he said were ‘lies’ about him.
‘It will be emotional. I don’t know how we will both accept it,’ he said.
‘It would be the worst place to have to meet her and Harry – but it might come down to that because I will certainly testify against the things that have been said about me. The lies.’
Thomas Markle is angry with his daughter who has cut off all contact with her father since he missed the 2018 royal wedding
Mr Markle also called the Sussexes’ decision to step back from their duties and move to Canada the ‘dumbest thing’ and says Harry is ‘whipped’ and his daughter ‘has turned into his mother’
Labelling Prince Harry ‘whipped’, he also told The Sun last night his daughter ‘has turned into his mother’.
The two have not spoken since the fall out before the Royal wedding in 2018, with Mr Markle yet to meet Prince Harry or grandson Archie.
He revealed he had gone to the Mail on Sunday – the sister paper of the Daily Mail – about the infamous letter in order to defend himself from attacks from Meghan’s friends in People magazine.
Meghan, 38, has accused the newspaper of breaching her privacy, her data protection rights and her copyright when it published extracts.
The 75-year-old has already given lawyers previously unseen text messages that reveal the breakdown of the relationship between father and daughter.
Mr Markle added: ‘I’m tired of being lied about and not being defended. This is my fault so I have to stand up for myself. It is a responsibility thing.’
In the letter, Meghan allegedly accused her father of breaking her heart ‘into a million pieces’ and causing her to ‘crumble inside’ by colluding with a paparazzi photographer.
Mr Markle, however, said the Sussexes had done ‘exactly what they told me I shouldn’t be doing’ by stepping back.
He added: ‘They are cashing in on the Sussex name. They’ve gone commercial. They should be just called Harry and Meghan now. Leaving the Royal Family is the dumbest thing they could have done. I don’t think they thought this out. It’s almost an abdication.
‘The only thing I can say is there are people who say she was reaching out to me and saying she loved me. Well the word ‘love’ is not there at all, in relation to me.’
Earlier this month half-sister Samantha revealed her father was ‘deeply hurt’ by the letter, telling the BBC: ‘If he is called, he will come.’
However, Mr Markle revealed it won’t be easy to testify due to the love he still holds for Meghan, but admitted it was his responsibility.
He said: ‘If I saw her, I would say: ‘I’m sorry, I wish we could have sat down and worked this out’. I don’t like the idea of sides, of being in a battle with my daughter. I don’t like not being able to talk to her.
‘But in a way I would be thrilled to meet her, wherever she shows up. Although that (a court) is not the ideal place. I love my daughter. I think I have made that clear to everybody.
‘It hurts we couldn’t find a way to make up. All I want to do is tell the truth.’
Thomas Markle has shared his family album with Channel 5 including this picture of him bonding with Newborn Meghan as she changed her nappy after her birth in August 1981
Thomas holds his daughter, who he described as his pride and joy, saying he couldn’t put her down when he was home from work
Meghan sits up on her parents’ bed in another a new family photo shown on the Channel 5 documentary last week
Meghan is cuddled by her mother Doria on a sunny Californian day when she is around a year old in a previously unseen photo
Mr Markle, Doria and their daughter as she started her career and within a few years of this photo she would be earning $40,000 per episode of Suits
Today’s GMB interview with Mr Markle comes just a few days after he appeared in a bombshell documentary charting the relationship with his daughter.
The 75-year-old shared extraordinary unseen photos and films of his Duchess daughter for the Channel 5 film where he spoke of their loving and close relationship
He also described his pride after the birth of his daughter in August 1981 as he opened up to Britain’s Channel 5 in a film, watched by 1.2million people last week – just days after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex started their new life in Canada.
Mr Markle says Meghan’s childhood years were ‘the happiest of my life’ as he shared dozens of pictures of her key moments including on the day she entered the world and as father and daughter bonded while he changed her nappies in the following days.
There are also a string of happy photos of Meghan with her mother Doria Ragland, including at family Christmas parties and summer picnics near their home in California, before she moved in with Thomas as a teenager after the couple’s divorce.
Mr Markle has also shared rare home video footage of Meghan’s first school productions where he says a star was born, her high school graduation and leaving for college.
An emotional Mr Markle also said he was ‘jealous’ and cried as he saw the Prince of Wales walking his daughter down the aisle and justified making the film to defend himself and rebut the ‘trashy things’ said about him.
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