The Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father told tonight’s bombshell documentary how he watched his ‘beautiful’ daughter Meghan marry Prince Harry from a ‘safe house’ after his release from hospital.
In the 90-minute documentary that aired on Channel 5 this evening, a visibly crestfallen Thomas Markle described watching his daughter on TV walking down the aisle, shortly after he had been released from hospital after suffering a heart attack.
In the extraordinary film the 75-year-old detailed the breakdown of his relationship with the duchess and accused Prince Harry of acting like a ‘sensitive’ 12-year-old.
The American has not spoken to his daughter since her wedding in May 2018, and admitted crying as he watched her tie the knot with Prince Harry.
He said: ‘I stayed at a safe house and watched the wedding. My daughter looked beautiful. I wish that I could have been there with her. I was certainly appreciative Charles was there.’
An emotional Mr Markle told the interviewer he was ‘jealous’ of the Prince of Wales as he watched the ceremony on television, and that walking his daughter down the aisle was something ‘I really wanted to do’.
He added: ‘I admit I cried a bit about that. To this day I can’t forget that moment, she was beautiful. It was a nice wedding.’
In a Channel 5 TV documentary, Thomas Markle describes Meghan and Harry’s behaviour as embarrassing
The opening scenes showed Thomas Markle looking at various royal gifts he has received, such as a mug commemorating the birth of Archie, his grandson.
Mr Markle, proudly shows a picture of Meghan on the day of her birth, and describes her as a ‘natural beauty’ and the most ‘special thing in my life.’
The documentary moves onto his upbringing, and he shows a number of pictures of him as a young boy, in which he jokes: ‘I looked like Harry…better looking’ (pictured)
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and their baby son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe at the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation during their royal tour of South Africa on September 25, 2019
He defended his decision to speak out in the film and to be paid for the lengthy interview.
He said: ‘At this point, they owe me. The royals owe me. Harry owes me, Meghan owes me. What I’ve been through I should be rewarded for. My daughter told me that when I reach my senior years she’ll take care of me. I’m in my senior years now – it’s time to look after Daddy.’
The retired Hollywood lighting director, who has never met the royal couple’s baby son Archie, described his relationship with his daughter as ‘complicated’.
He insisted: ‘To them I don’t exist and now Harry, whether he realises it or not, is part of my family and I’m part of his. We should be talking.’ He added: ‘He’s not 12 years old any more – he’s got no right to be this sensitive.’
Mr Markle, who divorced Meghan’s mother Dora in the late 1980s, said the last time he spoke to his daughter was during an emotional series of phone calls days before her wedding.
He was due to walk Meghan up the aisle for her wedding in Windsor, but offered to pull out when it emerged that he had made a secret deal with a photographer.
He agreed to pose for photos which showed him preparing for the wedding shortly after Kensington Palace appealed for the media to respect his privacy. Mr Markle said his involvement in the deal would ‘haunt me for the rest of my life’, and detailed a phone call in which Harry reprimanded him over the decision.
The American has not spoken to his daughter since her wedding in May 2018, and admitted crying as he watched her tie the knot with Prince Harry
Mr Markle, pictured with a young Meghan, spoke of his elation when he found out Doria was pregnant
He said that he offered to apologise to the Queen and the Royal Family, but was told not to do so.
Days later, he was taken to hospital for emergency heart surgery and was told by doctors he would not be able to fly to Britain for the wedding.
Recalling the series of phone calls, he said Harry had told him off over the deal with the photographer. He added: ‘Harry said to me, ‘If you had listened to me, this wouldn’t have happened to you’.
I said to him, ‘It’s too bad I didn’t die because then you guys could pretend you were sad,’ and then I hung up on them. I was done.’ Mr Markle said he had spoken to the couple after his operation when he learned he would not be able to fly to Britain.
He said: ‘I’m sure Meghan cried and was very upset, and I’m sure Harry seemed upset.’
Mr Markle also told the programme: ‘Meghan and Harry said they would protect me from [stress]. Their protection was simply to say, ‘don’t talk to anybody’.’
He did not hold out much hope of a reconciliation, saying: ‘The last time they might see me is being lowered into the ground. I don’t think at this point they’re thrilled to see me or want to talk to me.’
The 90-minute documentary used previously unseen photographs and home videos to chart Meghan’s early years
The documentary also looked at the early parts of Mr Markle’s life before Meghan was born, Pictured: Mr Markle as a young man
In the film, Thomas Markle: My Story, he said he was embarrassed and disappointed by Meghan and Harry’s decision to step back from their duties as senior royals.
The 90-minute documentary used previously unseen photographs and home videos to chart Meghan’s early years, when she lived with her father between the ages of 11 and 18. In the past, Mr Markle has claimed that he paid for his daughter’s education.
He said he had sold Facebook shares to pay £15,000 towards her first wedding to producer Trevor Engelson in 2011, but claimed she had given him no financial support since marrying Harry.
Mr Markle, speaking from his home in Mexico, also told how he only learned Meghan was pregnant when he heard it on the radio.
He added: ‘It’s almost a joke when you tell people you heard it on the radio. This is my daughter talking about my grandchild. She’s going to have a grandchild that’s mine and I’m not hearing about it on the phone. I’m hearing about it on the radio.’
Mr Markle said he was ready to give evidence against the couple in a court case they launched after he gave one of Meghan’s letters to the Mail on Sunday.
She lived with her father between the ages of 11 and 18. In the past, Mr Markle has claimed that he paid for his daughter’s education.
