UPDATE December 10, 2025, 5:40 a.m. ET: Meghan Markle has successfully sent a letter to her father, Thomas Markle, after his lower-leg amputation.
“With the help of trusted and dependable contacts, her message has now been delivered safely to him,” a spokesperson for the Duchess of Sussex shared with Us Weekly on Wednesday, December 10.
UPDATE 12/10/25 at 5:40 a.m. ET: Meghan Markle has successfully delivered a letter to her father, Thomas Markle, after he underwent a lower leg amputation.
“With the support of reliable and trusted contacts, her correspondence is now safely in his hands,” a spokesperson for the Duchess of Sussex confirmed to Us Weekly on Wednesday, December 10.
Amid his health crisis, Meghan, 44, took proactive steps to reach her estranged father, 81, who was hospitalized in the Philippines following a severe blood clot that required amputation. Sources say Meghan contacted multiple hospitals while also writing a heartfelt letter, hoping it would reach Thomas within 24 hours.
Thomas’ son, Thomas Markle Jr., previously shared details of the emergency surgery. “My dad is being very brave. His foot turned blue and then black. It happened very quickly. I took him to a local hospital and they did some scans and an ultrasound and said the leg had to be amputated,” Thomas Jr., 59, told the Daily Mail on December 5. “There was no option. It was a case of life or death.”
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On the same day, Us Weekly confirmed that Meghan had “reached out to her father” following his surgery.
The next day, Thomas Markle told the Daily Mail he was “confused” to learn that Meghan had attempted contact. Despite not knowing she had reached out, Thomas expressed hope for reconciliation.
“Of course I want to speak to [Meghan], but I am not sure if these are the right circumstances,” he said in an interview published Saturday, December 6. “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 her father, Thomas Markle, became estranged before she married Prince Harry in 2018. Their falling out stemmed from an incident in which Thomas admitted to staging photos of a suit fitting. However, Thomas’ daughter, Samantha Markle, later clarified on the U.K. talk show Loose Women that she was actually “entirely the culprit” behind the photo op, claiming she staged it to help portray her father in a positive light.
“As we know, the media can take very unflattering photographs of people on their casual days and blow them way out of proportion,” Samantha explained in 2018. “I said, ‘The world has no idea you’re getting in shape, doing healthy things. They don’t photograph you buying vegetables or PH water. They photograph you in the most unflattering ways.’ So I suggested the photo to show that he was getting in shape and doing great, healthy things. There was a lot of scrutiny suggesting it was money-motivated it was not. My intention was to benefit him and also the royal family so everyone looked good and was depicted as they truly were healthy and in shape.”
Thomas Markle ultimately did not attend Meghan and Harry’s 2018 wedding, having undergone heart surgery just days before the ceremony.
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