When Thomas Markle first attracted public attention a decade ago, he was living in a struggling coastal town in Mexico and appeared an unlikely figure to take centre stage at a royal wedding.
But the prospect of Meghan Markle’s wedding to Prince Harry soon became far more complicated, with her strained relationship with her father remaining in the headlines ever since.
The Duchess of Sussex has now said she is “deeply distressed” by allegations that her father possessed a collection of child sex abuse images.
Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, claimed he discovered a stash of images belonging to their father at his former home in the Philippines.
Thomas Sr has denied possessing child sex images, dismissing the allegations as “sick lies”.
The Daily Mail has revisited the key moments in the complicated history of the father-daughter relationship.
1988
Meghan’s parents, Doria Ragland and Thomas Markle, divorce. Meghan largely lives with her mother but remains close to her father.
Meghan was the only child of Mr Markle’s marriage to Ms Ragland. He also has two children, Samantha Markle and Thomas Jr, from an earlier marriage.
Early 2011
After retiring as a television lighting engineer, Thomas Sr leaves southern California and moves to Rosarito, Mexico.
The allegations involving Meghan’s father, Thomas, have sent shockwaves through the family
July 2016
Meghan meets Prince Harry through mutual friends in London, and the pair begin a relationship.
2017
The following May, Thomas Sr is approached while buying cigarettes near his home in Rosarito and asked about Meghan’s engagement to Harry.
He reveals that he is “very pleased… delighted” and says he would “love to” walk his daughter down the aisle, while insisting: “You know I can’t talk.”
Thomas Sr was living in this home in Rosarito, Mexico, when Meghan married Prince Harry
2018
As preparations continue for Thomas Sr to formally walk Meghan down the aisle, Harry’s Kensington Palace spokesman urges journalists to stop “harassing” him.
Soon afterwards, photographs emerge showing Thomas Sr in Mexico preparing for the wedding. One image appears to show him reading an online report about his daughter’s plans to marry.
The photographs initially appear to have been taken without Thomas Sr’s knowledge or consent. However, six days before the Windsor Castle ceremony, The Mail on Sunday reports that he had staged the images in cooperation with the photographer in exchange for money.
Two days later, Thomas Sr announces that he will not attend the ceremony, saying he does not want to embarrass his daughter. He also claims to have recently suffered a heart attack. The then-Prince Charles steps in to accompany Meghan during the ceremony.
Three months after the wedding, Meghan is reported to be “taking a bit of time out” from her father. Thomas Sr is 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 is sent to the Metropolitan Police before later being shared with Meghan.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after their wedding ceremony in Windsor in May 2018
2019
Meghan is revealed to have written to her father shortly after the wedding, in August 2018, asking him to stop ‘victimising’ her by giving interviews to the media.
He had been claiming a ‘wall of silence’ had formed between them since staged photos debacle, with his texts and letters ignored.
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Friends of Meghan deny she has been ignoring him, saying she retains ‘a lot of sympathy for him’.
Later in the year Thomas Sr is complaining that he has never met his new grandson, Harry and Meghan’s firstborn Archie, saying: ‘They are not wonderful to their own family’.
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 America, 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 America, 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 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.