Thomas Markle interview: Meghan Markle’s father accuses her of quitting royal family for money as he admits lying to Prince Harry

Thomas Markle admits to lies and says Meghan and Harry stepping away from royal life is ‘embarrassing’ for him

Meghan Markle's father accuses daughter of quitting royal family for money

Thomas Markle has spoken out about his fractious relationship with his daughter, the Duchess of Sussex, for the first time since she and the Duke of Sussex revealed their decision to walk away from the royal family and pursue a life in Canada.

In Thomas Markle: My Story, which aired on Channel 5 on 22 January, Mr Markle discusses his absence from the May 2018 royal wedding, the way in which he has been portrayed in the media and how he learned the news of his daughter’s pregnancy over the radio.

The 90-minute long programme was filmed at Mr Markle’s home in Mexico in October 2019 over a six-day period.

In the documentary, Mr Markle confessed to lying to Prince Harry about staging paparazzi photographs of himself in the days prior to the royal wedding.

The 75-year-old also said that the last time he spoke to Meghan was over the phone shortly after he had suffered a heart attack. It was during that phone call when he told the couple he was too unwell to attend the wedding.

At the end of the film, in a clip that was filmed just days ago, Mr Markle speaks about Harry and Meghan’s decision to step down from the royal family, which he claimed they did “for money” before going on to describe it as “embarrassing” for him.

Channel 5 states that the Sussexes did not respond when approached for comment on Mr Markle’s claims.

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Key Points

• Mr Markle denies being 'trashy' and fears he may never see Meghan again
• 'I lied to Prince Harry about staging paparazzi photographs," Mr Markle says
• Meghan Markle's race made it 'more exciting' for press to attack her, he claims

[22 January 2020 21:10 · olivia.petter]

Now he's talking about his family... Thomas has two older brothers. Mike and Fred. 

"We pretty much as kids ran all over town on our own. It was a good family."

Thomas wanted to be a designer or a director in high school.

[22 January 2020 21:11 · olivia.petter]

Thomas is talking about segregation he noticed between white people and black people when he was a child. "We saw very few black people growing up in Pennsylvania," he said.

[22 January 2020 21:13 · olivia.petter]

Thomas is talking about meeting his first wife, Roslyn Markle,73.

He said she got pregnant with their daughter early on into their relationship but they didn't consider having an abortion because it wasn't socially acceptable at the time.

[22 January 2020 21:14 · olivia.petter]

"I'm not a saint," Thomas says when discussing his first marriage.

[22 January 2020 21:15 · olivia.petter]

He met Doria at ABC. "I found her very attractive," Thomas recalls.

"Not everybody seems to approve of those kind of relationships," he added with regards to being in a mixed-race relationship. "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."

[22 January 2020 21:17 · olivia.petter]

Thomas said he was really happy when Doria got pregnant with Meghan because he could actually afford to care for a baby this time around.

[22 January 2020 21:17 · olivia.petter]

"I just knew she was going to be special," Thomas says of Meghan at birth

[22 January 2020 21:21 · olivia.petter]

The Twitter reactions to the documentary are a mixed bag so far, with some viewers sympathising with Thomas while others find him "tragic"

[22 January 2020 21:23 · olivia.petter]

Thomas said after his divorce with Doria he would see Meghan only on weekends because she had chosen to live with her mother.

But when Meghan was 11, she went to live with Thomas again.

[22 January 2020 21:25 · olivia.petter]

We're seeing archive footage of Meghan wishing Thomas a happy birthday in 1993, when she would have been 11 years old and living with Thomas.

In another clip shot the same year, Meghan is filming her father on holiday. We then see clips of the duo fishing together.