Meghan Markle's Brother Thomas Markle Jr. Asks for Forgiveness
Meghan Markle's estranged half-brother has issued a public apology to her for his comments before the royal wedding in 2018. At the time, Thomas Markle Jr. urged Prince Harry not to marry his sister amid a torrent of family drama. This week, Thomas appeared on Australia's Big Brother VIP, where he was challenged to write an apology letter to her.
"Dear Meghan and Harry, the first thing I want to say to both of you is that I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart for the awful, mean letter that I wrote to you prior to your wedding," the letter read, according to a report by Page Six. For those that don't recall, Thomas wrote an open letter to Prince Harry in 2018 which called the Duchess of Sussex a "jaded, shallow, conceited woman that will make a joke of you and the royal family heritage."
That letter was published by In Touch at the time, and if it reached Prince Harry it did not change his mind. He and Markle were married in May of 2018, and upon reflection, Thomas seems glad that he went through with it. On Monday's episode of Big Brother VIP, he continued: "I want both of you to know it did not come from the real person that I am, but came from a very dark and hurt part of my heart. I am not a mean person at all, and I have more love inside me to give than anything."
The newer letter seems to acknowledge the gulf of experience between Thomas and Meghan more than the earlier one did. The two share father Thomas Markle but have different mothers, and they were not raised together. Back in March in her tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, Markle said that she basically "grew up as an only child" and hadn't seen her half-sister Samantha Markle in about 20 years.
Still, Thomas' new letter maintained that they had some shared history, referencing the brief period when they lived in the same house while Markle was an infant and a toddler. He wrote: "I was very hurt and confused because of the amazing bond and relationship we shared growing up together, and all I could do was put up a defense wall to protect my heart. I know that it was very immature and wrong, and I truly regret it."
Markle's father's side of the family has caused an immense amount of drama for the royals, with brutal comments to the press and wild speculation about their estranged royal connection. They were disinvited from the wedding in 2018 and have yet to meet Markle's two children with Prince Harry. At the time of this writing, there's no sign that Thomas Markle Jr.'s letter will change that.