Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle, is currently in intensive care after undergoing an emergency surgery.
Thomas, 81, was hospitalized in the Philippines on Tuesday, December 2, after an undisclosed illness that required medical attention, which his son confirmed to the Daily Mail several hours later.
“I took dad to a hospital close to our home and they did various scans and the doctors said his life was in imminent danger,” Thomas Markle Jr. told the outlet on Wednesday, December 3. “They raced us by ambulance, with the sirens going, to a much bigger hospital in the center of the city.”
He added, “My dad has undergone emergency surgery. I would ask everyone around the world to keep him in their thoughts.”
According to Thomas Jr., 59, the former TV lighting director now needs a second procedure in order to remove a blood clot.
Thomas’ eldest daughter, Samantha Markle, has also shared her wishes for a swift recovery.
“He is a strong man, but he has been through so much. I am praying that he is strong enough to survive this,” Samantha, 61, told the Daily Mail. “My father has been through two heart attacks, a stroke and an earthquake. I hope he can pull through this.”
Thomas Jr. and Samantha are Thomas’ children from his first marriage. He also shares Meghan, 44, with ex-wife Doria Ragland. The Duchess of Sussex and her mother have not publicly addressed Thomas’ recent health scare.
Meghan has been estranged from her father since 2018 after he was accused of staging paparazzi photos before the Suits alum married Prince Harry.
“H and I called my dad. I said, ‘They’re saying you’re taking money from the tabloids to stage photos. Is this true?’ He says, ‘No,’” Meghan recalled in a 2022 episode of Netflix’s Harry and Meghan. “And on that call, I’d said to him, ‘Look. If they can’t stop this story, then it’s going to come out tomorrow, so why don’t we send someone right now to your house to get you out of there now because if that’s the case, your house will be swarmed by media. We’ll get you out.’”
She added at the time, “He said, ‘No. I have things I need to do.’ And it felt really cagey. I was like, ‘It doesn’t make sense.’ And when we hung up, I looked at H. I was like, ‘I don’t know why but I don’t believe him.’”
Thomas later claimed that he suffered a heart attack and decided not to attend Meghan and Harry’s royal wedding.
Harry, 41, further revealed in the docuseries he felt “incredibly sad” that Meghan and Thomas no longer had a relationship.
“She had a father before this,” the Duke of Sussex said in Harry & Megan. “Now she doesn’t have a father. I shouldered that. Because if Meg wasn’t with me, then her dad would still be her dad,” Harry explained. “It’s amazing what people would do when offered a huge amount of money. Fifty thousand, a hundred thousand, to hand over photographs, to create a story. And thank God most of them said no.”
Harry and Meghan moved to California in 2020 after stepping down from their duties as senior working royals, where they currently live with kids Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4.
Read the full article here
