Thomas Markle fears he will never get a chance to meet his grandchildren as Archie, Lilibet and Meghan return to UK
Thomas Markle, the estranged father of the Duchess of Sussex, says he learned from a CNN news report that Meghan, Prince Harry and their children Archie and Lilibet are moving back to the UK, rather than hearing it from his daughter directly. The 82-year-old, who is recovering after having his left leg amputated below the knee, says he feels hurt that Meghan has not reached out despite his hospitalisation, and fears he will now never get the chance to meet grandchildren he has never met.
Mr Markle underwent the amputation in December after developing a blood clot while living in the Philippines, and later returned to the US for further treatment; he is currently in a rehabilitation centre. He has had no contact with Meghan since he posed for staged paparazzi photos ahead of her 2018 wedding, a rift that has left him without any relationship with Harry or his grandchildren, Archie, seven, and five-year-old Lilibet. Despite the estrangement, he insisted he will "never stop loving" his daughter, while his other daughter, Samantha, said she was proud of his recovery progress.
- Thomas Markle learned of Meghan's UK move from a CNN report, not from her.
- He fears he'll never meet grandchildren Archie and Lilibet.
- Markle, 82, is recovering after a leg amputation and remains estranged from Meghan.
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Thomas Markle is the estranged father of Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, who is married to Prince Harry. The pair fell out around the time of Meghan and Harry's 2018 royal wedding, after it emerged Mr Markle had staged paparazzi photographs of himself, and he has had no direct contact with his daughter since. As a result, he has never met his two grandchildren, seven-year-old Archie and five-year-old Lilibet.
Mr Markle, who is 82 and lives in the United States, has faced serious health problems in recent months, including having part of his leg amputated after developing a blood clot while he was living in the Philippines. Meghan and Harry stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and have mainly lived in California since, though they retain strong public interest in the UK given Harry's position in the British royal family.
The wider context is a long-running estrangement within the Markle family that has played out largely in public, through interviews and media reports rather than private contact. This matters because it touches on questions of family relationships within one of the most closely watched families in the world, and because decisions about where Meghan, Harry and their children live continue to attract significant public and media attention in Britain.