From Close to Estranged: Inside Meghan Markle & Her Father Thomas' Troubled Relationship as He Fights for His Life After Leg Amputation

Meghan Markle's estrangement from her father, Thomas Markle, reached a new dramatic point amid his hospitalization following what was described as a "life or death" surgery.

Long before the family feud erupted, Meghan remained to Thomas despite his divorce from Doria Ragland. In a 2017 interview, she revealed she never saw her parents fight, even after their separation.

"We would still take vacations together. My dad would come on Sundays to drop me off, and we'd watch Jeopardy! eating dinner on TV trays, the three of us," Meghan told Vanity Fair. "We were still so close-knit."

Thomas, a retired television lighting director and director of photography, exposed Meghan to the entertainment industry while he worked on Married… with Children.

According to Meghan, she was on the set of the hit sitcom "every day after school for 10 years."

"[It was] a really funny and perverse place for a little girl in a Catholic school uniform to grow up," she added.

Still, she was reportedly not allowed to watch the show at home.

After years of playing small TV and film roles, Meghan landed her big break on Suits, and her experience on set with her father reportedly helped her working life.

"Transpo [the transportation crew] — that's the world that I'm comfortable with. "Especially the director of photography. I will always find my light. No question," she told Esquire. "And if I don't, I'll know, because my dad will be the first person to call me and say, 'You need to have him bring another 2K in,' and 'Why aren't you using this sort of lighting gel?' The crew guys know that it's where I grew up."

Thomas and Meghan's father–daughter bond began to fall apart when the former Deal or No Deal model struck up a romance with Prince Harry.

In a 2018 episode of Good Morning Britain, Thomas said his daughter told him about her boyfriend during a call. At the time, Meghan reportedly asked him to call the royal prince "H" to keep their relationship out of the spotlight.

He also talked about the couple's 2017 engagement, revealing, "Meghan told me first, and a few times after that Harry got on the phone with Meghan, they called me together, and Harry asked me [for] her hand [in marriage] over the phone. I said, 'You're a gentleman, promise me you'll never raise your hand against my daughter, and of course I give you my permission.'"

However, the engagement became the "turning point" for him, as he faced "seven paparazzi on my doorstep night and day for seven days" after the news broke.

A few weeks before Prince Harry and Meghan's wedding on May 19, 2018, paparazzi photos of Thomas "preparing" for the nuptials emerged. The snaps showed him in a coffee shop while reading a book titled Great Britain: A Pictorial Tour Through History.

Reports later confirmed the images were staged, with Meghan's half-sister, Samantha, admitting she was "entirely the culprit."

"As we know, the media can take very unflattering photographs of people on their casual days and blow it way out of proportion," she shared on Loose Women in May 2018. "I said, you know, the world has no idea you're getting in shape, doing healthy things. They don't photograph you buying vegetables and PH water. They photograph you as unflattering ways as they can."

Samantha clarified the photo was not "money motivated."

She continued, "It was my suggestion that to benefit him and to benefit the royal family that everyone looked good and they depict you as you are – in shape and doing healthy things."

On May 16, 2018, Thomas told an outlet he would skip Prince Harry and Meghan's wedding due to a heart attack that led to him to be hospitalized. He underwent a successful heart surgery later that day.

One day later, Meghan issued a statement confirming her father would not attend the nuptials.

"Sadly, my father will not be attending our wedding. I have always cared for my father and hope he can be given the space he needs to focus on his health," she wrote.

Meghan added, "I would like to thank everyone who has offered generous messages of support. Please know how much Harry and I look forward to sharing our special day with you on Saturday."

The drama intensified when rumors that Thomas had asked Meghan for money and her refusal to provide it emerged. While he firmly dismissed the claims, he later revealed he was no longer in touch with the couple.

"All they have to do is speak to me," he told TMZ.

In the months thereafter, Thomas repeatedly spoke about Prince Harry and Meghan in interviews, implying that it was their fault they were no longer on speaking terms.

He told Daily Mail in December 2018, "Meghan and I never had any problems before this. If she would just speak to me, things could be different. I love Meghan very much. I want her and Harry to have a beautiful, healthy baby and a great life. But I want them to stop believing the lies."

Thomas and Meghan drifted further apart when he shared the letter she had written to him after the wedding with the Mail on Sunday. The incident prompted the With Love, Meghan star to sue the outlet for invasion of privacy and breach of copyright. She won the final copyright claim in the lawsuit in May 2021.

"I share this victory with each of you — because we all deserve justice and truth, and we all deserve better," Meghan wrote in a statement in part. "I particularly want to thank my husband, mom, and legal team, and especially Jenny Afia for her unrelenting support throughout this process."

During Prince Harry and Meghan's March 2021 tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey, the mom-of-two addressed her father's betrayal for staging photos with the paparazzi for the first time.

"If we're going to use the word 'betrayal,' it's because ... we called my dad and I asked him, and he said, 'No. Absolutely not," she expressed.

"I said, 'You know, the institution has never intervened with 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 this leverage to protect our own kids one day,'" Meghan added. "And I said, 'So I just need you to tell me. And if you tell me the truth, we can help.' And he wasn't able to do that. And that for me has really resonated, especially now as a mother."

The media frenzy around the drama subsided, only for it to resurface when Thomas suffered a stroke in 2022. The health setback left him temporarily mute and caused him to become progressively weaker.

Meghan did not issue a public statement at the time.

Early this year, Thomas and his son, Thomas Markle Jr., relocated to Cebu, Philippines. The area was hit with a 6.9 magnitude earthquake on September 30, trapping Thomas on the 19th floor of his apartment building.

He was rescued but soon faced another health crisis when he was hospitalized in an ICU on December 2 following an emergency surgery.

"I took dad to a hospital close to our home and they did various scans and the doctors said his life was in imminent danger," Thomas Jr. told a news outlet on December 3. "They raced us by ambulance, with the sirens going, to a much bigger hospital in the center of the city."

Thomas Jr. disclosed his father must undergo a second procedure to remove a blood clot in his left thigh. It was later revealed Thomas had his lower left leg and foot amputated after the initial three-hour operation.

"There was no option. I was told the leg had to be removed and it was a case of life or death," Thomas Jr. shared. "One of his doctors said the next two or three days are critical. ... They were worried about infection setting in — sepsis or gangrene. The flesh was black and dying."

On December 5, a report claimed Meghan reached out to Thomas via email after learning about his medical crisis.

However, the Mail on Sunday reported that Thomas "was confused" by the claims as he reportedly had not heard from Meghan.

"Mr Markle is a VIP patient. Of course we all know who he is," a source familiar with the situation said on December 6. "If Meghan or anyone connected with her had called here we would have known. It is a big hospital by Filipino standards but we all know each other and we all talk."

"We were all confused when we saw the story that the duchess had reached out to her dad. As far as we are aware, it didn't happen," the insider shared. "We would love to see the duchess here in the Philippines!"