Queen Elizabeth II tried to convince Meghan Markle to repair her fractious relationship with her father, Thomas Markle.
“The Queen could see how damaging the situation was between Meghan and her father and she did speak to Meghan about it and tried to encourage her to talk to Thomas,” royal expert Katie Nicholl wrote in her upcoming book, “The New Royals.”
A royal source told Nicholl that the late monarch felt “the whole thing was quite badly handled with Thomas Markle and it if had been done differently, it would have come out better.”
The former lighting director for TV soaps and sitcoms, 78, was set to walk his daughter down the aisle at St. George’s Chapel but then flip-flopped about whether he would even attend after photos surfaced of him allegedly getting a suit measured for the wedding and perusing books about the UK.
He later admitted to secretly collaborating with a paparazzo to stage the photos and bowed out of the ceremony, later undergoing heart surgery.
“The service was beautiful and it’s history. I will always regret not being able to be there and not being able to hold my daughter’s hand,” Markle’s father said of the ceremony, which he watched from his bed.
Thomas also later confessed that Prince Harry had warned him not to collude with the press and that he had both lied to and hung up on Harry during a heated phone call ahead of the royal wedding.
King Charles ended up stepping in, walking his daughter-in-law down the aisle.
The Duchess’ relationship with her father further deteriorated after she accused him of leaking a private letter she had penned after the wedding.
The “Suits” alum sued and won a lawsuit against the Mail on Sunday for publishing the emotional letter.
In it, she begged her father to “stop creating so much pain.”
“Please stop exploiting my relationship with my husband … I realize you are so far down this rabbit hole that you feel (or may feel) there’s no way out, but if you take a moment to pause I think you’ll see that being able to live with a clear conscience is more valuable than any payment in the world,” she shared.
Nicholl further noted that the Queen thought it was a mistake that Harry never traveled to Mexico to meet his future father-in-law.
“I think she felt that Harry should certainly have met Thomas Markle and it was unfortunate that that had to happen,” Nicholl said.
Not only did the Queen, who died on Sept. 8 at age 96, want Meghan to make amends with her dad but she also wished the same for Harry and the rest of the royal family.
“The Queen adored Harry right to the end, and Harry adored her,” royal author Robert Hardman told People. “I think she was one of the conduits between Windsor and California and it would have been one of her dearest wishes that they patch things up.”
“The New Royals: Queen Elizabeth’s Legacy and the Future of the Crown” comes out Oct. 4.
