Thomas Markle has revealed that he hung up on Prince Harry, after he was confronted over those staged paparazzi photos.
Before the paparazzi scandal, Meghan Markle’s father had enjoyed “warm and chatty” conversations on the phone with Prince Harry, but the Royal always warned Thomas to “never go to the press”.
Unfortunately, the 74-year-old didn’t listen to Harry, as just days before the Royal Wedding, it emerged that Thomas had been paid to stage a number of paparazzi pictures.
Before the news hit headlines, Prince Harry called Thomas to ask if he’d co-operated with the photographer, but Thomas lied and insisted that he hadn’t.
But then, three days after Thomas’ paparazzi scandal was exposed, Harry and Meghan called Thomas again, while he was in hospital recovering from a heart attack.
In an explosive interview with the UK Mail on Sunday, Thomas confessed that Harry told him: “If you had listened to me this would never have happened.”
Thomas replied, “Maybe it would be better for you guys if I was deadÂ… then you could pretend to be sad,” before hanging up on the Prince.
Looking back now, Thomas thinks Harry was “absolutely right” to criticise him, and explained, “I’m not mad at Harry. I’m not mad at Meghan. I love them. I wish them well. But as for the rest of it, f**k it. I’m done.”
During his interview, Thomas also recalled the time Meghan told him there would be “no room” on the big day for him to give a speech.
He said: “I was going to recount the funny story about how she broke the news to me about dating Harry, ‘Daddy, I’ve met a man… Daddy, he’s English… Daddy, he’s a prince.’
“I thought it was a cute story. Like any father I wanted to say a few words. I was going to thank the Royal Family for welcoming my beautiful daughter into their family. But it was a speech that I was never going to be allowed to give. That hurt.”
Thomas also revealed that Meghan asked him to tell her estranged sister Samantha to stop talking about her.
He told the MOS, “Meghan asked me to tell Samantha to stop talking about her and then asked me to stop talking to Samantha. I have two daughters. I can’t stop talking to one of them.”
“No father should be asked to turn his back on their children. I love Meghan but I also love Samantha.”
Thomas continued, “I wish Harry and Meghan well but this isn’t going to make or break me. They will remember me when they have a child with my ‘Markle nose’.”
“I have pictures of Meghan and my other kids all over my house in Mexico. My favourite picture of her is a head-shot I did of her, in close-up, wearing a big hat with gloves pulled all the way up her arms. She’s about ten. And she looks like a little duchess.
“I love Harry, I love my daughter. I wish them all the love and best wishes for the future. But I am not sitting here crying.
He added, “I’m not sitting here being selfpitying. I’m not cashing in on the Royal Family. I don’t care about the Royal Family. My daughter is a duchess. I don’t even know what that really means.”
