Meghan Markle’s dad continues to be unfamiliar with the concept of good and dignified silence.
On Saturday, The Daily Mail published an interview with Thomas Markle in which he claimed, among other things, to be misunderstood by the press, unfairly maligned by the royal family, and dealing with a “wall of silence” from his daughter and Prince Harry.
Markle began the interview by insisting he wished to correct some false accounts about him in the press. To those ends, he proved that he had attended Meghan Markle’s first wedding and provided doctor notes regarding his heart attack in May which prevented him from attending the Royal Wedding.
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After that, the interview got a bit...strange.
Bringing out old letters and photos, Markle attempted to prove that he and his daughter have not always been so estranged. “People are trying to rewrite history. Meghan and I were as close as a father and daughter could be right up until her wedding to Harry,” Markle told The Daily Mail. “Then it all fell apart.”
In the notes provided in the article, in which she refers to him as “Daddy” and expresses her gratitude for everything she says he has done for her, Meghan Markle does seem close with her father. That said, the most recent letter is dated 2015, which is enough time for any number of things to have happened (such as, say, staging paparazzi photos before a wedding or calling her new family in law a cult) that would be enough to constitute a breach of trust among any family members.
Markle asserted he was not paid for this particular interview, though he acknowledged he made a “stupid” mistake in posing for paparazzi photos shortly before the Royal Wedding. He also denied “selling stories,” though he did receive payment for the paparazzi photos he staged in May, and not every interview (Markle has done several since the Royal Wedding) provides a disclaimer saying no payment was received.
Markle goes on to speculate on various unflattering reports about Meghan that have dominated the British tabloids over the last few weeks, including that she has been rude to her staff and is in a feud with Kate Middleton.
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He also tried to gain sympathy by comparing himself to a murderer, which is bizarre at best and emotionally manipulative at worst.
“I made mistakes but my punishment does not fit the crime,” he said. “Even murderers get visits from their daughters in jail.”
Well, that’s one way to put it. We can’t help but wonder how this is going over in the royals’ group text.