What we learned from Thomas Markle's TV interview

From Harper's BAZAAR

The Duchess of Sussex' father, Thomas Markle, has given a rare interview in which he discussed his highly publicised absence from the royal wedding.

Markle spoke live to Good Morning Britain hosts Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid on Monday morning. It is one of the first times he has spoken to the media (and was his first ever television interview) since his daughter married Prince Harry in a historic ceremony, which he was unable to attend due to ill health.

Ahead of the wedding, Markle was embroiled in a publicity storm when he admitted staging paparazzi photos - which he said he did in order to control some of the overwhelming press attention he was receiving. Meghan later announced that, sadly, her father would not be walking her down the aisle, leading her new father-in-law Prince Charles to step in.

Here's what the 73-year-old revealed in the lengthy interview.

When Meghan told her father she was dating a Prince

"The first phone calls were 'Dad, I have a new boyfriend.' And I said, 'That’s really nice.' And then the next call was like, 'He’s British.' And I said, 'That’s really nice.' And eventually the third time round was, 'He's a Prince.' At that point she said, 'It’s Harry.' And I said, 'Oh Harry, okay.' And she said, 'Of course, we’ll have to call him H so no-one knows we’re talking about Harry. It’s H.' And then we talked about that, and eventually I spoke to him as well. Very nice man. Gentleman. Very likeable.

"Of course it's 'wow', it comes out as a 'wow', but this is my daughter and she's certainly a prize for him as well. He's great, an interesting guy, a prince, but my daughter’s been a princess since the day she was born."

On getting to know Prince Harry

"[My contact] has always been with Harry over the phone, we have yet to see each other face to face. We've had interesting conversations on the phone. He's a smart guy… We talked a few times about Donald Trump, Brexit, things like that. He’s an interesting guy."

On Prince Harry, Donald Trump and Brexit

"I complained I didn't like Donald Trump and he said 'Give Donald Trump a chance'. I sort of disagreed with that but I still like Harry… That was his politics, I have my politics."

When Morgan asked whether Thomas thought Prince Harry was a "Trump supporter", he said: “I would hope not now, but at the time he might have been.”

As for Harry's views on Brexit, he said: "It was just a loose conversation about something that we have to try, there was no real commitment to it… I think he was open to the experiment."

The moment Harry asked for his permission to marry Meghan

Thomas said Meghan told him the news first, and then Harry telephoned him.

"Harry asked for her hand over the phone, and I said, 'You're a gentleman, promise me you’ll never raise your hand against my daughter and of course I give you my permission.'"

On walking Meghan down the aisle

"That was from the very start [she wanted me to]... I absolutely wanted to walk my daughter down the aisle. I knew I could rise to that occasion, I definitely wanted that."

"I was excited about that and ready for it. The idea of me going to England, that was set, it was all set in place for me to go."

On the press intrusion he has faced

"It was a total invasion for quite a while. When they found me… everyone said I was hiding in Mexico, that’s not true, I lived in Mexico for six years, eventually they found where I was at, coming out of 7-11, which is like a little store, and suddenly they were flashing in my face and asking me questions. I run to my truck, jump in my truck and throw up a peace sign [with his fingers]. I figured that was better than putting up half a peace sign… It’s been like that for about a year now."

How he prepared for the wedding

"We talked about the plans and lot and I got advice on how to deal with the press, mostly. Meghan was putting together fittings for me, to make suits for me, shoe sizes. Actually it was all done in sort of secret, they would arrange for me to show up in Los Angeles or in Beverley Hills under different names to get a fitting."

Markle also said he was advised by Meghan and Harry not to speak to the press as it just "encourages them more".

"Most part of it was, 'Don’t speak to the press.' The rest of the things were just be careful. But they were very emphatic about not giving any information to the press or talking to them, because it just encourages them more. So none the less, that’s what I tried to do."

Why he staged the paparazzi photos and how he apologised to Harry and Meghan

"This was a presentation to me to change my image because for the last year photographs of me were always derogatory. They would take pictures of my hand grabbing the beer, they’d take pictures of me getting in my car, taking the garbage out, they’d take pictures of me buying a toilet and making a big deal out of it. They took all kinds of pictures making me look negative. So I thought this would be a nice way of me improving my look. Well obviously that all went to hell. And I feel bad about it, I apologised for it and that’s all I can do. I can't do much beyond that. That was a mistake.

"I didn’t do this for money, I did this to change my image. For one whole year I was presented as a hermit hiding out in Mexico. I was looking to change my image and obviously that was a mistake that went wrong.

"I spoke to them both and I apologised. I realised it was a serious mistake. But hard to take it back... They were very forgiving, it wasn’t that difficult. Both Harry and Meghan were very forgiving about it."

Why he didn't attend the wedding

"Meghan said, 'Everything is ready for you. Harry said I have got one of my military friends to take care of you when you are here.' It was all set up. It was fine… Everything was booked.

"I couldn’t get over the fact that that had happened, all that stuff was working on me. I’ve got a bit of a heart condition. This pushed me a little further, I had heart palpitations and I had to drive at two in the morning to a hospital, they sent me to another little hospital and then they sent me to a bigger hospital and I had a heart attack.

"The hospital stabilised me… and after about a day and half in that hospital I said I felt better and I said I want to check out now because I want to go to the wedding... and I was fine, I felt really good until I got back home. I talked to Harry and Meghan, we were still set up to go, I was going to go the next day or the day after... at that stage I started getting heart palpitations and chest pains and I said I have to cancel. It’s because I didn’t take care of the heart problem before, so I had to get a friend to take me back to the hospital across the border in the States where I was told that my condition was very bad and they had to operate and I had heart surgery."

On telling Meghan he wasn't going to make it

"They were disappointed, Meghan cried I'm sure, she did cry. And they both said: 'Take care of yourself, we're worried about you' and that the important thing was that I get better."

On Meghan walking down the aisle with Prince Charles

"I was honoured. I can’t think of a better replacement than someone like Prince Charles. He looked very handsome and my daughter looked beautiful with him. I was jealous. I wish I’d been there - I wish it had been me - but thank god he was there and I thank him for that... It might have been a treat for him as he never had a daughter.”

Where he watched the royal wedding

"A friend found me a little B&B place to hide and recover for a few days. So they got me this little place and in this little apartment I watched the wedding. She [Meghan] was beautiful, it was incredible watching her. I cried a little bit about it. She was so beautiful walking down that aisle.. and so was very proud I couldn’t see a better moment in my life .. the whole world was watching my daughter. I was very happy about that."

On having royal grandchildren

"She's wanted children for a long time and when she met Harry and she spoke about how much she loves him - there's got to be a child in the making somewhere soon."

You Might Also Like

• 14 times Meghan Markle and the Duchess of Cambridge were style twins

• The world's best hotel views

• The Duchess of Cambridge's best maternity looks