Meghan Markle’s Father Thomas Speaks out on the ‘Betrayal’ of Staging Paparazzi Photos

Meghan Markle’s father Thomas Markle is speaking out over the staged paparazzi photos following Markle and Prince Harry‘s interview with Oprah Winfrey. Her father is now admitting that he wished he never did it in the first place, but that’s not the only thing he’s opening up about, and he’s not the only one who’s sharing their thoughts. During an interview with Good Morning Britain, Thomas said, “I wish I hadn’t done the whole thing,” according to PEOPLE.

He then provided an explanation and said he felt forced to do so because he didn’t feel protection from his daughter. “My oldest daughter was contacted by a man named Jeff Rayner who was a photographer, who said, ‘If you can convince your dad, we can make him look good.’” However, that was not the case.

“For an entire year, outside my house, somebody was taking photographs of me. I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything without being photographed buying something, coming out of a store,” he continued. He went on to detail that he couldn’t even buy beer without everyone knowing because he was consistently being photographed going in and out of his property.

“And god forbid I’m buying beer for the guys at the guard gate… everybody knows I don’t drink. But I bought beers for the guys at my guard gate,” he added. “They [the press] were making me an alcoholic, calling me names, talking about the way I dress […] So, I, yes, went for this deal where this man was going to make me look better. Maybe I got sucked into it, but I believed him, and I thought it was going to work. It didn’t work. Of course.”

During a bonus clip that aired the following morning on CBS This Morning, Markle addressed her father’s intentional setup and said that if he told her the truth, that she and Harry could help. He chose to tell her that he didn’t stage the photos at the time saying “absolutely not.” Markle and Harry learned that was not true, and she said that as a mother now to she and Harry’s son, Archie, “That, for me, has really resonated, especially now as a mother.”

Thomas also opened up about the last time he spoke with his daughter and Harry when he was laying in a hospital bed having broken the news to them that he would not be able to attend the wedding. He admitted that he felt Harry gave a “snotty” remark to him so Thomas hung up on the Prince and that was the last they spoke. While Thomas is opening up, so is Markle’s sister Samantha Markle and Queen Elizabeth II broke her silence and put out an official statement.