Meghan Markle, 40 and her father, Thomas Markle, 77, have long been estranged, and while the Duchess of Sussex seems to prefer to keep quiet about their relationship, her dad isn’t one to shy away from bringing up his daughter on his YouTube channel. Last week, Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, 37, became the topic of controversy after they were absent from a March 29th service in London that honored Harry’s grandfather, Prince Philip who passed away one year ago.
View this post on Instagram
Among television personalities and social media users, Markle’s father joined in critiquing his daughter and son-in-law’s decision to remain home in California rather than attend the memorial. On his new YouTube channel, “Remarkable Friendship,” Markle and photographer/ co-host of the channel, Karl Larsen uploaded a video on April 2nd in which they discussed Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars and Prince Harry missing Prince Philip’s memorial, among other things.
Regarding the memorial, Markle said he believed that his daughter and her husband’s absence was “unforgivable” and a “slap in the face” for Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. “Attending and giving respect and God’s grace to Prince Philip for a lifetime of service was very important to the Queen, and for them to not show up is like a slap in the face to the Queen and unforgivable,” he said. “The British people won’t forgive them for that, and they shouldn’t. Otherwise it was a good service and went down very well. And well deserved for that man,” Markle continued.
View this post on Instagram
While Markle was quick to bash his daughter and son-in-law, he had nothing but praise for Prince Andrew, who controversially did attend Prince Philip’s memorial after settling a sexual abuse lawsuit out of court last month. Markle seemed to think that Andrew walking the Queen to her seat at the Westminster Abbey event was a positive thing. “She [the queen] was right to take Andrew at her side and I think some people got a little shocked by that but I think it was the right thing for her and for Andrew,” Markle added.
And he didn’t stop there— Markle then went straight for his son-in-law and continued to express why he was appalled by his absence at the event. “He [Harry] didn’t attend the memorial. Instead he felt it was more important to walk his dogs on the beach. Meghan I guess convinced him not to go or someone convinced him not to go but it was a stupid mistake and he should be ashamed of himself,” he said. He continued, “And he should be ashamed to ever go back to England again. But then again I’m prejudiced against him, so that’s how I feel. If they didn’t have this multi-million dollar public relations team everyone would hate them.”
View this post on Instagram
Viewers had mixed reactions to Markle’s videos, with some users agreeing with him in its comment section and others claiming he was trying to “stay relevant for attacking his daughter and her husband.” Others recalled how in 2018 when he was caught staging photos with the paparazzi for money just days before Meghan’s wedding. While we don’t know if the couple has seen the recent video, updates from sources close to them indicate they have no interest in communicating with him.
