Prince Harry begged Meghan Markle's father Thomas not to talk to the media days before wedding, documents reveal
According to court documents filed at the London high court on Monday, April 20, Harry tried to plead with his then future father-in-law Thomas Markle in 2018, to make him understand that talking to the press may backfire.
The papers linked to the lawsuit filed by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex against the UK tabloid, the Mail on Sunday, were viewed by the Guardian.
They showed that the days before Meghan's televised royal wedding ceremony at Windsor Palace, in May 2018, where Thomas was supposed to walk his daughter down the aisle, Harry reached out to him via texts. Through them, he attempted to fix damages caused by Thomas, who had created a media buzz by staging paparazzi pictures of himself preparing for the wedding.
“Tom, Harry again! Really need to speak to u. U do not need to apologize, we understand the circumstances but ‘going public’ will only make the situation worse. If u love Meg and want to make it right please call me as there are two other options which don’t involve u having to speak to the media, who incidentally created this whole situation. So please call me so I can explain. Meg and I are not angry, we just need to speak to u. Thanks. Oh any speaking to the press WILL backfire, trust me Tom. Only we can help u, as we have been trying from day 1," Harry implored in one text.
Thomas did not return Harry or Meghan's calls or texts and instead, contacted TMZ with the statement that he had suffered a heart attack — information that he did not share with his own daughter. Meghan found out that her dad had been hospitalized from the American tabloid, days before her big day.
Nevertheless, she brushed her anger aside and instead focused on checking in and finding out how Thomas was doing.
“I’ve been reaching out to you all weekend but you’re not taking any of our calls or replying to any texts … Very concerned about your health and safety and have taken every measure to protect you but not sure what more we can do if you don’t respond … Do you need help? Can we send the security team down again? I’m very sorry to hear you’re in the hospital but need you to please get in touch with us … What hospital are you at?” she wrote in a text.
When Harry and Meghan's offer to send in a security team was ignored by Thomas, the pair collectively made the decision to send the team anyway.
“Harry and I made a decision earlier today and are dispatching the same security guys you turned away this weekend to be a presence on the ground to make sure you’re safe … they will be there at your disposal as soon as you need them. Please please call as soon as you can .. all of this is incredibly concerning but your health is most important," said another text.
The last form of contact was Thomas giving a missed call at 4.57 a.m. to his daughter on May 19, 2018, the morning of her wedding. Since then they had only been in correspondence through letters. An excerpt on one of those sent by Meghan to her father, complaining of his mistreatment of her, was published by Mail on Sunday, which led to the lawsuit last year over alleged invasion of privacy, breach of copyright and misuse of personal data.