‘I don’t want to die estranged from Meghan’ – Thomas Markle

Thomas Markle has said he does not want to die estranged from his daughter, the Duchess of Sussex, after reports he had his leg amputated following surgery in the Philippines.

Mr Markle said he would like to meet Meghan’s children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet and her husband, the Duke of Sussex.

It comes after Meghan was said to have “reached out” to her father, who she has been estranged from since her 2018 wedding when he was caught staging paparazzi photos in the run-up to the big day.

A spokesperson for the Duchess of Sussex said: “I can confirm she has reached out to her father.”

No further details have been released, including whether or not Meghan’s attempt was successful.

Meghan is said to have previously tried to reach out to him in the past.

Mr Markle told the Mail on Sunday: “I’ve always said I am open to reconciling with my daughter. I have never stopped loving her.

“I don’t want to die estranged from Meghan. I want to meet my grandkids. It might be nice to meet her husband too.”

Mr Markle said he has not yet received a message from her, the newspaper reported.

Mr Markle, who moved from Mexico to live in the Philippines, has never met his grandchildren Archie, six, and Lilibet, four.

The retired TV lighting director ended up in intensive care on Wednesday after three-hour emergency operation, the Daily Mail reported.

He was later said to have had his leg amputated below the knee after his foot turned black.

His son, Thomas Markle Jr, said before the news that the duchess had “reached out” that he hoped Meghan would show “compassion”.

“My only wish is that Meghan shows my father some compassion. He is literally fighting for his life,” he told the Mail.

Mr Markle pulled out of attending Harry and Meghan’s wedding seven years ago after he was caught staging photographs for the paparazzi in the US, and then suffered a heart attack.

Harry’s father, now the King, stepped in to walk Meghan down the aisle.

Mr Markle went on to repeatedly speak to the media and later claimed he had been “shunned” by Meghan.

He criticised the duchess but still said he wanted to reunite with her, and publicly pleaded to be able to see Archie and Lili, saying in 2023: “She is not the person I knew as my daughter.”

The duchess won a High Court privacy and copyright claim against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over articles that reproduced parts of a “personal and private” handwritten letter she wrote to Mr Markle in a bid to get him to stop talking to the press.

Meghan, who has not seen her father for seven years, paid gushing tributes to Mr Markle on her now-defunct lifestyle blog The Tig before she married into the royal family.

She called herself a “daddy’s girl” and wrote how he invested “blood, sweat and tears” so she could pursue her dreams.

The Duke of Sussex, who is also estranged from his brother the Prince of Wales and has a troubled relationship with the King, has never met Mr Markle in person.

Harry reunited with the King face to face at a private tea in Clarence House in September after 19 months apart, after previously telling how Charles would not speak to him amid the duke’s High Court battle with the Home Office over security.

Mr Markle has reflected on how both he and the King know how “tough” it is to be estranged from their child.

This week, the duchess’s new With Love, Meghan Christmas special – which has been roundly lambasted by critics – premiered on Netflix the same day as news broke of Mr Markle’s admittance to intensive care.