Samantha Markle slams reports that claim Meghan Markle is to secretly visit her father, "there has been no contact"
Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle's frosty relationship with her father Thomas Markle has been in the news since she married Prince Harry in May earlier this year. It has been claimed that Meghan hasn't spoken to her father, a former lighting director, since her wedding. Over the months, Meghan's half-sister Samantha Markle has repeatedly called her out for ignoring her father.
It was recently reported that Meghan, along with her husband Prince Harry, is planning a secret trip to the US in a bid to meet her father and to clear any misunderstandings that the two might have had over these months. Prince Harry allegedly took it upon himself to sort things out between his wife and her father and even came up with the secret plan to get them to meet, sources revealed.
"Harry is trying to work out the possibility for a meeting with Meghan’s father, in California, following the Invictus games in October. Harry and Meghan will be in Australia and New Zealand for the games and they are already planning to stop off in Los Angeles on the way home to spend some time with Meghan’s mom, so Harry is trying to arrange a meeting with her dad Thomas around the same time", a palace insider revealed.
"Harry knows how important Thomas is to Meghan, and he thinks it’s imperative for her to sort her relationship out with her father, and the best way to do that is for everyone to sit down together and hash everything out together," another source added.
However, Meghan's half-sister Samantha recently dismissed the rumors regarding the Duchess' secret visit to the US in an interview with The Sun, Express reported.
During the interview, Samantha claimed that she speaks to her father “every day” and that Thomas Markle had in no way been contacted about any visit from the newly-minted royal. She said: “I speak to him every day and it’s sad but, no, they have not contacted him."
"The PR machines can stop trying to make out she’s making an effort — she is not,” she added. “This is a heartbreaking time for him and I’m very sad watching my sister ignore him.”
Samantha has been a vicious critic of her sister in spite of not having met her in a decade. On Saturday, Samantha sent out a vicious tweet on the occasion of Meghan's first birthday as a royal family member in an apparent bid to sour her mood.
In the vile tweet, Samantha wrote, "Happy Birthday Meg! It would be so lovely and appropriate of you to send DAD a BELATED birthday card for his July 18 th [birthday cake emoji] @KensingtonRoyal Cheers".
The birthday wishes laced with sarcasm came only a day after Samantha had gone on another of her Twitter rants. She reportedly shared an article about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex shying away from the media eye by saying, "OK so Cruella de Vil is retreating LOL. Let me know how that works out for you." She later cryptically added: "There are smoke and mirrors you try to hide things with, but you can’t hide from what you see in the mirror."
Samantha's tweets were in response to reports that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle issued their own set of rules which would be applicable to all close friends and family. The rules were aimed at protecting them from the constant press vigilance as the couple wanted to retreat from the spotlight.
“They (Meghan and Harry) spend a lot of time in the Cotswolds, more than people realize. They are in the country way more than they are in London and they are enjoying a low-key and very domesticated start to married life,” a friend of the couple said. “Harry’s not around that much anymore. Meghan likes him to keep his diary clear at the weekends so they can be together in the countryside,” they added.
“It’s very clear they want to be private and left alone,” said one local. “The property is in the middle of woodland, and you wouldn’t know it was there. It is very remote which is why they like it. It’s like a fortress. There’s a huge security presence, you can’t get close.”
The source also hinted that Prince Harry is trying his best to shield Meghan from too much exposure to the media. "He worries there is too much hysteria around Meghan and he wants to row back a bit," said the source. “Royal rota journalists are being kept further away from [Meghan] than we were before the wedding. That means we can’t hear what she is saying. If you can’t get direct quotes from members of the royal family that often makes for dull stories. You go up afterward and ask what she said.”
And in a bid to achieve ultimate privacy, the royal couple has told their friends to avoid speaking to the media, and the decision has let to the Prince clamping down on his friendship group, even telling his wife to follow suit. "They both expect a code of silence. If you talk to the press, you’re out," the source revealed. "Harry didn’t use to care that much about what was written (in the press), he just said it was a load of sh**, but he’s very protective of Meghan and defensive these days."