TALK TO ME, MEGHAN
Thomas Markle says he may die soon and fears Meghan and Prince Harry shunning him
THOMAS Markle is making an extraordinary public plea for his daughter to contact him — because he fears he may not have long to live.
Thomas, 74 next month, believes he has been shunned for almost two months for staging paparazzi snaps and speaking publicly about Meghan.
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He told The Sun on Sunday: “I had a heart attack, doesn’t anybody care? I could actually die soon.
Does she want this to be the last thing we’ve said to each other?”
He went on: “It is probably the longest time I have gone without speaking to her ever.
"I just want to clear the air and tell her how proud I am of her.
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Thomas Markle says on GMB the staged paparazzi photos before Royal wedding was a 'serious mistake' and he apologised to Harry and Meghan
“If I had one message for her it would be that I’m sorry for anything that went wrong.
"I’d like to put our differences behind us and get together.
"I miss you very much.”
Speaking as he opened up his family album, Thomas said he has been unable to reach Meghan, 36, over the phone from his seaside home in Mexico — while a staff member at Kensington Palace will not answer his texts.
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The retired TV lighting expert was exposed for setting up the pictures six days before she and Prince Harry, 33, tied the knot in Windsor in May.
They forgave him for the stunt and phoned him the day after the wedding while he was recovering from heart surgery.
But he has not heard from the newlyweds since.
The silence has coincided with an interview he gave about them to Good Morning Britain on June 18.
He said: “I spoke to Meghan and Harry briefly after the wedding.
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"It was mostly me and Meghan.
"They were talking about coming to visit me.
"I spoke to them both and wished them a happy honeymoon.
“That was the last call.
"The phone number I had been calling Meghan on is no longer picking up.
“And I don’t have an address for her.
"I can send something to the palace, but there is no guarantee it would get to her.
“I sent a text to my palace contact saying I would like to reach my daughter and got no reply.”
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The strong-willed American added: “Being shunned for the rest of my life?
"That’s not going to happen.”
Thomas shared treasured family photographs as well as messages Meghan had written to him — including a birthday card from four years ago.
Smiling as he recalled her birth, the dad of three said: “She was put in my arms first.
"It was love at first sight.
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"She was the most beautiful child I had ever seen.
“With my first two kids — I wasn’t a rich man.
"With my third child, to a different wife, I had lots of money.
"I was very comfortable.
“I would go home hoping Meghan would be awake, so I could walk her.
"I would walk her in the kitchen and listen to the refrigerator hum.
"It put her to sleep.
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“When I first held her as a baby I feel madly in love with her.
"I carried her for three years.
"I don’t think her feet ever touched the ground!
"I love her very much.”
Thomas gave Meghan her first nickname — Bean — after reading Jack and the Beanstalk to her.
Let's hope they can reconcile
By Arthur Edwards
I’M so sad Meghan’s relationship with her father appears to have fallen apart since she married Prince Harry.
Thomas Markle will regret not walking his daughter down the aisle for the rest of his life.
I know Meghan was in tears when she found out he wasn’t coming.
Harry tried to send a former Army friend to America to help Thomas in the run-up to the wedding — but the dad rejected the assistance.
Joining the royal family isn’t easy — it’s downright difficult.
People think because you have a privileged lifestyle you’re the luckiest girl in the world.
But unless you deeply love the person you’re marrying it can be an ordeal that some like Fergie and Princess Di can’t manage.
I’ve watched Meghan and Harry since they first came into the public eye and have photographed them many times.
They’re infatuated with each other.
They’re forever holding hands, looking into each other’s eyes and smiling as only people hopelessly in love can do.
I think it’s a shame Meghan’s lost contact with most of her relatives and now only speaks to her mother — because to me family’s everything.
But if her family keep criticising her she may feel she has no alternative but to cut them out of her life for ever.
I hope this isn’t the case and that she and her father can soon reconcile.
