Thomas Markle tells Mail on Sunday why he shared Meghan’s letter

• Meghan Markle’s father told the Mail on Sunday that he shared a letter from his daughter Meghan with the press because he felt a previous article describing its contents was incorrect.
• Speaking to the newspaper, Thomas Markle said he found the letter “deeply hurtful,” and that is was mischaracterized in the US magazine People. 

Meghan Markle’s father says he shared a letter from his daughter Meghan with the press because he felt a previous article describing its contents was incorrect, and he wanted to defend himself from the mischaracterization, according to the UK ‘s Mail on Sunday.

The letter’s publication is at the center of a lawsuit against the Mail by Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Prince Harry railed against the tabloid earlier this week, saying: “Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences.”

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, Thomas Markle said he received Meghan’s letter in August 2018, and told the Mail he never intended to make it public. Then he read in the US magazine People what he called mischaracterizations of the letter, by an unnamed friend of Meghan’s. 

The Daily Mail, citing the “glowing” article in People, wrote: “Meghan’s friend portrayed the letter as loving and conciliatory, saying: ‘After the wedding she wrote him a letter. She’s like, “Dad. I’m so heartbroken. I love you, I have one father. Please stop victimizing me through the media so we can repair our relationship.'”

Thomas Markle says the letter was misconstrued.

“When I opened the letter I was hoping it was the olive branch I’d longed for,” Thomas Markle told the Mail. “I was expecting something that would be a pathway to reconciliation. Instead it was deeply hurtful. I was so devastated I couldn’t show it to anyone – and never would have, had it not been for the People magazine piece which meant I had to release portions to defend myself.”

In the Mail, Markle says he had been holding onto the letter for six months and wasn’t planning to share its contents, but felt his hand was forced by the People article. 

The Mail said that it did not pay Markle, nor was pay requested by him, for the interview.