Meghan Markle Refused Queen Elizabeth’s Advice to Visit Her Father Over ‘Unrealistic’ Reasons
The longstanding rift between Meghan Markle and her father, Thomas Markle, has been a continual source of turmoil for the Duchess and the Royal Family. In a recent revelation by royal author Tom Bower to the Daily Mail, it emerges that despite efforts from Queen Elizabeth and King Charles to encourage reconciliation, Meghan firmly declined to reconcile with her father, offering an excuse that Bower now describes as “far-fetched” and one that “avoided the truth.”
The tensions between Meghan and her estranged father, who resides in Mexico, have been deeply entrenched since before her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry. Thomas Markle’s public controversies, including staged paparazzi photos taken before the ceremony and his subsequent admissions of regret, only heightened the discord. Bower’s 2022 book Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors details them. In Prince Harry's 'Spare', he also writes how Thomas struggled to repair their fractured relationship despite Meghan’s months of attempts to “soothe” him amid constant media humiliation.
Bower in the book states, “Meghan's father remained a problem. Ever since their previous conversations three days before the wedding, Thomas Markle's attempts to re-establish contact with his daughter had failed. Gradually, Thomas Markle believed he was the victim of Meghan's blame-shifting and scapegoating.” Added to the chaos was Thomas’s ITV Good Morning Britain interview, for which Bower claims he was paid around £15,000. Thomas lamented, “I'm a footnote in one of the great moments of history, rather than Dad walking her down the aisle,” further straining public relations.
As tensions escalated, Charles and the Queen grew increasingly frustrated with Thomas’s media appearances and criticisms of the Royal Family. Bower reveals the Queen’s suggestion that Meghan take a trip to Mexico to visit her father in person in an attempt to quell the public controversy. “Can’t she just go and see him and make this stop?” Charles reportedly urged during Meghan’s one-week stay at the Castle of Mey in July.
Meghan’s response to the Queen and King Charles was surprising. According to Bower, the Duchess rejected the offer, calling it “completely unrealistic to think I could fly discreetly to Mexico, arrive unannounced at his doorstep as I had no means of secure communication with my father, to a location and residence I had never visited or known, in a small border town... and somehow hope to speak privately to my father without causing a frenzy of media attention and intrusion that could bring more embarrassment to the Royal Family.”
However, Bower says that this justification “avoided the truth.” Both Charles and the Queen found Meghan’s excuse “far-fetched” and were puzzled by her refusal to meet Thomas, especially since they had never heard her side of the story or Thomas’s explanation for the estrangement. The conference call between Meghan, Harry, Charles, and the Queen ended with senior royals “perplexed by Meghan's conduct.” Meghan complained that “they fundamentally don't understand,” referring also to Queen Camilla, who Bower says “was apprehensive about Harry's future.”
Despite these challenges, Meghan and her father were once closer. Bower notes Thomas’s hardworking efforts during Meghan’s childhood, sending her to elite private schools while working on television shows, describing the relationship as one where Meghan was “utterly indulged” and even “spoiled” by her father. However, after her Netflix show, Thomas had apparently called her fake, and said, per Post, “The entire world knows how she treated her family, especially her father, who gave her everything. That’s why nobody’s buying it,” he added.