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Meghan Markle pictured with her father Thomas before the rift (Image: -)
Meghan Markle’s estranged father Thomas has told friends he is ready to marry again at the age of 81, according to a close family source. He has fallen in love with Filipino nurse Rio Caneda, who at 46 is 35 years his junior and just two years older than the Duchess of Sussex, who would become her step-daughter if they tie the knot.
Thomas Markle, the estranged father of Meghan Markle, is reportedly considering a new chapter in his life by remarrying at the age of 81. According to a close family source, Thomas has found love with Rio Caneda, a 46-year-old Filipino nurse, who is just slightly older than the Duchess of Sussex herself. Should they wed, Rio would become Meghan’s stepmother.
“Thomas is overjoyed at the prospect of marrying Rio,” shared the source. “He’s been telling family members that he’s happier now than he ever thought possible, eager to spend the rest of his days with her.”
The pair crossed paths at a rehabilitation hospital in Cebu City, Philippines, where Thomas was recovering following critical surgery last December. The procedure involved the removal of his left leg below the knee, a life-saving measure that brought them together.
In an interview from a couple of months ago, Thomas expressed his newfound happiness, stating that he felt “blessed and beyond happy” to have discovered joy in Rio’s company. This comes after enduring years of health struggles and the heartbreak of being estranged from his daughter Meghan since shortly before her 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.
Now Mr Markle, who moved to Cebu with his son Tom Jnr, 59, last year, is back in America where he will be fitted with a state-of-the-art prosthetic limb and spend time with his other daughter, Meghan’s half-sister Samantha, 61.
Tom Jnr and Samantha are the children of Mr Markle’s first marriage to secretary Roslyn Loveless, which ended in divorce in 1975. Meghan’s mother is his second wife, Doria Ragland.
They were divorced after eight years in 1987, when the future Duchess of Sussex was six, sharing custody until she went to university prior to pursuing a Hollywood acting career.
In his joint interview with new love Rio, Mr Markle said of Meghan: “I still don’t know why she ghosted me.”
To this day, he has never met his son-in-law Prince Harry, her husband of eight years, or his grandchildren Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, who turns five on Tuesday.
Thomas Markle appearing in a TV interview (Image: GBNews )
Thomas accused Meghan or ghosting him before the roya wedding with Prince Harry (Image: Getty)
But he insisted: “I was in pain for so many years about what happened with my youngest daughter Meghan. I’m finally at peace. I am enjoying my life. I don’t care what people think any more.
“I’m an old man and never thought I would be alive at nearly 82. What happened with Rio happened naturally. We got close and she ended up moving in with me.
“It’s a relationship I treasure. She makes me very happy and takes very good care of me. I hope I make her happy too.”
According to our source, Mr Markle has given no indication yet as to where he and Rio might tie the knot – in the US or back in the Philippines, where he has said he “loves” living and is “enjoying life.”
The source added: “He still has a recovery stretch to navigate with at least a few months in America, where he’s been face-timing Rio almost every day.
“He says he’d also love her to be able to see America sometime, so I think there’s a way to go before we hear wedding bells. But from everything he’s been saying, the sound of those bells is very much on his mind and it’s pretty clear she loves him to bits too.”