An embattled Prince Harry is leaping to the defence of his wife Meghan Markle amid her latest family drama.
Woman’s Day can reveal the royal is at his wits’ end, preparing to rush to Mexico in a desperate bid to silence her father Thomas Markle after his worst interview yet.
In a shocking sit-down with a London newspaper last week, Meghan’s father claimed he’s been totally cut off from his daughter and it would be “easier” if he died because “everybody would be filled with sympathy for her”.
He said he refuses to “be silenced” by the royal family, ripped into his ex-wife Doria Ragland and claimed Princess Diana “would have loathed” the way he’s been treated.
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And as Meghan, who turned 37 last week, struggles to come to terms with her father’s biting words, Harry, 33, is angry and no longer able to sit in silence as his family and the love of his life are slandered in the press. He’s planning to go against royal protocol and silence Meghan’s dad once and for all.
“Harry is extremely protective of Meghan and has been ever since they first started dating. He knows this has been a huge adjustment for her and she’s been under a lot of scrutiny. But this is the final straw,” a royal insider says.
“Word is Harry is planning a trip to Mexico to address the drama. He wants Thomas to back off and leave Meghan alone. It’s not the way he hoped to meet his father-in-law for the first time but he’d do anything for Meghan.
“Harry is extremely protective of Meghan and has been ever since they first started dating.”
“She’s under so much pressure – this isn’t helping. She was hoping he’d run out of things to say and stop talking about her, but it keeps getting worse. She’ll be enraged her dad has dragged her mum into it now. It’s only going to deepen their rift,” adds the insider.
“They’ve realised they need to do something about it. Harry’s a pretty charming guy and the hope is that if he talks to Thomas one-on-one, he can smooth this over and get him to back down.
“But at this point, it seems as though no matter what happens, it’s not going to fix his relationship with Meghan. The damage is already done.”
Thomas has been giving bombshell interviews about his daughter, here are some of his most controversial quotes.
On his lack of contact with Meghan
“I’m really hurt that she’s cut me off completely. I used to have a phone number and text for her personal aides at the palace, but after I said a few critical words about the royal family changing Meghan, they cut me off. Those numbers were disconnected. I have no way of contacting my daughter.”
“Perhaps it would be easier for her if I died. Everybody would be filled with sympathy for her. But I hope we reconcile. I’d hate to die without speaking to her again.”
“I’d hate to die without speaking to her again.”
On why he won’t be silenced
“I’ve just about reached my limit with Meghan and the royal family. They want me to be silent, they want me to just go away. But I won’t be silenced. I refuse to stay quiet. What riles me is Meghan’s sense of superiority. She’d be nothing without me. I made her the duchess she is today. Everything Meghan is, I made her.”
On Princess Diana
“They [the royal family] have Meghan treating her father in a way Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, would have loathed. That’s not what Diana stood for. Princess Diana is credited with changing the royal family, but she wasn’t perfect. She was still very much one of them.”
“Princess Diana is credited with changing the royal family, but she wasn’t perfect. She was still very much one of them.”
On Prince Harry
“I don’t care if Harry never speaks to me again, I’ll survive.”
On Meghan’s mum
“She’s a mummy’s girl now and Doria gets a lot of the credit. But Meghan seems to have forgotten she lived with me until Doria and I divorced when she was six, and I was still a big part of her life. She became the woman she is today thanks to everything I did for her.”
