EXCLUSIVE! Meghan Markle’s brother: ‘This might be our dad’s last Christmas – I’m desperate for her to heal the rift’

Her family have dominated headlines ever since she walked down the aisle with Prince Harry back in May 2018. Meghan Markle’s older sister Samantha has publicly criticised her – calling her “Princess Pushy” and has slammed her for cutting off her family – while her dad, Thomas Markle Sr, has caused shockwaves for staged paparazzi shots, and his absence from her wedding. He’s also given a series of interviews, begging his daughter – who is said to have severed ties with all her relatives apart from her mother, Doria Ragland – to contact him and let him meet his grandchildren, Archie, two, and Lilibet, five months.

Thomas Sr is also currently embroiled in a toxic court case with Meghan and the Mail On Sunday over a letter she wrote to him, which he shared with the newspaper.

But now Meghan’s older brother, Thomas Markle Jr, exclusively tells Closer it’s time for her to find it in her heart to make amends with their father before it’s too late.

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Thomas, 55 – who is now a divorced father-of-two living in Oregon with his new partner, Darlene Blount – says, “Our lives were turned upside down when Meghan began dating Harry. Our surname became world-famous when she married him. Everything that’s happened is crazy and just so sad.

“My dad has taken the biggest hit with it. I know his health issues in 2018 [when he had a heart attack, which meant he was unable to fly to the UK for Meghan and Harry’s wedding] were totally caused by the stress of the whole thing. His heart is broken, and I’m always keeping an eye on him. What makes me sad is the thought that he and Meghan may never make up. Tomorrow isn’t promised and you never know what’s going to happen. This could be our dad’s last Christmas. I’m desperate for her to heal the rift.”

Meghan seemingly began to cut ties with her father’s side of the family when she began dating Harry, only inviting her father to the wedding. Her apparent “ghosting” resulted in Thomas Jr calling Meghan a “phony” in 2018 and writing a letter warning Harry not to marry her and calling her a “conceited woman”.

But over the years, Thomas Jr has since changed his views on Meghan – and while starring on Big Brother VIP in Australia earlier this month, he even wrote her a letter apologising for the things he said three years ago, saying, “I want both of you to know it did not come from the real person that I am... I was very hurt and confused because of the amazing bond and relationship we shared growing up together... I know that it was very immature and wrong and I truly regret it.”

And Thomas – who is still close with the family, visiting his father in Mexico every few months – says that he now feels sadness over the situation.

“I do regret some of the things I said, because I’ve now realised that there’s no point in back and forth,” he says. “At the end of the day, family is the most important thing in the world.

“So if I could speak to Meghan now, I’d just say, ‘Put the past behind you, you can’t change yesterday but you can change tomorrow.’ It would be the best Christmas present ever to make amends, for dad to meet his grandkids and for my sons to meet their cousins and uncle.”

While Thomas – who is 15 years older than Meghan – never lived with her under the same roof, the blended family unit was close growing up in California. And Thomas says that Meghan was a happy, confident little girl, with a penchant for princesses. He says, “Meghan was a really happy and warm kid. She was very loved by the family, and wanted for nothing. We were all very close, and she loved family occasions and holidays.

“And, like any little girl, she adored Disney and princess movies. Her favourites were Aladdin and Cinderella – she loved them. I have no doubt that, of course, her dream was to be a princess. It’s every little girl’s dream!”

In her interview with Oprah Winfrey in March earlier this year alongside husband Harry, Meghan claimed she had no idea who the royals were as a youth – saying, “I didn’t grow up knowing much about the royal family. It wasn’t something that was part of the conversation at home, it wasn’t something that we followed.”

But viewers questioned this, as a photo of Meghan sitting on the gate outside Buckingham Palace aged 15 had already surfaced, suggesting that on the contrary, she was aware of Harry and his family. And Thomas now says, “We all knew who the British royal family were – maybe not everyone’s name, but I definitely knew of the Queen, the princes and, of course, Diana. Everyone knew who Diana was, so I’d be shocked if Meghan didn’t know who the royals were as a kid.”

Meghan married first husband Trevor Engleson in 2011 – but Thomas claims things went downhill once she landed a role on hit TV show Suits later that year, aged 30.

Thomas says, “The last time I saw Meghan was just before she joined Suits. We were at our grandmother’s memorial, and she was there with Trevor, and they seemed great. He was a really nice guy, they were hoping to do a long-distance relationship between California and Toronto, where Suits was filmed.

