When Thomas Markle Sr first came to public attention a decade ago, he appeared an unlikely figure to be associated with a royal wedding. At the time, he was living in a run-down coastal town in Mexico.
However, the situation quickly became much more complicated, and his strained relationship with his daughter Meghan has remained a subject of public interest ever since.
The Duchess of Sussex has now said she is “deeply distressed” by allegations that her father possessed a collection of child sexual abuse images.
Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, claimed he discovered a stash of images belonging to their father at Thomas Sr’s former home in the Philippines.
Thomas Sr has denied possessing any child sexual abuse images, dismissing the claims as “sick lies”.
Our News Outlet has revisited the key moments in the complicated history of the father and daughter’s relationship.
1987
Meghan’s parents, Doria Ragland and Thomas Sr, divorced while she was growing up. She primarily lived with her mother but remained close to her father.
Meghan was the only child from Thomas Sr’s marriage to Ms Ragland. He also has two children, Samantha Markle and Thomas Jr, from an earlier marriage.
Early 2011
After retiring from his work as a television lighting engineer, Thomas Sr moved from southern California to Rosarito, Mexico.
The allegations involving Meghan’s father, Thomas Sr, have sent shockwaves through the family
July 2016
Meghan met Prince Harry through mutual friends in London, and the pair soon began a relationship.
2017
The following May, Thomas Sr was approached while buying cigarettes near his home in Rosarito and asked about Meghan’s engagement to Harry.
He said he was “very pleased… delighted” and that he would “love to” walk his daughter down the aisle, while adding: “You know I can’t talk.”
Thomas Sr was living in this Rosarito, Mexico, home when Meghan married
2018
As preparations continued for Thomas Sr to formally accompany Meghan at her wedding, Harry’s Kensington Palace spokesman urged journalists to stop “harassing” him.
The situation changed abruptly when photographs emerged showing Thomas Sr preparing for the ceremony in Mexico. One image appeared to show him reading an online report about his daughter’s wedding plans.
The pictures initially appeared to have been taken without his knowledge or permission. However, six days before the ceremony at Windsor Castle, The Mail on Sunday reported that Thomas Sr had arranged the photographs with the photographer in return for payment.
Two days later, Thomas Sr announced that he would not attend the wedding, saying he did not want to embarrass his daughter. He also said he had recently suffered a heart attack. The then Prince Charles ultimately accompanied Meghan during the ceremony.
Three months after the wedding, Meghan was reported to be “taking a bit of time out” from her father. Thomas Sr was said to have ended a phone call with Harry during an argument over the staged photographs.
At some point during the summer, although the exact month is unknown, a letter containing unspecified allegations about Thomas Sr was sent to the Metropolitan Police and later shared with Meghan.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after their wedding ceremony in Windsor in May 2018
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2020
Thomas Sr admits he gave Meghan’s letter to him to The Mail on Sunday, saying it was to show it was far from the ‘loving’ communication her friends had claimed, and had in fact signalled the ‘end of the relationship’ between father and daughter.
2021
Meghan tells Oprah Winfrey in an unaired section of the estranged royal couple’s bombshell interview that her father ‘betrayed’ her by deceitfully working with journalists before the wedding – adding that she has ‘found it hard to reconcile’ with him.
Later in the year Thomas Sr talks of taking court action to gain access to his grandchildren by Meghan, Archie and Lilibet. Nothing comes of it.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their Oprah Winfrey interview on CBS in March 2021
2022
Thomas Sr is hospitalised in Mexico, then the US, when he suffers a stroke – and scraps a second visit to Britain, this time for TV appearances to comment on Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
He had been due to visit Windsor Castle at last, but as a tourist, as he is still not talking to his daughter, and has described Harry as ‘snotty’ to him.
Meghan tells her Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan in December 2022 that she has had no meaningful contact with her father for several years.
2023
Thomas Sr tells a TV documentary that Meghan has ‘killed me and then mourned me’, but that he refuses ‘to be buried by her’ – and remains ‘open to any kind of conversation’ to rebuild their relationship.
2024
Thomas Sr turns 80 – saying he has not spoken to Meghan for six years, and longs to hear from her.
She is living with Harry 250 miles from his Mexico home in her Montecito mansion.
2025
Thomas Sr moves to the Philippines with son Thomas Jr.
Thomas Sr has this week claimed the computers allegedly containing child sex abuse images were boxed up at this point to be sent to the Philippines, and have not been in his possession since.
That December, he has his left leg amputated below the knee after suffering a blood clot. He says: ‘My only wish before I die is to meet my grandkids.’
While in hospital, he receives a letter from Meghan.
Thomas Sr recovering in a hospital bed after surgery in the Philippines last December
2026
Now with one leg, Markle leaves the Philippines in May to return to the US, hoping to be fitted with a prosthetic limb.
He has talked of falling in love with Filipino nurse Rio Canedo, 46, a divorced mother-of-two, during his rehabilitation.
He is in the same country as Meghan again – until she relocates to England with Harry and their children in August.
Thomas Jr then claims in October that he found a child sex image on a phone inside his father’s storage box in the Philippines in July.
He then opened a computer to allegedly see ‘hundreds’ of disturbing thumbnail images.
Today, Meghan says she is ‘deeply distressed’ by accusations against her father, and reveals she learned of them from the letter in 2018.