He told Channel 5 he wanted to set the record straight after Meghan’s friends had briefed a US magazine that the letter was a ‘loving’ attempt at a reconciliation, when he believed it was an attack.
He insisted he had held back parts of the letter which were ‘too offensive and too hurtful to me’, but added: ‘I’m going to defend myself.’
The duchess has alleged that the Mail on Sunday – the sister paper of the Daily Mail – breached her privacy, her data rights and her copyright when it published parts of the letter. The newspaper denies her claim and is expected to call Mr Markle as a witness if the case is heard at the High Court.
At his home Mr Markle proudly showed off various royal gifts he had received, such as a mug commemorating the birth of Archie, his grandson. And he even joked that he had heard about Meghan and Harry branded condoms.
Viewers were treated to pictures of Meghan on the day of her birth, and he describes her as a ‘natural beauty’ and the most ‘special thing in my life.’
There were also pictures of Mr Markle’s upbringing, with pictures of him as a young man. In one picture of him as a boy, he jokes: ‘I looked like Harry…better looking.’
He told the 90-minute documentary about meeting Meghan’s mother, and and how he felt about his daughter was born by C-section.
A number of new unseen clips and photographs were seen in the documentary on Channel 5
‘Not everybody seems to approve of those kind of relationships,’ he added with regards to being in a mixed-race relationship with Doria.
‘People would look at Doria like she was a housekeeper. It wasn’t fair. Of course it wasn’t fair.
‘I think she’s going through the same problem right now with the royals. I don’t think they know where to place her. She always looks scared. She always looks like a deer in the headlights.’
He spoke of his elation when he found out that Doria was pregnant and that he was ‘knocked out by that child’ when Meghan was born.
He added: ‘When they handed me the baby I was thrilled I could not be happier. I looked at her and saw her face and finger around my finger and that was it. I knew she was going to be special.’
The documentary was spliced with adorable images of Meghan fishing and joking with her father on various home movies.
But the shocking documentary details the fall out between Meghan and her father, and he accuses them of saying ‘trashy’ things about him.
The 90-minute documentary, Thomas Markle: My Story, explores the background to what it calls his ‘complicated’ relationship with his daughter and their dramatic fallout in the run-up to her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.
The 90-minute documentary, Thomas Markle: My Story, explores the background to what it calls his ‘complicated’ relationship with his daughter and their dramatic fallout in the run-up to her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.
Mr Markle’s intervention in the monarchy’s worst crisis for a generation came as the Queen’s top aides finalised a deal for the couple, who are quitting as frontline Royals and leaving Britain to seek financial independence.
Mr Markle is ready to testify against the Duchess of Sussex in court in a legal battle between the duchess and The Mail on Sunday, after the newspaper published extracts from a letter she sent to her father.
He told Channel 5; ‘To them I don’t exist and now Harry, whether he realises it or not, is part of my family and I’m part of his. We should be talking’.
He added: ‘He’s not 12 years old any more, he’s got no right to be this sensitive. There are other parts of the letter that I would never put out because they’re too offensive and too hurtful to me. And that’s where it’s at now’.
The 90-minute documentary explores the background to what he calls his ‘complicated’ relationship with his daughter and their dramatic fallout in the run-up to her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.
In addition, it charts Meghan’s formative years – she lived with Thomas between the ages of 11 and 18.
‘Uncomfortable to watch…why didn’t the royals help Thomas Markle more?’ Viewers feel sorry for Meghan’s father after bombshell documentary about his relationship with his duchess daughter
Viewers said they felt sorry for Thomas Markle in tonight’s bombshell documentary which charted his relationship with the Duchess of Sussex.
In a tell-all 90-minute film, he accused his daughter and son-in-law of saying ‘trashy things’ about him and revealed he cried while watching Meghan walk down the aisle on her wedding day.
Mr Markle also said that Meghan had promised to look after him in his ‘senior years’.
He said: At this point, they owe me. The Royals owe me. Harry owes me, Meghan owes me. What I’ve been through I should be rewarded for. My daughter told me that when I reach my senior years she’ll take care of me.’
Social media users watching the extraordinary film seemed sympathetic to Mr Markle, with a number of people saying he seemed like a good father and a ‘genuine guy’.
In a tell-all 90-minute film, he accused his daughter and son-in-law of saying ‘trashy things’ about him and revealed he cried while watching Meghan walk down the aisle on her wedding day
Shanelle Stephens said: #ThomasMarkle seems like he was a really decent dad to Meghan. It’s so sad now she’s married into a prestigious family she doesn’t want anything to do with him.
‘It’s not like he wasn’t there for her when she was growing up. He was in your life #MeghanMarkle reach out to him.
Captain Tykey said: ‘Bless #thomasmarkle, so sad watching this. Clearly loves her very much.’
Another Twitter user said: ‘#Thomasmarkle has every right to tell his story. The guy has been slaughtered across the news and social media for two years.’
And Meg La Maniac, said: ‘The Thomas Markle documentary is a tear jerker. He’s a sweet humble man. Both taz and I are crying!’
Mr Markle’s intervention in the monarchy’s worst crisis for a generation came as the Queen’s top aides finalised a deal for the couple, who are quitting as frontline Royals and leaving Britain to seek financial independence.
The 90-minute documentary explores the background to what he calls his ‘complicated’ relationship with his daughter and their dramatic fallout in the run-up to her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.
In addition, it charts Meghan’s formative years – she lived with Thomas between the ages of 11 and 18.