Wishing for the best. Duchess Meghan’s brother, Thomas Markle Jr., hopes he will be invited to royal baby Archie’s christening amid an ongoing public family rift.
“I can’t say whether I’m going to be invited, you know, I can’t say if Meghan is going to say, ‘OK, enough is enough and, yes, I want my family back in my life,’” Thomas, 53, told the U.K. Express in an interview published on Sunday, June 23. “That would be wonderful but I can’t answer that question. Of course we all want to be there, because that is a big deal.”
He added: “I’m on a personal crusade to better the family image right now and it’s going be a slow, long process.”
The Suits alum, 37, welcomed her first child with husband Prince Harry in May, and while she’s made her first public post-birth appearance, Meghan has kept a low profile as she remains on maternity leave.
The California native’s father, Thomas Markle, made headlines in May 2018 days before her wedding to the former military pilot, 34, after he was caught staging paparazzi photos. Following the scandal, Thomas suffered a heart attack and had to undergo surgery, leaving him unable to attend the royal wedding.
Thomas has been outspoken about his disdain for his daughter’s in-laws since then, with Meghan’s half-sister, Samantha Markle, also getting in on the feud. “She doesn’t have a heart or she would [have] been doing everything she could to make [Thomas Sr.] comfortable, and reciprocate, and be loving and gracious, and make sure he’s comfortable in his old age,” Samantha said in the documentary Meghan and the Markles: A Family at War. “So broken heart? No, his heart’s broken. She can’t turn herself into the victim here.”
Samantha’s words came after Meghan penned a letter to her dad in August 2018. The message, shared with the Mail on Sunday, read: “Your actions have broken my heart into a million pieces — not simply because you have manufactured such unnecessary and unwarranted pain, but by making the choice to not tell the truth as you are puppeteered in this. Something I will never understand.”
Meghan continues to have a strong relationship with her mother, Doria Ragland, who was by her side in May when she welcomed her son.
