Meghan Markle's father Thomas Markle has admitted he would have supported his daughter through her 'psychological problems' - as she tells Oprah Winfrey he "betrayed her" in new clips.
Thomas Markle reacted to the bombshell Oprah Winfrey interview that his daughter Meghan, and her husband Prince Harry did, which aired on CBS in America on Sunday 7th March in the UK on ITV last night.
Speaking to Piers Morgan on Good Morning Britain this morning, Thomas, 76, revealed that he had not spoken to his daughter since 2018 and that despite the rift, he would have supported her - as he learned she had suicidal thoughts.
Thomas said, "I love Meghan. Had I known she was having psychological problems I would have been there for her. She has pretty much ghosted her family, on her mother's side and my side." He added that Harry 'obviously didn't support Meghan that well'.
In the new clips from the Oprah interview, Duchess Meghan who decided to step back as working royals with husband Prince Harry, spoke for the first time about falling out with her father Thomas and said it was difficult to use the word for the fraught relationship with him, and that she was unsure about talking about it.
As reported Thomas denied that he had spoken with members of the press, who were outside his home in the United States, in the months before she married Prince Harry in May 2018.
But the Oprah interview included claims Thomas had lied about his co-operation with the press and Meghan said, "If were going to use the word betrayal, it’s because when I asked him when the comms team told us this the story was coming out, we called my dad and I asked him and he said, ‘No, absolutely not,’” she told Ms. Winfrey, in a new clip from the same interview that aired on CBS on Sunday.
Meghan said she and Harry were told that a story about Mr. Markle — who later disclosed the contents of a private letter to the press— was due to be published in the days before the wedding.
The Duchess continued, "I said, you know, the institution has never intervened for anything for us, but they can try to go in and kill this story,” Ms. Markle said she told her father. “I just need you to tell me, if you tell me the truth we can help.”
The duchess said when she called her father to ask about the story, he denied talking to the press, and said he had "absolutely not".
“That, for me has really resonated as a mother,” she told Ms. Winfrey. ”And also me saying full stop, if we use this to protect you we won’t be able to protect our grandchildren one day.”
As Meghan and Harry settle into their new life in LA, Thomas admits he now lives 'about 70 miles' from the Sussexes. He said, "I've never stopped loving my daughter. I love Meghan and she can be angry with me but I’m still her dad."
Discussing the final conversation, he said, "The last time we spoke, we didn't speak, we texted each other I was going to the hospital after a heart attack and I had to tell them I couldn't come to the wedding - we pretty much said goodbye.'
Meanwhile, in response to the reported question of how dark Archie's skin would be when he was born, said to have come from a Royal, Thomas said, "I'm guessing or hoping it's just a dumb question. It could be that simple, just somebody asking a stupid question. Not racist."
Thomas said he respects the Royal family, and added, "I don't think the British Royal Family are racist, I don't think the British are racist."
And he hoped to see his 22-month-old grandson Archie, sending this message to the Sussexes, "I’m available any time we can get together. I’d love to get together. I’d certainly like to see my grandson.”
