Meghan Markle's dad wept about missing the wedding
The Duchess of Sussex's father has opened up about the upsetting conversation he had with his daughter when he told her he could not attend her wedding.
Thomas Markle became the centre of a media furore after - having been relentlessly followed by photographers for months - he worked with the paparazzi to stage photos. After the news broke, the retired lighting technician suffered a heart attack and underwent surgery forcing him to miss his daughter' wedding.
"They were disappointed," he said, sounding choked. "But they both said - and Meghan cried I'm sure, well she did cry - 'take care of yourself, we're worried about you.' They said that the important thing was that I get better."
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WORLD EXCLUSIVE: ‘Daddy, I have a new boyfriend’ - Thomas Markle talks about his daughter’s romance with Prince Harry #GMB pic.twitter.com/rzASEpEsKf
- Good Morning Britain (@GMB) June 18, 2018
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He expressed a father's regret for not having been there to support his daughter on her wedding day.
"I'm a footnote to the greatest moment in history rather than the dad who walked his daughter down the aisle. That upsets me somewhat," he told ITV's Good Morning Britain, adding that he felt "jealous" that Prince Charles walked his daughter down the aisle.
"I was honoured, I can't think of a better replacement than someone like Prince Charles," he said. "I was thrilled to tears he was doing that, I just wish it had been my hand holding hers not his."
Markle, who is based in Mexico, said he didn't stage the paparazzi pictures to make money, but rather to recast himself in a favourable light after tabloid photographers took a series of negative shots of him.
"For the past year, photographs of me were always derogatory," he said. "They would take pictures of my handing grabbing a beer; they'd take pictures of me getting out the car and taking the garbage out. They'd take pictures of me buying a toilet and making a big deal out of it. They'd take all kinds of pictures making me look negative."
He thought that if he worked with the paparazzi it would might be a way of "improving my look".
"Obviously, that all went to hell," he said. "I feel bad about it. I've apologised for it and that's all I can do. I can't do much beyond that. It was a mistake."
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