Meghan Markle’s half-sister, Samantha Markle, is taking the blame for Thomas Markle Sr.’s photo staging scandal.
Just a day after a scathing report alleged that soon-to-be royal Markle‘s father met with a photographer to stage heartwarming photos of himself reading a book about Great Britain, looking at photos of his daughter, and being fitted for his suit, Markle’s half-sister is taking the fall.
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“I have to say I am entirely the culprit,” Samantha said during an appearance on British talk show Loose Women on Monday, according to PEOPLE. “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.
News of the scandal broke on Sunday, less than a week before Markle and Prince Harry are set to say “I do.” The Daily Mail published surveillance footage appearing to show the 73-year-old Markle Sr. arriving at an internet cafe with photographer Jeff Rayner in Rosarito, Mexico, where he now lives. The two appear to be staging a photo of Markle Sr. looking at a photo of his daughter and Prince Harry on a computer screen.
The internet cafe photo was just one of several images sold to newspapers around the world that were taken with Markle Sr.’s cooperation. The others show him working out with weights to apparently get in shape for the wedding, getting measured by a “tailor” for a custom suit and looking at a book on British landmarks in a Starbucks.
It is estimated that the photos sold for up to £100,000, or about $135,500.
Although he was initially set to walk his daughter down the aisle on her big day, it has since been reported that Markle Sr. will no longer be attending the royal wedding, because he doesn’t want to “embarrass” the Royal Family or his daughter.
A source close to the soon-to-be princess claimed that Markle “is upset and disturb” by the scandal and that she “doesn’t want to let anything ruin her day.”
