Meghan Markle’s Father Thomas Makes Granddaughter Plea Amid Public Media Feud

Despite Meghan Markle making it clear why she is not speaking to her father due to his behavior with the press, amongst other things, Thomas Markle continues to seek the limelight under the guise of wanting their relationship mended. In his latest bid for attention, Markle is going on 60 Minutes Australia in order to spill more tea and beg to meet his new granddaughter, Lilibet. In the preview for the interview, Markle explains that he hasn’t spoken to Meghan since their last talk two days before her wedding after he was caught staging paparazzi photos, which Markle calls his “one dumb mistake.”

Markle also claims that he wasn’t told when Lilibet was born. “No phone calls, I just heard it on the radio… I’ll be very disappointed that I don’t get to hold my granddaughter.” However, while begging to be back into his daughter’s life, he also threatens to expose private information about her and Prince Harry as well. “You want dirty laundry? This is the first time I’ve discussed these things,” Markle warns in the video.

An insider told InTouch Weekly in April that Meghan decided that it’s “best not to engage” with Thomas or her half-sister Samantha when they speak out about her in the press. “[Meghan] is in a great space and is focusing on making the world a better place instead of being angry at her toxic family,” the source said. “She pities them for succumbing to greed and having nothing better to do with their time than sell stories.”

Markle’s relationship with her father has been strained since she became engaged to Harry, especially after Thomas admitted and later apologized for staging paparazzi photos. Despite that apology though, Thomas has continued to publicly criticize his daughter. The Sun published photos of Thomas hand-delivering a letter to Oprah Winfrey’s house in response to the bombshell interview.

The former Suits actress also spoke about her father’s staged paparazzi videos, which she considered a betrayal of her trust. “When I said we won’t be able to protect our own kids one day and I said, ‘So I just need you to tell me and if you tell me the truth, we can help,’” Markle told Winfrey. “He wasn’t able to do that. And that, for me, has really resonated, especially now as a mother. I look at Archie, I think about this child, and I genuinely can’t imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child.”