Why Meghan Markle is Trying to Mend the Broken Relationship with her Dad

Oftentimes a girl’s relationship with her dad is one of the most important in her life. So when Prince Charles walked Meghan Markle down the aisle last year as she married Prince Harry instead of her own father, a few eyebrows were raised.

Where was Markle’s father? Why hadn’t he walked her down the aisle? Why didn’t he even attend his daughter’s wedding?

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Today The Duchess of Sussex made her first visit to @TheMayhew since becoming Patron – Mayhew is a grassroots charity working in a unique way to improve the lives of animals and people to better communities both in London and internationally. Mayhew looks for innovative ways to reduce the number of animals in need through pro-active community and educational initiatives and preventative veterinary care. Among the people she met was Wully, a formerly homeless pet refuge service user, and his two dogs Azzy and Gallis – The Duchess found out about the different ways Mayhew’s animal welfare officers have supported Wully and his pets over the past 11 years. Her Royal Highness also met Roobarb the dog, who is part of Mayhew’s dog therapy programme TheraPaws, which puts smiles on the faces of vulnerable individuals. The Duchess met volunteers who dedicate their time to Mayhew community programmes, including the trap, neuter and return programme, which controls and cares for the feral cat communities in London. And Her Royal Highness was also able to meet the team behind Mayhew’s international work, which includes an overseas vet training programme in countries like India and Afghanistan to help improve animal welfare.

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View this post on Instagram

Today The Duchess of Sussex made her first visit to @TheMayhew since becoming Patron – Mayhew is a grassroots charity working in a unique way to improve the lives of animals and people to better communities both in London and internationally. Mayhew looks for innovative ways to reduce the number of animals in need through pro-active community and educational initiatives and preventative veterinary care. Among the people she met was Wully, a formerly homeless pet refuge service user, and his two dogs Azzy and Gallis – The Duchess found out about the different ways Mayhew’s animal welfare officers have supported Wully and his pets over the past 11 years. Her Royal Highness also met Roobarb the dog, who is part of Mayhew’s dog therapy programme TheraPaws, which puts smiles on the faces of vulnerable individuals. The Duchess met volunteers who dedicate their time to Mayhew community programmes, including the trap, neuter and return programme, which controls and cares for the feral cat communities in London. And Her Royal Highness was also able to meet the team behind Mayhew’s international work, which includes an overseas vet training programme in countries like India and Afghanistan to help improve animal welfare.

A post shared by Kensington Palace (@kensingtonroyal) on

View this post on Instagram

Today The Duchess of Sussex made her first visit to @TheMayhew since becoming Patron – Mayhew is a grassroots charity working in a unique way to improve the lives of animals and people to better communities both in London and internationally. Mayhew looks for innovative ways to reduce the number of animals in need through pro-active community and educational initiatives and preventative veterinary care. Among the people she met was Wully, a formerly homeless pet refuge service user, and his two dogs Azzy and Gallis – The Duchess found out about the different ways Mayhew’s animal welfare officers have supported Wully and his pets over the past 11 years. Her Royal Highness also met Roobarb the dog, who is part of Mayhew’s dog therapy programme TheraPaws, which puts smiles on the faces of vulnerable individuals. The Duchess met volunteers who dedicate their time to Mayhew community programmes, including the trap, neuter and return programme, which controls and cares for the feral cat communities in London. And Her Royal Highness was also able to meet the team behind Mayhew’s international work, which includes an overseas vet training programme in countries like India and Afghanistan to help improve animal welfare.

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Originally, reports were saying that Markle’s father Thomas was unable to attend her wedding because he had had surgery for a heart attack, rendering him unable to fly to England.

However, it soon came out that her father had been staging paparazzi photos and actually decided not to attend the wedding after Markle found out about the images.

Since then, the two have had a rocky relationship, but according to her friends, Markle wants to put an end to all of the feuding.

Willing to Forgive

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The Duchess of Sussex yesterday attended a meeting with The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) at King’s College London. Her Royal Highness joined university leaders, academics and international scholarship students as they discussed the role of higher education in addressing issues such as human trafficking, modern slavery, gender equality, peace and reconciliation, and climate change. In a speech during the Royal Visit to Fiji in October, The Duchess announced two ACU Gender Grants for the University of the South Pacific and Fiji National University, to fund new learning initiatives aimed at empowering female university staff and promoting gender equality.

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Since the wedding, Markle’s father has claimed that he has been ignored by his daughter and the royal family. He says that he has no way of contacting her.

Sources close to the Duchess have denied these claims, saying that Markle has reached out to Thomas numerous times.

“She was willing to forgive him,” a close friend of Markle’s told ET. “She kept on reassuring him she loved him. She was hearing about her father’s condition, his heart attack, through the tabloids. After the wedding, she wrote a letter to her dad about wanting to repair the relationship.” 

According to her friends, Markle has tried to reach out to her father multiple times.

“After the wedding she wrote him a letter,” another friend of Markle’s told PEOPLE. “She’s like, ‘Dad, I’m so heartbroken. I love you. I have one father. Please stop victimizing me through the media so we can repair our relationship.’ Because every time her team has to come to her and fact-check something [he has said], it’s an arrow to the heart. He writes her a really long letter in return, and he closes it by requesting a photo op with her. And she feels like, ‘That’s the opposite of what I’m saying. I’m telling you I don’t want to communicate through the media, and you’re asking me to communicate through the media. Did you hear anything I said?’ It’s almost like they’re ships passing.’”

Family Relationships

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Thank you Rotorua for the incredibly warm welcome for The Duke and Duchess of Sussex on the final day of their tour to Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand! PA #RoyalVisitNZ #NewZealand #Rotorua

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Markle’s mom, Doria Ragland, and Thomas have not been together since the Duchess was 2 years old.

Markle has two half-siblings from her father but is not close to either Samatha nor Thomas Jr.

“They’ve been made to appear as siblings who were very close and then they had this falling out, and that’s not the truth at all,” the same friend told PEOPLE of Markle’s siblings. “Fast way forward to Meghan dating Harry, and now Samantha is going by the last name Markle [after long using the name Grant]. And then she began this career capitalizing on Meg. Everyone who knows Meg knows that the two of them have no relationship.”

According to reports, Markle and her sister Samantha have never had a relationship despite Samantha’s claims to the contrary.

Read more: Why are Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton Getting Bullied So Much?

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