The Duchess of Sussex has made contact with her estranged father, Thomas Markle, as he’s in hospital via letter, her spokesperson has said.
Meghan’s correspondence is said to be “safely” in the hands of her father, who continues to have a reporter by his bedside “broadcasting each interaction”, the spokesperson added.
Mr Markle had his left leg amputated, according to reports, and told the Mail on Sunday that he doesn’t want to die distanced from his daughter and wishes to meet his grandchildren, Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four, as well as her husband, the Duke of Sussex.
In a statement, her spokesperson said: “Given that a Daily Mail reporter has remained at her father’s bedside throughout, broadcasting each interaction and breaching clear ethical boundaries, it has been exceedingly difficult for the duchess to contact her father privately, despite her efforts over the past several days.
“With the support of reliable and trusted contacts, her correspondence is now safely in his hands.”
Last Friday, the duchess’ spokesperson said she had “reached out” to her father, whom she has been estranged from since her 2018 wedding, when he was caught staging paparazzi photos in the run-up to the day. He would later suffer from a heart attack.
Meghan had reportedly contacted the Mail asking them to provide any means of contact with her father, as well as the name of the hospital where he is being treated, without any response. She rang around several hospitals in the Philippines but has been unsuccessful, according to a source, as she does not have her father’s phone number and believes he doesn’t have a phone in his possession in hospital.
She has previously tried to reach out to her father in the past, it is understood.
A spokesperson for the Daily Mail’s parent company DMG Media said in a statement: “Our journalist, Caroline Graham, has had a close relationship with Mr Markle since 2018.
“He contacted Ms Graham when he was taken ill and asked her to travel to the Philippines to be with him.
“Nothing has been published without his specific consent, and that of his son,” the spokesperson continued.
“Ms Graham has confirmed to the Duchess of Sussex’s representative that Mr Markle does not have an active email address but that his phone number, which the duchess has previously used for him, remains unchanged.
“Ms Graham has made clear that if she can do anything to facilitate contact between Mr Markle and his daughter to have a conversation, then she would be happy to do so. That remains the case.
“Any suggestion we have ‘puppeteered’ Mr Markle is entirely false and strongly denied.”
Mr Markle moved from Mexico to live in the Philippines and ended up in intensive care on Wednesday after a three-hour emergency operation, the Daily Mail reported. He was later said to have had his leg amputated below the knee after his foot turned black.
Meghan’s father has repeatedly claimed to the media that his daughter has “shunned” him. He criticised the duchess but still said he wanted to reunite with her, and publicly pleaded to be able to see Archie and Lilibet, saying in 2023: “She is not the person I knew as my daughter.”
The duchess won a High Court privacy and copyright claim against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over articles that reproduced parts of a “personal and private” handwritten letter she wrote to Mr Markle in a bid to get him to stop talking to the press.