And he recalled taking her out for walks around her childhood home in Woodland Hills, California.
He said: “We would look up at the moon. I would point to it and say, ‘This is Meggy’s moon’.
“For two years I did this, to the point that after a while she would say, ‘Meggy’s moon’.
We were very close that way.”
Their bond survived Thomas and Meghan’s mum Doria divorcing when the future actress was six.
Meghan lived full-time with him in Hollywood from the age of 11 until she graduated high school.
The pair would go on road trips, including one to Elvis’s Graceland home in Memphis, Tennessee.
Thomas said: “The road trips were fun to do.
"I rigged my Toyota 4Runner with mattresses in the back for her and a TV and VCR.
“We discovered she liked the music I did when I was a kid.
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"Bands like The Shirelles — all the soul groups, she liked every one.
"Every time we would stop at a truck stop for something to eat they would have the cassettes.”
Meghan would spend hours on the sets of TV shows he worked on, including long-running US soap General Hospital.
Thomas, a respected director of photography, said: “I knew she was going into showbusiness when she was born.
"I’m not kidding — I just knew.
"She grew up and then became a little star.
I kept my girl away from cult
THOMAS said he once stopped Meghan from getting into Scientology.
He spotted the then teenager outside one of the controversial church’s buildings in Los Angeles with a friend.
He said: “I called her next day and said if you ever go near that place, you’re in big trouble.”
Thomas also revealed he bought shares in Facebook early on — but cashed out before their value soared.
He said: “I bought at about $15 (£11 a share) and sold at about $30.”
Facebook shares are now worth around $200 (£151).
"Real easy. Growing up on film sets was a great experience for her.
“It also made her a bit of a star because she could bring all her little friends along with her when she came to the studio.”
After Meghan graduated from Northwestern university in Chicago in 2003, she began to pick up acting work and would ring every week for advice.
He believes her love of showbiz doomed her first marriage to TV producer Trevor Engelson.
The wed on a Jamaican beach in 2011 but divorced two years later after Meghan had moved to Toronto, Canada, to film legal drama Suits.
Thomas said: “Trevor had called me a few times.
"I explained that I knew her love was being an actor, probably even more so than anything else.
"You marry the business — I keep telling people that.
"I married the business.
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"Meghan married the business.
“That ruins a lot of your relationships.
"I think what she did was dedicate herself to her show.”
Meghan and Harry began dating in 2016.
Thomas remembered: “She said, ‘Daddy, I’ve met this new guy and I really like him’.
“The next day it was, ‘Daddy, he’s an Englishman’.
Then on the third or fourth phone call, she said: ‘Daddy, he’s a prince’.”
Thomas said he has chatted to Harry around half a dozen times on the phone, but has never met him in the flesh.
He said: “I don’t care whether she’s p***** off at me — I want to see her.
"I just want to have a father-daughter relationship.
“I took care of my mother the last five years of her life.
"My daughter said to me she would take care of me in my declining years.
“I’m not talking about money — I’m talking about taking care of me.
"That’s important to me.”
Thomas Markle reveals on GMB Meghan has 'wanted children for a long time' and a baby with Prince Harry could be on the way soon
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In a message for his son-in-law about the issues that seem to have caused a rift between them, he said: “Get over it.
"Just get over it.
“I am her father.
"And the bottom line with that is — I deserve some respect.”
However, Thomas is aware people may question why he is speaking out again.
For them, he said: “These are things I need to say.
“Most important is I want to heal any problem with my daughter.
"I don’t care whether that is at the expense of the Royal Family.
“I would like to make this my last interview.
"Please read it for what it is, don’t pick it apart in small sentences.
"All I am doing is setting the record straight and reaching out to my daughter.”
Last night Kensington Palace declined to comment.
- Pictures: James Breeden
Trooping the Colour – Meghan Markle and Prince Harry join Kate and William as they arrive to mark Queen’s birthday
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