Thomas Markle is once again speaking out against his daughter, this time not only saying he's being kept from his grandson, but also accusing the Duchess of Sussex of lying in a speech about her university tuition.
In an interview with The Daily Mail, Markle spoke about how he still hasn't met Harry or Archie, and even took a jab and the Duke and Duchess' recent private jet trip to Paris.
"I've still never met my son-in-law," Markle admitted. "Why couldn't Prince Harry have got on a plane and flown to see me to ask for her hand? He obviously has no problem getting on private jets."
Markle also asked that he get a picture of Archie.
"I would like them to send me a picture of Archie so I can frame it and put it on my wall beside the one of Meghan," he said. "Isn't that what any grandfather would want? I'd love to know if he's got the famous Markle nose. Sometimes I get the feeling people think I don't love my daughter. I do love her very much. I would love nothing more than to put a picture of Archie in a frame and place it beside the one of Meghan."
Even on Meghan's 38th birthday, her father was kept at arm's reach and it's not clear if the Duchess even got the note he sent her.
"I sent her a card via her financial adviser in LA but received no acknowledgement,' he admitted. "I have no idea if she got it."
And although Markle often makes a point of sitting in the spotlight, he says people are always making assumptions about him.
"I'd like to do a piece saying the ten things people don't know about me but there are way more than ten," he said. "What upsets me is when people who don't know me say negative things about me. Until you know me, what gives you that right? People who don't know me make judgments. My daughter's new A-list friends have no right to speak about me until they know me."
The first thing on the list? That Markle loves his daughter.
"Firstly, I love my daughter. She's my baby and this is my favourite ever picture of her," said Markle, as he pointed to a baby picture of Meghan on his wall. "I took that photograph and I always loved it because of the pensive look on her face. That was my Meggie. We were so close. I would come home from work [he was an award-winning Hollywood lighting director] and I would hold her against my chest and we would walk around for hours and hours."
Markle believes that it's the palace who's keeping his daughter away from him,
"There was never any problem between Meghan and me until recently," Markle pointed out. "I've stayed quiet because Meghan was pregnant with Archie but I'm speaking out now because they and their PR people are continuing to ghost me out of her life. Of course I'm disappointed not to see Archie. I had hoped becoming a mother would mellow Meghan and she would reach out."
Markle also noted that since he had his heart attack, which kept him away from the royal wedding, his daughter hasn't reached out.
"All I'd like to ask people is, 'How would you feel if your father had a heart attack?'" Markle positioned. "I texted them [Harry and Meghan] from my hospital bed and told them where I was. I have the texts to prove it. Yet never once has Meghan ever asked me how I'm doing. Not then, not since. Brits don't realize the scale of the distances between us. When American families move apart from each other there are thousands of miles between us. We stay in touch but it's not that easy. You can't just jump in the car and go like you guys can. We stay in touch the best we can."
The University Tuition Lie
Thomas Markle let out a massive claim during his interview, saying that during her first major speech in Fiji last year, the Duchess flat-out lied about having to pay her own way through university.
'I am also fully aware of the challenges of being able to afford this level of schooling for many people around the world, myself included," the Duchess said to a group of students at the University of the South Pacific. "It was with scholarships, financial aid programmes, and work study from my earnings from a job on campus that went directly towards my tuition that I was able to attend university, and without question it was worth every effort."
This, according to Markle, is a lie.
"I'm sorry but that is completely untrue," he said. "I paid every penny of her tuition and I have the bank statements to prove it. I told Meg I would pay for her education and I did. It's what any father would do. I'm sick of the lies. I'm sick of being vilified and shut out of their lives. I always upheld my responsibilities as a father. Meghan's comments about paying her way through college are offensive to me."
So what does Markle want? Why is he coming forward with all of these comments now?
"I don't want anything from Meghan or Harry but I'm not going to shut up until the whole truth is out there," he claimed. "I will continue to contradict anything said about me that isn't true. I have to stand up for myself. I'm going to carry on speaking and I'm not going to shut up. No father deserves this kind of abuse when he's been that good to his daughter. Ask anyone who knows us both. I've been very kind and generous to my daughter."
Thomas Markle always knows how to keep himself in the headlines, but if this story turns out to be true, and Meghan did lie during her big speech, I wonder what the royal family will have to say about it.
