Duchess Meghan‘s estranged father, Thomas Markle, weighed in on reports his daughter is feuding with sister-in-law Duchess Kate.
The retired TV lighting director, 74, spoke to the Mail on Sunday on Sunday, December 9, about his fractured relationship with his daughter and claimed he’s been “frozen out” by the pregnant Duchess of Sussex and her husband, Prince Harry.
The Emmy winner admitted that he’s been surprised by recent stories claiming that the former Suits actress is difficult and has been arguing with her sister-in-law, who is married to Harry’s older brother, Prince William.
“I don’t recognize this person,” he told the Mail about a report that his daughter reduced a staff member to tears and also made Kate cry. “The Meghan I know was always sweet, kind, generous. She was always demanding but never rude. I don’t want to say or do anything to hurt my daughter but I worry she is going to hurt herself.”
Adding that Meghan grew up on the TV sets he worked on, Markle said, “I taught her to have respect for the crew. They can make you look good or awful. I don’t pretend to know what she’s like now.”
“She bends the rules. She’s good at that,” he continued. “But this acting up is new. She’s never been rude to me before. I can’t believe I’ve done anything severe enough to be treated this way by her.”
Markle, who hasn’t spoken to his only child with ex-wife Doria Ragland since the day after she wed Harry at Windsor Castle in England in May, said he has reached out to his daughter via text and letter but she hasn’t responded. He even “hand-delivered a letter to Doria asking her why our daughter won’t speak to me.”
Their problems began after Markle, who lives in Mexico was embroiled in a staged paparazzi photo scandal and was unable to attend his daughter’s wedding after suffering a heart attack. He has spoken out about their problems in newspaper interviews, which had strained their relationship even more.
Reports surfaced last month that Kate, 36, and Meghan, 37, didn’t get along after Harry, 34, and his wife, who is expecting their first child in the spring, decided to move to Frogmore Cottage in Windsor and away from Kensington Palace in London, where William, 36, and Kate and their three kids live.
‘There is no fighting going on between Kate and Meghan,” a source close to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge told Us earlier this week, adding that the two couples are “all on a family text chain.”
Another insider told Us last month that “the ‘feud’ is definitely being played up.”
“Are they the best of friends? No. Do they speak every waking second? No. Do they hate each other? Absolutely not,” the insider added. “They are two women under serious amounts of pressure, stress and under a huge spotlight that no one can relate to – they will always have a bond that no one can break”
