Will Meghan Markle’s Dad Attend the Royal Wedding

Meghan Markle’s father has reportedly decided not to attend the Royal Wedding this weekend after he was caught selling staged paparazzi photos of himself.

Thomas Markle is skipping Saturday’s big ceremony to avoid embarrassing his daughter, according to a report by TMZ. The 73-year old was outed for working with a British photographer to take a “candid” shot of him preparing for the wedding, including images of him being fitted for a suit and reading about landmarks in the United Kingdom.

All told, Markle reportedly pulled in over $100,000 from the counterfeit photoshoot, although he himself told TMZ it was nowhere near that much. He also confessed that he was hoping to lighten up his public image before the wedding took place, since he feels that the existing papparazzi photos of him are unflattering.

On Monday, his daughter Samantha tweeted from a private account according to Daily Mail, taking all the blame for her father’s poor PR decision.

“The bad press over my father doing staged photos is my fault,” Meghan Markle‘s half-sister reportedly wrote. “The media was unfairly making him look bad so I suggested he do positive photos for his benefit and the benefit of the royal family.”

Samantha also addressed the photo-op during an appearance on the British talk show Loose Women.

“I have to say I am entirely the culprit,” she admitted. “As we know the media can take very unflattering photographs of people on their casual days and blow it way out of proportion. I said, you know, the world has no idea you’re getting in shape, doing healthy things. They don’t photograph you buying vegetables and PH water. They photograph you as unflattering ways as they can.”

“So I said, really you need to show the world that you’re getting in shape and doing great healthy things,” she added. “So I suggested it. There’s a lot of scrutiny that it was money motivated, it was not. It was my suggestion that to benefit him and to benefit the royal family that everyone looked good and they depict you as you are – in shape and doing healthy things.”

“I merely wanted him to be seen in a respectable light. I didn’t feel that was being done so I suggested that the photographers show him as he is, doing positive things and that was never addressed,” she concluded.

It’s been a big week for Thomas Markle, who also reportedly suffered a heart attack several days ago. He claims that he checked himself out of the hospital, and even said he would be healthy enough to walk his daughter down the aisle before the paparazzi incident.