Queen Elizabeth Suggested Prince Harry Meet Thomas Markle To Smooth Things Over, But He Never Took Her Advice

Though Prince Harry's relationship with his father, King Charles, has been strained since the former left the monarchy, Meghan Markle's relationship with her dad, Thomas Markle, is even worse.

Reporter Katie Nicholl discussed the fallout in her recently released book The New Royals, noting that things became so tense that even Queen Elizabeth became involved in the matter.

"I think she felt that Harry should certainly have met Thomas Markle and it was unfortunate that that had to happen," Nicholl said, noting that the Duke of Sussex, 37, still hasn't met his father-in-law, 78, face-to-face.

Meghan and Thomas' fallout stemmed from his frequent chats with news publications, as he often shaded his daughter and the royal family for keeping him at a distance. Things hit an all time low when he lied to the mom-of-two, 41, about staging paparazzi photos before her wedding, which he didn't attend.

"The Queen could see how damaging the situation was between Meghan and her father and she did speak to Meghan about it and tried to encourage her to talk to Thomas," Nicholl noted, adding that the monarch felt "the whole thing was quite badly handled with Thomas Markle and it if had been done differently, it would have come out better."

He also let a newspaper publish a personal letter his daughter wrote to him.

The former lighting director later acknowledged that he played a part in the drama, admitting of his staged photos, "I wish I hadn't done the whole thing." Thomas also claimed that he's apologized "over 100 times" to the Suits star, but they've yet to reconnect.

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Meghan touched on the sad situation in her TV interview with Oprah Winfrey.

The star labeled her father's antics as a "betrayal."

"We called my dad and I asked him and he said, 'No, absolutely not [I didn't talk to the tabloids]. '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 this leverage to protect our own kids one day,'" Meghan explained. "I said, 'I just need you to tell me the truth and we can help.' And he wasn't able to do that. "

"That, for me, has really resonated, especially now as a mother," she concluded. "I look at Archie and 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."

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