Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and Prince Charles. Shutterstock; Matthew Horwood/WPA Pool/Shutterstock
Clearing the air. Meghan MarkleAfter raising eyebrows with a comment many thought was about, this is setting the record straight. Prince HarryAnd his father. Prince Charles.
The SuitsThe Cut’s 41-year-old alum sat down with The Cut to talk candidly about her life since she left the U.K. with Harry (37), in 2020. In the cover story, published Monday, August 29, the California native spoke out about her difficult relationship with her extended families.
“Harry said to me, ‘I lost my dad in this process.’ It doesn’t have to be the same for them as it was for me, but that’s his decision,” she told the outlet.
Many readers believed that the BenchThe author was referring Harry feeling that he had lost his bond to the Prince of Wales. Entertainment TonightTuesday, August 30, was her first public statement about her father. Thomas Markle.
The “Archetypes” podcast host has previously been open about being estranged from her 78-year-old dad, who missed Meghan and Harry’s wedding in May 2018 after telling TMZ that he had a heart attack and required surgery. Thomas was later revealed to have been caught in paparazzi photos. He claimed that he had taken the photos in March 2021. Good Morning Britain that he apologized to the Sussexes “at least 100 times or so” for the scandal but “never heard back.”
In the Daytime Emmy winner’s absence from the royal nuptials, Charles walked Meghan down the aisle. The CBS interview featured a bombshell interview with the philanthropist, where she spoke out about her disagreement with Thomas.
“I grieve a lot,” she said in the March 2021 broadcast. “I mean, I’ve lost my father. I lost a baby. My name was almost lost. I mean, there’s the loss of identity. But I’m still standing, and my hope for people in the takeaway from this is to know that there’s another side.”
Harry, for his part, has also been through ups and downs with his father, claiming in the same CBS interview that he felt “let down” by Charles’ response to the pair’s royal exit. “I will always love him,” Harry said at the time. “There’s a lot of hurt that’s happened. I will continue to make it one of my priorities to heal that relationship.”
Two months later, the former military pilot put the future king on blast during an appearance on the “Armchair Expert” podcast. “Isn’t life about breaking the cycle?” he said, explaining how he hopes to parent his children — Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 14 months — differently than how Charles raised him. “There’s no blame. I don’t think anyone should be pointing the finger and blaming anyone. Certainly, when it comes to parenting, if I’ve experienced some form of pain and suffering because of the pain and suffering that perhaps my father or parents suffered. I’m gonna make sure I break that cycle so that I don’t pass it on.”
A source told the story exclusively at the time. Us Weekly that Charles felt “tortured” by his son’s jabs. “The general consensus within the royal family is to ignore Harry’s behavior to avoid fanning the flames, but Charles is finding it hard to hold back,” the insider added. “He really wants to defend himself.”
