Meghan Markle’s estranged father Thomas today hit back at her claims he had ‘betrayed’ her and declared: ‘We all make mistakes – but I’ve never dressed like Hitler like Harry did’.
Mr Markle says that he’s apologised ‘100 times’ for doing a deal with a paparazzi photographer before the royal wedding in 2018 and urged the couple to see him now they only live ’70 miles away’.
He also denied the Royal Family – or Britain – is racist, calling Meghan and Harry’s claims ‘bulls**t’ and saying if it is true a royal asked about how ‘dark’ Archie’s skin would be it was probably just a ‘dumb question’.
Mr Markle spoke to Good Morning Britain in the UK after watching the Oprah interview with his daughter and her husband.
In it Meghan said she cannot fathom hurting her son Archie the way her own father ‘betrayed’ her , admitting she ‘found it hard to reconcile’ with Thomas after he insisted that he had not been speaking to the media. She said: ‘I look at Archie, I think about this child, and I genuinely can’t imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child’.
Mr Markle said that while he did let her down, she had ‘let me down too’ by cutting him off after heart surgery almost three years ago.
He said: ‘The bottom line is she didn’t lose me, she made a statement saying she lost me, she didn’t lose me, I would’ve always been there for her, I’m there for her now if she wants me’.
He added: ‘We all make mistakes – but I’ve never dressed like Hitler like Harry did’
Thomas Markle has had his say on Meghan and Harry’s Oprah interview to defend himself and the Royal Family, who he says aren’t racist
Mr Markle watched the Oprah interview and denied that he had ‘betrayed’ his daughter, but said he had ‘apologised 100 times’ when the Sussexes had cut him off completely
It comes after claims were made about him by the Duchess of Sussex in unaired footage from the incendiary CBS interview (pictured), released earlier today
Meghan said she has ‘found it hard to reconcile’ with her father for insisting he had not been speaking to the media.
The unaired footage from the Oprah interview, which will not feature when it is shown on ITV at 9pm tonight, was released earlier today following the original CBS broadcast on Sunday.
Meghan drew a contrast with her mother Doria Ragland, who she praised for remaining ‘in silent dignity for four years’.
The clip also saw Meghan distance herself from her half-sister Samantha, who has released a ‘tell-all’ book about their relationship.
The Duchess retorted: ‘I think it would be very hard to tell all when you don’t know me.’
She said she grew up ‘an only child’ and even claimed Samantha only changed her surname back to Markle after Meghan struck up a romance with Harry.
The tension between the Markles was addressed in unaired sections of the Sussexes CBS sit-down with Oprah, who probed about her relationship with Thomas.
Thomas Markle will speak out on the ITV breakfast show in an interview with host Piers Morgan after claims were made about him by the Duchess of Sussex in unaired footage from the explosive CBS interview
Meghan Markle’s father is to appear on Good Morning Britain after his daughter accused him of ‘betraying’ her in her bombshell Oprah interview
Thomas was supposed to walk Meghan down the aisle in May 2018 but pulled out of the ceremony following health problems.
The two were also engaged in a row about him speaking to the press.
Oprah asked: ‘Did it feel like betrayal when you found that your father was working with the tabloids?’
After weighing up if she was ‘comfortable’ delving into the issue, Meghan said her father had assured he had ‘absolutely not’ spoken to the press.
She said: ‘If we’re going to use the word betrayal it’s because when I asked him, when we were told by the comms team this was a story that was going to be coming out which, by the way, the tabloids had apparently known for a month or so and decided to hold until the Sunday before our wedding because they wanted to create drama, which is also a key point in all this, they don’t report the news, they create the news.
‘We called my dad, and I asked him, and he said no, absolutely not.
I said, you know, the institution has never intervened for anything for us, but they can try to go in and kill this story. But if they do this once, we’re not going to be able to use that same leverage to protect our kids one day.
A young Meghan is pictured with her father Thomas Markle, who she said ‘betrayed’ her
Meghan also distanced herself from her half-sister Samantha, who has released a ‘tell-all’ book about their relationship
She added: ‘I said we won’t be able to protect our own kids one day, and I said, I just need you to tell me. If you tell me the truth, we can
‘And he wasn’t able to do that. And that for me has really resonated, especially now as a mother.’
Meghan went on: ‘And also me saying just full stop, if we use this to protect you, we won’t be able to protect our own children one day, I’m talking about your grandchildren.
‘I look at Archie, I think about this child, and I go I genuinely can’t imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child. I can’t imagine it. So it’s hard for me to reconcile that.’
Meghan also said that despite her sister Samantha releasing a book about her, she ‘doesn’t know her’ and they’ve never been close.
Samantha’s autobiography, titled ‘The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister: A Memoir, Part One, goes into detail about their childhood.
But the duchess said: ‘I don’t feel comfortable talking about people that I really don’t know. But I grew up as an only child, which everybody who grew up around me knows.’
She added she wished she had had siblings and was pleased Archie was going to have a younger sister.
Meghan said she last saw Samantha almost 20 years ago and added: ‘She changed her last name back to Markle… only when I started dating Harry. So I think that says enough.’