The father of Meghan Markle has firmly denied his daughter’s claim that someone else used his phone to send her a heart-rending text days before her wedding to Prince Harry.
Retired Hollywood lighting director Thomas Markle, 78, says he wrote ‘every word’ of the emotive message as he lay in hospital recovering from two heart attacks.
In the third episode of the bombshell Netflix series Harry & Meghan, released on the streaming service last week, Meghan claimed her father’s phone had been ‘compromised’.
Speaking about the drama that unfolded in the days leading up to her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry – when her father posed for staged paparazzi pictures and then suffered two heart attacks, preventing him walking her down the aisle – Meghan said she found out her father was not coming to her wedding through website TMZ.
The father of Meghan Markle has firmly denied his daughter’s claim that someone else used his phone to send her a heart-rending text days before her wedding
In the third episode of the bombshell Netflix series Harry & Meghan, released on the streaming service last week, Meghan claimed her father’s phone had been ‘compromised’
The US news site broke the story after Mr Markle was called by a reporter and he told them he would not be attending the wedding.
In the show, the Duchess claimed she was ‘calling, calling, calling, and the world is watching this drama play out’, as the show dramatically flashed up messages from the her phone on-screen.
These included worried text messages sent from Meghan’s phone including one reading: ‘I’ve been reaching out to you all weekend but you’re not taking any of our calls or replying to any texts… Do you need help?… What hospital are you at?’
Another, sent on May 17, 2018, said: ‘Please can I ask that you stop talking to any press… You haven’t returned any of our 20+ calls since we all spoke on Saturday morning; which only adds to the hurt you’ve been causing. We aren’t angry but we do really need to speak to u. Love M and H.’
Mr Markle’s text response was also shown on screen as dramatic music played: ‘I’ve done nothing to hurt you Meghan or anyone else I know nothing about 20 phone calls I’m sorry my heart attack is there [sic] any inconvenience for you.’
Minutes later he sent another message saying: ‘If only I had died then you guys then you guys [sic] could pretend to be sad.’
Meghan said she found out her father was not coming to her wedding through website TMZ
Meghan says in the Netflix show: ‘It was really weird. You know how people text, right?
‘My dad used a lot of emojis and a lot of ellipses and dot, dot, dot, and this was just the opposite. And it called me Meghan. I was like, “He’s never called me Meghan any day that I’ve lived on this planet.” Meg, all my friends call me Meg and my parents call me Meg and I was like, “That’s not my dad.”
‘So then we knew that his phone had been compromised.’
But Mr Markle told The Mail on Sunday last night: ‘I wrote every word that I sent from that phone which is still in my possession.
‘For her to claim my phone was compromised is simply not true.
‘I wrote that text as I lay in a hospital bed after having had two heart attacks and having stents put in.’
Mr Markle, who is still recovering from a stroke which nearly killed him in May, explained: ‘I have used Meghan’s full name before, when things are serious.
‘It’s not true to say I have never used her full name. I use it when I am serious, when there are serious issues involved.
Mr Markle, who is still recovering from a stroke which nearly killed him in May, explained: ‘I have used Meghan’s full name before, when things are serious’
‘I wasn’t angry. I was in hospital. They never once asked how I was doing. When I got their messages I was upset. I thought I didn’t deserve those messages.’
He also shared text messages with the MoS that showed he did tell her doctors had advised him not to make the journey to the UK, but offered to go anyway.
In one text written on May 16, 2018, just three days before the wedding, Mr Markle wrote: ‘Surgery went okay heart attack did some damage they went inside and fix [sic] it and some stamps [stents] the doctor will not allow me to fly so of course I’m sorry but I can’t come love you and wish you the best of everything.’
In another text several hours later, he wrote: ‘Who will be giving you away? If you really need me? I will come I’m sorry about all this.’
Prince Charles ended up walking the Duchess down the final portion of the aisle after she entered St George’s Chapel in Windsor alone.
Meghan says in the Netflix show: ‘It was really weird. You know how people text, right?
Mr Markle has apologised repeatedly for staging the paparazzi photographs, which he says he did because he believed they would help his image and relieve some of the press attention.
He said: ‘I made a terrible mistake for which I have apologised many times. I never got any help. I believed the photographer, who told me those pictures would take some of the pressure off me.
‘Harry and Meghan are now doing everything they told me not to do. They told me never to talk. I believe what they are doing now is far worse than anything I ever did.’
At the end of the episode, Prince Harry revealed he blames himself for the ‘incredibly sad’ turn of events, saying: ‘Of course, it’s incredibly sad what happened.
‘She (Meghan) had a father before this and now she doesn’t have a father. And I shouldered that, because if Meg wasn’t with me then her dad would still be her dad.’
Mr Markle said: ‘She does still have a father. I’m here, I still live in the same house and I still have the same number. I’m still her dad. I would love to see my grandchildren. They have two grandfathers who would love to see them.’ He said he has been ‘overwhelmed’ by the public’s support this week and added: ‘I believe this is a family matter which should be handled by the family. I love my daughter and always will.’