Meghan Markle says her father ‘betrayed her’ in new Oprah clip as he faces TV interview with Piers Morgan

Duchess describes way in which UK tabloids ‘hunted’ down her parents before falling out with her father, Thomas Markle

In a previously unaired clip from her and Prince Harry’s interview with Oprah Winfrey on Sunday, Meghan Markle has said her father “betrayed” her by talking to the tabloid press.

It comes as it was announced that Meghan’s father, Thomas, will sit down for an interview with Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday.

The duchess, who was speaking for the first time about falling out with her father, Thomas Markle, said it was difficult to use the word for the fraught relationship with the 76-year-old, and that she was unsure talking about it.

It followed her father denying that he had spoken with members of the press, who had stationed themselves outside his home in the United States, in the months before she married Prince Harry in May 2018.

"If were going to use the word betrayal, it’s because when I asked him, when the comms team told us this the story was coming out, we called my dad and I asked him and he said, ‘No, absolutely not,’” she told Ms Winfrey, in a clip from the same interview that aired on CBS on Sunday.

Ms Markle said she and Prince Harry were told that a story about Mr Markle — who later disclosed the contents of a private letter to the press— was due to be published in the days before the wedding.

Read more: Harry and Meghan expose a ruthless, racist anti-fairytale in their primetime Oprah interview

"I said, you know, the institution has never intervened for anything for us, but they can try to go in and kill this story,” Ms Markle said she told her father. “I just need you to tell me, if you tell me the truth we can help.”

The duchess said when she called her father to ask about the story, he denied talking to the press, and said he had "absolutely not".

“That, for me has really resonated as a mother,” she told Ms Winfrey. ”And also me saying full stop, if we use this to protect you we won’t be able to protect our grandchildren one day.”

She went on to say that her mother, Doria Ragland, had not spoken to the media and that when she looked at her own son, Archie, she could not “imagine doing anything to hurt my child. I can’t reconcile that.”

Ms Markle said in the interview that tabloid newspapers do not report the news, but "create the news”, and criticised the way in which they approached her father — describing it as a “hunt”.

In a legal case against the Daily Mail for publishing private letters sent between her and her father, Mr Markle’s lawyer argued that he “was deeply hurt” by messages he received from Ms Markle and Prince Harry in the days before their wedding, and that they had not asked about his recovery from a heart attack at the time, as ITV reported.

Tuesday’s interview with Mr Markle was announced by the GMB host on Twitter: “Meghan Markle trashed her dad on US TV today. On tomorrow’sGood Morning Britain, Thomas Markle will give his first exclusive interview in response.”

"There was such an obsession about anything in my world, including tracking down my parents. And I did everything I could to protect both of them in that media frenzy," Ms Markle said in the previously unaired clip.

The duchess also touched on allegations made by her half sister Samantha Markle, who published a self-described “tell all book” on Ms Markle.

She said to Ms Winfrey that it would be "very hard to tell all when you don't know me”, and that two women had not spoken in years.