Thomas Markle, Meghan Markle’s Father, Hospitalized After Stroke

Meghan Markle’s estranged father Thomas has reportedly suffered a major stroke that has led him to lose his speech. Thomas, 77, was rushed to hospital in California from his home in Tijuana, Mexico on Monday night, according to TMZ. He was about to arrive in the U.K. to comment on Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee for right wing media outlet GB News, according to host Dan Wootton, writing in the Daily Mail.

Meghan’s estranged half-sister Samantha Markle told Wootton: “My father is recovering in hospital. We ask for privacy for the family, for his health and wellbeing. He just needs peace and rest. Godspeed. We are praying. He just needs some rest. It’s a travesty how much he's been tortured and how much he’s had to go through thanks to my sister’s disregard the past few years. That is unforgivable.”

The circumstances of the stroke preventing his trip to Britain mirror the two heart attacks Thomas Markle suffered just before Meghan married Prince Harry, which meant he could not be present for that occasion.

Thomas said he had hoped to meet Archie and Lilibet, his two grand-children, for the first time during his Platinum Jubilee trip, adding to GB News: “I would like to meet with Prince Charles and thank him for walking my daughter down the aisle, and also to meet and talk with him because I think we have a lot in common now. We’ve pretty much both been ghosted by our children.”

The Daily Beast understands that Thomas had been invited to stay at the home of society author and YouTuber Lady Colin Campbell, who was planning to escort him to a series of grand events, including Royal Ascot, as well as to various private aristocratic homes.

The Daily Beast understands that Thomas originally made the decision to come to the U.K. under the assumption that Harry and Meghan would not be coming, and had reservations about going through with the trip when it was revealed earlier this month they would be attending.

Lady Colin told The Daily Beast: “I have never commented on house guests at Castle Goring and I don’t intend to start now. However, I feel very strongly that Thomas Markle has been unfairly deprived of his dignity by his thankless daughter and pathetic son-in-law. I regard him as the living embodiment of King Lear, and I see it as the duty of all upstanding people to stand up for him.”