Meghan Markle has not spoken to her father Thomas since 2018, and is not expected to reach out to him today despite it being his 80th birthday.
The Duchess of Sussex once had a close relationship with her father, despite him separating from her mother Doria Ragland when she was very young.
However, things started to fall apart after news of her engagement to Prince Harry became public, as it emerged not long before their May 2018 wedding that Thomas Markle had staged paparazzi photos.
It was alleged that he had arranged for the photos to be taken in order to improve his public image, but the idea backfired as it instead deeply embarrassed Kensington Palace.
The Palace had insisted that Mr Markle was a private individual with no interest in working with the media, but that was not the only thing that kept him from attending the Sussex wedding.
Meghan’s father also suffered two heart attacks not long before the ceremony, making him unable to travel to the UK and walk her down the aisle.
Instead Meghan walked part of the way by herself and for the rest of it was escorted by her father-in-law, King Charles.
Meghan’s half-sister Samantha Grant, who is also estranged from the Duchess, took responsibility for the paparazzi debacle on social media, as she wrote: “The bad press over my father doing staged photos is my fault.
“The media was unfairly making him look bad so I suggested he do positive photos for his benefit and the benefit of the Royal Family.
In posts from her now-defunct blog The Tig, Meghan gave an insight into how much she once treasured her bond with her father.
On one post for Father’s Day, she wrote about special memories she shared with him: “Our club sandwich and fruit smoothie tradition post my tap and ballet class – classes, which by the way, he religiously took me to on Saturday mornings after working 75+ hours a week as a lighting director.”
He also took extra care with one of her Christmas presents to ensure it reflected his daughter and her life, as Meghan recalled: “On Christmas morning, swathed in glitter-flecked wrapping paper, there I found my Heart Family: a black mom doll, a white dad doll, and a child in each color. My dad had taken the sets apart and customized my family.
“I picture him standing there in Toys R Us, moms glaring at him for taking the toys apart, perhaps an employee saying ‘excuse me sir, you can’t do that’ — as my dad carefully separated the boxed sets to make one that echoed my reality. One that showed me that I should (and could) make my own box.”
