When Thomas Markle first entered the public eye a decade ago, living in a down-at-heel coastal Mexican town, he seemed an unusual prospective guest at a royal wedding.
But things soon became far more complicated than that – and his troubled relationship with daughter Meghan has remained in the headlines ever since.
asserted
relationship → enter → headlines
Now, the Duchess of Sussex has said she is 'deeply distressed' by accusations her father had a hoard of child sex abuse images.
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father → say → images
Meghan's half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, alleged that he had found a stash of images belonging to her father at his former home in the Philippines.
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he → allege → Philippines
Thomas Sr denied possessing child sex images, calling the accusations 'sick lies'.
The Daily Mail has looked back at the timeline of the father-daughter relationship.
1988
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Mail → deny → relationship
Meghan's parents Doria Ragland and Thomas Markle divorce.
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parents → divorce → ?
Meghan primarily lives with her mother while maintaining a close relationship with her father.
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Meghan → live → father
Meghan was the only child of Mr Markle's marriage to Ms Ragland, though he has two children – Samantha Markle and Thomas Jr – from an earlier marriage.
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he → have → marriage
Early 2011
Thomas Sr moves from southern California to Rosarito in Mexico after retiring as a TV lighting engineer.
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Sr → move → engineer
The allegations against Meghan's father Thomas have sent shockwaves through the family
July 2016
Meghan meets Prince Harry through mutual friends in London and they begin a relationship.
2017
Thomas Sr is spoken to while buying cigarettes near his home in Rosarito about daughter Meghan's engagement to Harry the following May.
He lets slip that he is 'very pleased…delighted', and would 'love to' walk her down the aisle, while insisting 'you know I can't talk'.
uncertain
I → send → aisle
Thomas Sr was living in this home in Rosarito, Mexico, at the time of Meghan's wedding
2018
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Sr → live → wedding
Amid plans for Thomas Sr to formally hand Meghan over at her imminent wedding, Harry's Kensington Palace spokesman calls for journalists to stop 'harassing' him.
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journalists → hand → him
But suddenly pictures emerge of Thomas Sr in Mexico preparing for the big day, with one shot showing him reading an online report about his daughter's marriage plans.
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him → emerge → plans
They seem to have been taken without Thomas Sr's knowledge or consent - until The Mail on Sunday reveals six days before the Windsor Castle ceremony that he had staged them in cooperation with the photographer, for cash.
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he → seem → cash
Two days later, Thomas Sr says he will not be attending the ceremony as he does not want to embarrass his daughter, claiming that he had suffered a recent heart attack too.
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he → say → attack
The then-Prince Charles takes his place in the ceremony.
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Charles → take → ceremony
Three months after the wedding Meghan is reported to be 'taking a bit of time out' from her father, after he is said to have put the phone down on Harry in a row about the staged photos.
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he → report → photos
At some point in the summer - the exact month is unknown - a letter with unspecified allegations about Thomas Sr is sent to the Metropolitan Police, before being shared with Meghan.
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letter → send → Meghan
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle after their wedding ceremony in Windsor in May 2018
2019
Meghan is revealed to have written to her father shortly after the wedding, in August 2018, asking him to stop 'victimising' her by giving interviews to the media.
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Meghan → reveal → media
He had been claiming a 'wall of silence' had formed between them since the staged photos debacle, with his texts and letters ignored.
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texts → claim → debacle
Friends of Meghan deny she has been ignoring him, saying she retains 'a lot of sympathy for him'.
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she → deny → him
Later in the year Thomas Sr is complaining that he has never met his new grandson, Harry and Meghan's firstborn Archie, saying: 'They are not wonderful to their own family'.
2020
Thomas Sr admits he gave Meghan's letter to him to The Mail on Sunday, saying it was to show it was far from the 'loving' communication her friends had claimed, and had in fact signalled the 'end of the relationship' between father and daughter.
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friends → complain → father
Meghan tells Oprah Winfrey in an unaired section of the estranged royal couple's bombshell interview that her father 'betrayed' her by deceitfully working with journalists before the wedding – adding that she has 'found it hard to reconcile' with him.
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it → tell → him
Later in the year Thomas Sr talks of taking court action to gain access to his grandchildren by Meghan, Archie and Lilibet.
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Sr → talk → Meghan
Nothing comes of it.
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Nothing → come → it
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle during their Oprah Winfrey interview on CBS in March 2021
2022
Thomas Sr is hospitalised in Mexico, then America, when he suffers a stroke – and scraps a second visit to Britain, this time for TV appearances to comment on Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
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he → hospitalise → celebrations
He had been due to visit Windsor Castle at last, but as a tourist, as he is still not talking to his daughter, and has described Harry as 'snotty' to him.
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he → visit → him
Meghan tells her Netflix documentary 'Harry & Meghan' in December 2022 that she has had no meaningful contact with her father for several years.
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she → tell → years
2023
Thomas Sr tells a TV documentary that Meghan has 'killed me and then mourned me', but that he refuses 'to be buried by her' – and remains 'open to any kind of conversation' to rebuild their relationship.
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he → tell → relationship
2024
Thomas Sr turns 80 – saying he has not spoken to Meghan for six years, and longs to hear from her.
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he → turn → her
She is living with Harry 250 miles from his Mexico home in her Montecito mansion.
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She → live → mansion
Thomas Sr moves to the Philippines with son Thomas Jr.
Thomas Sr has this week claimed the computers allegedly containing child sex abuse images were boxed up at this point to be sent to the Philippines, and have not been in his possession since.
That December, he has his left leg amputated below the knee after suffering a blood clot.
uncertain
leg → move → clot
He says: 'My only wish before I die is to meet my grandkids.'
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I → say → grandkids
While in hospital, he receives a letter from Meghan.
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he → receive → Meghan
Thomas Sr recovering in a hospital bed after surgery in the Philippines last December
2026
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Sr → recover → Philippines
Now with one leg, Markle leaves the Philippines in May to return to America, hoping to be fitted with a prosthetic limb.
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Markle → leave → limb
He has talked of falling in love with Filipino nurse Rio Canedo, 46, a divorced mother of two, during his rehabilitation.
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He → talk → rehabilitation
He is in the same country as Meghan again - until she relocates to England with Harry in August.
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she → relocate → August
Thomas Jr then claims in October that he found a child sex image on a phone inside his father's storage box in the Philippines in July.
uncertain
he → claim → July
He then opened a computer to allegedly see 'hundreds' of disturbing thumbnail images.
uncertain
He → open → images
Today, Meghan says she is 'deeply distressed' by accusations against her father, and reveals she learned of them from the letter in 2018.
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she → say → 2018
The Aporia
