Additional Coverage:
- Meghan Markle Successfully Delivers Letter to Dad Thomas Markle After Leg Amputation (usmagazine.com)
Meghan Markle Reaches Out to Estranged Father Thomas Markle After Amputation
UPDATE – December 10, 2025, 5:40 a.m. ET: Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, has successfully delivered a letter to her father, Thomas Markle, following his recent lower leg amputation. “With the support of reliable and trusted contacts, her correspondence is now safely in his hands,” a spokesperson for the Duchess confirmed to Us Weekly on Wednesday.
Original Story:
Meghan Markle has taken direct action to contact her estranged father, Thomas Markle, amidst his recent health crisis. Us Weekly has learned that the 44-year-old Duchess initiated calls to hospitals in the Philippines after news broke that her 81-year-old father had been hospitalized and underwent a leg amputation due to a blood clot.
In addition to her hospital outreach, Meghan penned a letter to her father, with sources indicating her hope that the message would reach Thomas within 24 hours. The Times was the first to report on the story.
Last week, Thomas Markle Jr., Thomas’s son, revealed the severity of his father’s surgery. “My dad is being very brave.
His foot turned blue and then black. It happened very quickly,” Thomas Jr., 59, shared with the Daily Mail on Friday, December 5.
“I took him to a local hospital and they did some scans and an ultrasound and said the leg had to be amputated. There was no option.
I was told the leg had to be removed and it was a case of life or death.”
On the same day, Us confirmed that Meghan had “reached out to her father” in the wake of his critical surgery.
The following day, in an interview published on Saturday, December 6, Thomas Markle Sr. expressed confusion to the Daily Mail regarding Meghan’s attempts to contact him, stating he was unaware. Despite this, he voiced hope for a reconciliation.
“Of course I want to speak to [Meghan] but I am not sure if these are the right circumstances,” Thomas told the outlet. “I’ve always said I am open to reconciling with my daughter.
I have never stopped loving her. I don’t want to die estranged from Meghan.
I want to meet my grandkids. It might be nice to meet her husband too.”
Meghan and Thomas Markle’s estrangement dates back to before her 2018 marriage to Prince Harry. The rift began when Thomas admitted to staging photos of a suit fitting. However, his daughter, Samantha, later clarified on the U.K. talk show Loose Women that she was “entirely the culprit” behind the photo opportunity, intending to present her father in a positive light.
“As we know, the media can take very unflattering photographs of people on their casual days and blow it way out of proportion,” Samantha explained in 2018. “I said, ‘You know, the world has no idea you’re getting in shape, doing healthy things.
They don’t photograph you buying vegetables and PH water. They photograph you as unflattering ways as they can.’”
She added, “So I said, ‘Really you need to show the world that you’re getting in shape and doing great healthy things.’ So I suggested [the photo].
There’s a lot of scrutiny that it was money motivated, it was not. It was my suggestion that to benefit him and to benefit the royal family that everyone looked good and they depict you as you are – in shape and doing healthy things.”
Ultimately, Thomas did not attend Meghan and Harry’s wedding, having undergone heart surgery just days prior.