“But I think when she moved there, she met all these people and saw this different life, and everything changed. She broke up with him a year later just totally out of the blue, we were all really shocked. She seemed like a different person.”

It was while starring in Suits that Meghan met Prince Harry in 2016, with the pair tying the knot two years later. While at first the couple were lauded – and were even nicknamed the “Fab Four” alongside Harry’s brother Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton – cracks started to appear when rumours swirled of tension behind the palace walls, including a fallout between Meghan and Kate over bridesmaids outfits.

Then, just 19 months after their wedding, Harry and Meghan announced they were stepping back as senior royals and leaving the UK to move abroad – with both Harry and Meghan citing that family rifts, as well as scrutiny from the media, had taken their toll on their mental health.

And Thomas says, “Meghan and Harry had it all – they were so popular at first and they could have been great. I don’t doubt it was hard for Meghan. Her life before was so different to what her life would have been as a royal. But it’s sad how it went down. They didn’t need to say the things they did on Oprah about Harry’s family. They said a lot of damaging things, and I really don’t believe everything they said in that interview.

“I just can’t understand why they do this to their family. Why are they isolating themselves? They seem to just want to be on their own and I can’t understand why. It’s sad.”

Since their move to California, Harry and Meghan have carved out new lives for themselves, with more of a media and showbiz focus. They’ve given more interviews – to stars such as James Corden and Dax Shepard – signed lucrative multimillion-dollar deals with the likes of Netflix, Spotify and Apple TV, and have authored books, with Meghan having written a children’s book and Harry currently penning a memoir, due to be out next year, while living in a £11m 15-bed mansion.

Thomas – who was speaking to Closer from Santa Barbara in California – says, “I don’t understand what they’re aiming for, but they seem to be putting their fingers in a lot of pies. I’m currently in California, I applied for a job here recently. The woman who interviewed me actually lives on the same road as Oprah, and near Harry and Meghan. We became friends, and she’s taken me to some functions in LA. But the people I’ve met have said Harry and Meghan keep very much to themselves, and don’t socialise much.”

Thomas adds, “Meghan must be lonely, but then again, if you’re lonely, you reach out to family – the people you’re related to and who will always love you. So she can’t be that lonely, if she’s willing to cut everyone out, and deny her kids time with their families.”

Harry and Meghan raised eyebrows when they embarked on a tour of New York City in October – which bore similarities to the tours they used to go on as working members of the royal family – despite having left the UK to seek privacy. And their meetings with the mayor of New York and United Nations officials sparked speculation they were looking to move into politics one day. Indeed, celebrity blogger Perez Hilton and royal biographer Tom Bower have both previously told Closer they believe that could be Meghan’s ultimate goal.

“Meghan got interested in politics thanks to our uncle, who worked for the government when we were younger,” says Thomas. “He helped get her an internship with the UN in her twenties. It seems like she may be moving into politics. I don’t know if she wants to end up at the White House, but she’s intelligent and driven, so if she puts her mind to it, I’m sure she could end up there.

“But I honestly think the best thing they could do is to go back to the UK – quietly – and just sort things out with the royals. They could have been so great for the royal family, and it seems they both want to do good in the world – so why not just do it in that capacity? They could boost their popularity again. Meghan can’t change the past, but I don’t think it’s too late for her to turn it all around.”

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Meghan Markle issues an apology to court

She was victorious in a court case against the Mail On Sunday earlier this year, after suing them for the publication of her “private” letter to her father Thomas Markle Sr. But when the newspaper’s appeal kicked off last week, explosive new information came to light, revealing that the Duchess of Sussex had drafted the letter on the understanding that it could be leaked.

In previously unpublished texts to Jason Knauf – Harry and Meghan’s former communications secretary – she said she had been “meticulous” in her wording in the letter. She also explained that she called her father “Daddy” partly because it would “pull at the heartstrings” in the “unfortunate event that it leaked.”

Jason also said he had provided information to Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand, authors of their biography Finding Freedom – something Harry and Meghan had denied contributing to. In a witness statement, Mr Knauf said the book was “discussed on a routine basis” and that it was “discussed directly with the Duchess multiple times in person and over email”.

In response, Meghan has now issued an apology to the court. In a witness statement, she said, “I accept that Mr Knauf did provide some information to the authors for the book and that he did so with my knowledge... I apologise to the court for the fact that I had not remembered these exchanges at the time. I had absolutely no wish or intention to mislead the defendant or the court.”

As Closer went to press, the verdict of the appeal had not yet been decided.

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