Meghan Markle’s estranged sister Samantha says she wants her to use her visit to the US to contact their father, DailyMailTV can reveal
Meghan Markle’s estranged sister says she wants her to use her visit to the US to contact their father, DailyMailTV can reveal.
Samantha Markle, 54, of Ocala, Florida, said the pregnant royal should be allowed to enjoy her lavish baby shower but should also take the opportunity to meet with Thomas Markle Sr, 74.
The Duchess of Sussex, 37, has been on a private visit to New York since Thursday and was seen enjoying macaroons at French patisserie Ladurée in Soho over the weekend.
Earlier on Tuesday, she visited the Met Breuer art gallery with former Suits co-star Abigail Cooper before going on to a baby shower hosted by best friend Jessica Mulroney at the luxury Mark hotel, where the penthouse suite costs $75,000 a night.
Although her mother Doria Ragland, 62, was not on the guest list and was seen running errands more than 2,500 miles away in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, Samantha said Meghan should take the time to reach out to their father.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with DailyMailTV, she said: ‘Setting all personal things aside, I understand a baby shower is an exciting time – it’s about getting with friends, getting things ready for the baby.
‘But you are on this continent Meghan and I would just really love to see her have contact with my dad while she’s here.
The Duchess of Sussex, 37, has been on a private visit to New York since Thursday and was seen enjoying macaroons at French patisserie Ladurée in Soho over the weekend. She is pictured heading to dinner in Manhattan on Tuesday night
The Duchess of Sussex has had a troubled relationship with her father since he missed the royal wedding last May, after being caught staging fake paparazzi photos near his home in Rosarito, Mexico
‘Life is very short and you never know when you’re going to get that opportunity again so it would seem par for the course and I hope it happens.’
The Duchess of Sussex has had a troubled relationship with her father since he missed the royal wedding last May, after being caught staging fake paparazzi photos near his home in Rosarito, Mexico.
The retired lighting director then suffered a series of heart attacks and was forced to pull out of the nuptials – leaving Prince Charles to walk Meghan down the aisle.
He has gone on to give a series of interviews in which he revealed some of Prince Harry’s political views and claimed his daughter had frozen him out.
Most recently, he responded to a story in a celebrity magazine that said Meghan feels ‘victimized’ by his press activities by releasing a personal letter that chastised him for speaking to the media and criticized him for not reining in Samantha.
Samantha is currently working on a two-part book about her sister called ‘In the Shadows of the Duchess’, with part one due in April close to when Meghan gives birth.
DailyMail.com revealed earlier this month that the discovery of Samantha’s literary ambitions in April 2017 left Meghan in tears and resolving never to read interviews with members of her family.
Samantha has now told DailyMailTV that she isn’t demanding a relationship with Meghan, whom she has not seen since 2008, but does think she needs to remember who her family are and not try to replace them with ‘a parade of celebrities’.
Earlier on Tuesday, she visited the Met Breuer art gallery with former Suits co-star Abigail Cooper before going on to a baby shower hosted by best friend Jessica Mulroney at the luxury Mark hotel, where the penthouse suite costs $75,000 a night
She said: ‘She’s a woman, she’s got her own thing going on and we wish her well but family is family and you don’t replace your whole family with a parade of celebrities.
‘She can’t replace me with George Clooney or Serena Williams – I’m her sister. I hope we might get to bridge that gap and if not, she might regret it.
‘All I can say is I cry. With a baby coming, it might be time to look at things and try it again.’
The 54-year-old also told DailyMailTV that she doesn’t mind being left out of the baby shower and is past being upset about the wedding but does hope to have a future relationship with Baby Sussex.
Samantha also insisted that it is Meghan who is to blame for the estrangement, not the family, and said if their grandmother Doris, who died in 2011, was still alive, she would tell the Duchess to ‘snap out of it’.
She said: ‘Family is family. The wedding is long past and we’ll never be able to recoup those moments and those memories.
‘But life is short and I think our grandmother who we both adored who gave us our family values would say, ‘Meg, snap out of it. This is your family, this is your sister’.
‘I’m always open to that, and although I have criticism that I’ve made public and feelings I’m not going to candy-coat, the bottom line is it’s not the family, it’s Meg.
The retired lighting director then suffered a series of heart attacks and was forced to pull out of the nuptials – leaving Prince Charles to walk Meghan down the aisle
‘She needs to do a turnaround and make things better with family and you can try replacing your family with celebrities all you want but at the end of the day, when you look in the mirror, it’s not going to cut it.’
Meghan, who is around seven months pregnant, will return to London tomorrow ahead of an official trip to Morocco over the weekend.
The itinerary, which kicks off in Casablanca, will involve a visit to a girls’ school in the remote Atlas Mountains and a trip to a market in the Andalusian Gardens in Rabat.
She is due to give birth in late April, with Samantha telling DailyMailTV that she hopes she will teach the new baby to appreciate family and to be grateful.
She also called for another family truce, saying she does not want the new child to one day google his or her relations and read about mudslinging and public fights.
She said: ‘I think everybody needs to stop mudslinging. There’s a baby coming into the world who’s going to soon be in elementary school googling all this stuff and going, ‘Oh my god. What is up with my family just fighting all the time?’
‘What kind of message does that send to a kid about conflict resolution? So I would say to Meg, do the right thing because your baby is going to be looking to you as a role model on how to deal with conflict resolution – we’re a family, we make things work.
‘This is what we pay forward. On that note, let’s all do the right thing, have a great year and pay everything forward.’