The infamous father and elder half-sister of Duchess Meghan Markle have broken their silence on her royal baby announcement, and their reactions are surprisingly positive.
Thomas Markle, the man who staged those infamous paparazzi shots ahead of his daughter’s royal wedding in May, certainly hasn’t made himself many admirers.
Since then, he’s made numerous comments slamming the British Royal Family, but his reaction to Meghan and husband Prince Harry’s baby joy didn’t reflect this at all.
Thomas Markle has been surprisingly positive about his daughter’s pregnancy announcement.
A source told The Sun that Thomas was “absolutely delighted” by the news, saying: “He thinks Meghan will make a great mum as she is already so maternal.”
The message is unexpectedly positive considering the former lighting director was estranged from his daughter for his actions around the royal wedding.
Thomas missed the royal wedding entirely due to undergoing emergency heart surgery, and reports have revealed he was also absent at Meghan’s first wedding to Trevor Engelson.
Over the past few months, Thomas has made attempts to communicate with his daughter to no avail.
Meanwhile, The Sun reports Samantha is hoping the baby will bring the family back together, as well as repair Meghan’s relationship with her dad.
“It just makes everything that happened over the last year disappear. I want Meghan to be happy and calm and have peace. Everybody needs to be positive.
“I hope my dad is included and at a proper time. If he is excluded, I won’t be happy. It is in the best interests of the baby for my dad to be included.”
WATCH: Meghan cried when Thomas Markle said he couldn’t be at Royal wedding:
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In August, Thomas begged for one final chance to make amends with his daughter and new son-in-law after reports that the royal couple planned to visit the States late this year.
The Sunday Express reported: “He wants to hug his daughter and tell her how very proud he is of her and how much he loves her.”
“He wanted so much to walk her down the aisle and give her away on her magical big day and he’s always going to be bitterly upset and frustrated that instead he has to stay in bed following heart surgery.”
Meghan and her father were reportedly very close before she became a royal.
It was revealed Thomas was the driving force behind Meghan’s famous letters to prominent figures when she saw a sexist dishwashing liquid advert.
In an essay for ELLE UK, she revealed he encouraged her to not be defined by her mixed ethnicity.
Meghan’s half-sister Samantha has also been known to cause a stir.
But it appears that their relationship is completely different these days.
Following the wedding, Thomas Markle appeared on British breakfast show, Good Morning Britain, apologising for staging the photographs and giving some insight into what happened when he told Meghan he wouldn’t be able to make it to her big day.
But after he was criticised for appearing on national television, the 73-year-old hit back.
“Anyone who makes a profit off the Royal Family becomes shunned.”
“But I could have made well over $100,000 by just doing a talk show.”
Samantha Markle has also been critical of Meghan for some time, even taking responsibility for the staged paparazzi photos involving their father.
In September, Samantha also took to British TV to apologise to Meghan.
Appearing on Channel 5’s Jeremy Vine Show, Samantha said: “I wish things could be different.”
She was also asked by the host why she had said such insulting things about her half sister, including calling her Cruella de Vil, Duch-ass and the Duchess of Nonsense.
She responded: “I do regret that.. I worked in broadcasting radio for a while and I’ve always been a bit boisterous. But I think I said that at a point which seemed inescapable.”
Samantha is clearly hoping the addition of a new royal baby might help make amends, telling The Sun: “A baby changes everything and softens everyone. I would only hope that there would be some adjustment or some way of including him.”
Speaking about Meghan’s lack of communication with her father, she said: “We’re also seeing now that there was a lot going on — there may have been a lot of stress.”
“I’m not saying that’s an excuse for not communicating with my dad, but maybe she wanted to wait until the exact right moment. I don’t want Meg to feel any stress and I want my dad to feel happy and I think all things will come full circle.”
WATCH: Samantha Markle is called out on British TV:
