Thomas Markle Denies He Missed Meghan’s First Wedding

Meghan Markle’s father Thomas Markle gave another interview this weekend to clear up some reports he considers misconceptions, including one claim that he missed out on his daughter’s first wedding.

In 2011, Markle married film and television producer Trevor Engelson in Jamaica. Two years later, the couple divorced. On Wednesday, the Daily Mail published photos from the nuptials, and Thomas is nowhere to be found.

In a new interview with the Daily Mail, Thomas said he had an explanation for that. He was there, just not in those particular photos.

“There are no images of me frolicking on the beach because, at the time, I was well into my 60s and not much into frolicking,” Thomas said this weekend. “But I was very much there and there were more than 100 people there to witness it.”

Thomas claimed he walked Meghan down the aisle during the beach wedding with her mother, Doria Ragland.

“Of course I have photographs of Meghan and me at her first wedding but I choose not to share them because I think that would be in poor taste and offensive to Prince Harry,” he said. “We booked out the whole resort and I was more than happy to contribute to the cost of my daughter’s first wedding.”

Thomas also denied a report that he feels “bitter” about Markle and her half-siblings Thomas Jr. and Samantha not paying for his retirement or paying him back for their education.

“I sold a bunch of Facebook shares at a low price to help pay for my share of it. I don’t regret it in the slightest because I was happy to help out, but that stock would be worth a fortune now,” Thomas told the Daily Mail. “I’m not broke, I’m not bitter and I never expected Meghan to pay me back for anything.”

Thomas continued, “I was happy as a father to give her a great education. I was happy to provide the best start in life to all my children. Of course I never expected her to pay me back for her schooling.”

Thomas did not attend Markle’s May 19 wedding to Prince Harry, even though he was invited, leaving Prince Charles to walk Markle down the aisle. Thomas suffered a heart attack days before the wedding, making it impossible for him to travel from Mexico to the U.K.

“I was in a hospital bed, I’d just had a heart attack,” Thomas told the Daily Mail this weekend. “The timing wasn’t great.”

Kensington Palace has still not issued an official response to Thomas’ frequent interviews with the British tabloids. Sources told The Sunday Times that one should not hold their breath for that response.

“Meghan doesn’t think it’s a fair game between her father and the media so she’s not going to engage in it or instruct anyone on her behalf to set the record straight,” a source said. “There have always been fears over his vulnerability. Now he’s got himself into a cycle of talking publicly. It’s very sad.”

Another source said Prince Charles is “very sympathetic” towards Markle, considering the public scrutiny his own family life has faced over the decades. “But I suspect the Queen will be rolling her eyes and thinking: crikey, what is going to become of all this?” the source added.