Meghan sends ‘handwritten letter’ to sick father Thomas Markle Senior after years of estrangement
Days after it was revealed Thomas Markle Senior had his leg amputated in a “lifesaving surgery”, his estranged daughter sent him a personal letter.
Meghan has sent a handwritten letter to her estranged father as he recovers from a lifesaving surgery in a Philippines hospital.
According to The Sun, “reliable and trusted contacts” delivered the private note to Thomas Markle Senior, 81, who had to have his leg amputated after falling ill last week.
While the Duchess of Sussex has now reached out, ending a 7-year wall of silence, it’s understood she will not be flying overseas to visit him in person.
It was previously reported that Meghan had been calling around hospitals in the Philippines in a bid to get in contact with Thomas, as it was claimed she no longer had his phone number.
It comes after confusion began swirling around the circumstances of exactly how, and when, Meghan first attempted to contact her estranged father after news broke that he was in intensive care.
A spokesman for the Duchess of Sussex confirmed to news.com.au over the weekend that she had “reached out” to Thomas after hearing that he had been hospitalised and been forced to undergo lifesaving surgery.
However shortly afterwards, Thomas spoke to the Mail on Sunday, denying that she had called either him or the hospital, and saying he was “confused” by the assertion that she had.
In response, a source from Meghan’s camp insisted to The Times UK that she had made attempts to talk to him, including sending an email last Friday morning.
“The Mail made no attempt to contact the duchess’s team prior to publication to verify the claims in their report,” the source told the publication.
“Had they asked, particularly in light of the quotes they relied upon from Mr Markle and hospital staff, we would simply have told them to ask Mr Markle to check his email.
“We first saw the story only after it was published. We immediately informed the Mail that the duchess had in fact emailed her father, a detail we had deliberately chosen not to share in order to avoid further dragging this private matter into the public eye.”
While it’s been claimed that the email was sent to an address that Thomas had not used for years, it’s understood it had landed in his inbox with no bounce-back to Meghan
While he pointed out that his number had not changed from the last time Meghan had used it, according to The Times, she is “no longer in possession” of it, as it has been “lost or deleted”.
In a statement to the Mail last week, the retired Hollywood lighting director, who now lives in the Philippines, begged the Suits star to visit him “one more time before I die”, revealing his hopes of seeing son-in-law Prince Harry and grandchildren Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4, “before it’s too late”.
“I’ve always said I am open to reconciling with my daughter,” he told the publication, adding that he “would love to speak to her”.
“I have never stopped loving her. I don’t want to die estranged from Meghan. I want to meet my grandkids. It might be nice to meet her husband too.”
Meghan and her father – with whom she lived between the ages of 11 and 18 – have been estranged since her 2018 royal wedding, after she was left “furious” when he was caught staging paparazzi photos in an apparent bid to generate a positive public image.
He then pulled out of attending the nuptials and walking her down the aisle, claiming he had had a heart attack and was in hospital.
It later emerged that Thomas had become embroiled in a heated phone call with his daughter and Harry over the issue.
“I felt disrespected by them. I was recovering from a heart attack, lying in a bed, having a phone call, and the things were being said that hurt me,” he told The Sun.
Originally published as Meghan sends ‘handwritten letter’ to sick father Thomas Markle Senior after years of estrangement
‘Shouldn’t have come to this’: Stars praise ban
