Before missing the royal wedding, Thomas Markle Sr. missed daughter Meghan Markle‘s wedding to her first husband.
It turns out that Markle Sr. has a running history of missing weddings. According to Cosmopolitan, while Doria Loyce Ragland, the mother of the newly minted Duchess of Sussex, has been in attendance of all of Markel’s major life moments, the new royal’s 75-year-old father skipped out on his daughter’s 2011 Jamaican wedding to film producer Trevor Engleson.
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Those who have followed Meghan Markle’s journey into the Royal Family will remember that Markle Sr. had to publicly bow out of the May 2018 royal nuptials between his daughter and Prince Harry due to a major health scare that came on the heels of a staged paparazzi scandal. The 75-year-old had been set to walk his daughter down the aisle of St. George’s Chapel, though the task went to Markel’s now father-in-law Prince Charles.
Since the widely publicized scandal and his daughter’s joining of the British Royal Family, Markle Sr. has voiced his disappointment at missing his daughter’s wedding, though the interviews have also been riddled with his harsh criticism of the royals, accusations that the Royal Family is turning his daughter against him, and claims that Markle is terrified of the new spotlight she has found herself in.
The weeks and months of harsh interviews to international publications have reportedly led to Palace royal aides rushing to do damage control. It is believed that a number of top-level crisis meetings have been held in an attempt to figure out how to deal with Markle Sr. and his interviews, which have reportedly upset his daughter, and there are several ways the situation could be handled.
The Duchess could reportedly speak to her father herself, though both sources close to the new royal and Markle Sr. himself have stated that Meghan has not had contact with her father in weeks. Another option would be for an intermediary meeting with Markle Sr. face to face, while a third option would include Markle cutting her father off completely. The fourth and less likely option would be for the Queen herself to step in to put an end to the interviews.
While Markle Sr., along with the Duchess’ estranged half-sister Samantha Markle, have not shown any signs that they are willing to give up their extended 15-minutes of fame or the hefty price they charge for interviews, Meghan Markle seems to be taking things in stride. The new royal has seemingly been too busy with her new royal duties to pay much attention to the controversy, having recently gone on her first solo trip with the Queen and her first international trip with Prince Harry.
