Meghan Markle writes to hospitalized father following his plea
Meghan Markle has sent a letter to her sick father in hospital after he issued a plea to the Duchess – saying he did not want to die while they were estranged. The Duchess of Sussex, 44, sent the correspondence to Thomas Markle through ‘reliable and trusted contacts’ and it is said to now be ‘safely’ in his hands. The 81-year-old is currently recovering in a hospital in the Philippines after undergoing a three-hour life-saving operation to remove his foot and lower leg.
Surgeons decided to amputate part of his left leg following the discovery of a large blood clot. Mr Markle had sent an urgent plea from his hospital bed to his daughter, saying: ‘I don’t want to die estranged.’ He also said that he dreamed of seeing son-in-law Prince Harry and grandchildren Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, ‘before it’s too late’. Last Friday, the Duchess’s spokesperson said she had ‘reached out’ to her father in an email. Unfortunately, the email address used is one he no longer uses or has access to.
A spokesperson has now confirmed Meghan has sent a letter to her father after The Sun reported she had been ‘ringing hospitals around Philippines’ in an attempt to find him. Mr Markle has since been removed from the intensive care unit and is expected to stay in hospital for a week before being transferred to a rehabilitation centre.
He faces a months-long recovery, and hopes to have a prosthetic limb fitted once his leg wound has healed. Retired Hollywood lighting director Mr Markle was rushed via ambulance to a bigger hospital in Cebu in the Philippines – the city he moved to earlier this year in a bid to create a ‘new life’ away from what he called the ‘constant pain’ of his estrangement from Meghan.
His son, Thomas Jr, told the Daily Mail following the operation: ‘My dad is being very brave. ‘His foot turned blue and then black. It happened very quickly. I took him to a local hospital and they did some scans and an ultrasound and said the leg had to be amputated.’ Doctors immediately took him into surgery and removed the limb. Tom Jr said: ‘There was no option. I was told the leg had to be removed and it was a case of life or death.’
Mr Markle became estranged from Meghan, who lived with him from the age of 11 to 18, after he posed for paparazzi pictures on the eve of her 2018 wedding. He later suffered two heart attacks and was unable to walk her down the aisle at St George’s Chapel. He has never met Harry or the Sussexes’ children. Mr Markle, who suffered a stroke in 2022, said: ‘I feel so sad that our family has grown so far apart. I hope that this might help tear down the walls between us and bring our family back together. ‘It’s time to set aside the past and make our family whole again. Please let bygones by bygones.’
