Social media reacts to Harry, Meghan stepping back as senior royals
Fox & Trends with Carley Shimkus.
After Meghan Markle and her husband Prince Harry announced on Wednesday they were “stepping back” as senior members of the British royal family, can we expect the former “Suits” actress to reconcile with her estranged father?
Not a chance, royal experts told Fox News on Thursday.
“I think [the idea of] her personally reconnecting with her [paternal] family has gone,” royal author and broadcaster Neil Sean shared. “She did not do it when the public craved it, so I can’t imagine her wishing to do so now.”
The statement came hours after Thomas Markle offered a short statement to Us Weekly, saying: “I’ll just simply say I’m disappointed.”
Meghan Markle, her father Thomas Markle and Prince Harry have been estranged since before the royal wedding. (Getty / YouTube / Getty)
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The father-daughter duo became estranged after Thomas arranged for a paparazzi photo shoot leading up to her royal wedding to Prince Harry, which Thomas said he did to improve his public image from that of a seemingly "homeless" guy. He has since released excerpts of a letter his daughter wrote to him shortly after her wedding in May 2018. He has also made controversial comments about the former “Suits” star to British tabloids.
Royal historian Marlene Koenig told Fox News the damage has already been done and the cracks of their broken relationship are far too deep.
“That breach may never be healed,” she shared. “I expect the issues between father and daughter go back more than a decade.”
Royal author Leslie Carroll isn’t ruling out the idea that the former American actress would want to reconnect with the former Hollywood lighting director. However, we shouldn’t expect the same to occur with her estranged half-siblings, Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle Jr., who have openly criticized the duchess to the press.
MEGHAN MARKLE, PRINCE HARRY SHOULD FULLY GIVE UP ROYAL TITLES, UK CITIZENS DEMAND
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are stepping back from royal duties. (AP)
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Samantha’s Twitter account was suspended in August 2019. It is unknown why the account was shut down and whether the palace had anything to do with its determination.
Markle’s siblings did not immediately respond to Fox News’ request for comment.
“If there is a reconciliation with Thomas Markle, he will have a lot of atoning to do for his past missteps in terms of speaking to the media and leaking the contents of her letters,” said Carroll. “Samantha, too, is equally toxic… I do not anticipate [there will be a] dash across the pond to the arms of the dysfunctional Markles in the near future.”
Instead, Carroll noted we can expect Markle’s mother Doria Ragland to have a more hands-on approach in helping the duchess raise her child. Markle and Harry welcomed a son named Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor in May 2019.
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Samantha Markle (left) has frequently spoken out against the Duchess of Sussex. (FOX / Getty)
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“Archie will have the opportunity to grow up having his maternal grandmother as a stronger presence in his life, which can only be a healthy thing emotionally for him,” she added.
In September 2019, Markle's father, 74, told The Mail on Sunday he was hoping to meet his grandson and wondered if he had "the famous Markle nose."
"Sometimes I get the feeling people think I don't love my daughter," said Thomas during an interview — for which he reportedly wasn't compensated — from his home. "I do love her very much. I would love nothing more than to put a picture of Archie in a frame and place it beside the one of Meghan ... Of course, I'm disappointed not to see Archie. I had hoped becoming a mother would mellow Meghan and she would reach out."
Thomas famously missed the royal wedding, reportedly due to suffering two heart attacks, leading to his hospitalization. He said he heard neither from Markle nor from Harry after the harrowing cardiac episodes, though Markle previously wrote a letter to her father (that he shared with the press) that she'd reached out to him.
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Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, is seen with her mother, Doria Ragland, ahead of her royal wedding to Prince Harry last May. Ragland has said she is "overjoyed" at Duchess Meghan and Prince Harry's royal baby news. (Steve Parsons/Pool Photo via AP)
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Despite his flurry of criticisms and insults, Thomas said he still wanted to mend fences with the royal couple someday.
"I don't want anything from Meghan or Harry but I'm not going to shut up until the whole truth is out there. I will continue to contradict anything said about me that isn't true," he said. "I have to stand up for myself. I'm going to carry on speaking and I'm not going to shut up. No father deserves this kind of abuse when he's been that good to his daughter. Ask anyone who knows us both. I've been very kind and generous to my daughter."
He added, "Everybody thinks I had nothing to do with her after [her mother] Doria and I divorced. The truth is she lived with me most of the time until she went off to college. I believe all family differences can be resolved and I believe that can still happen for me, Meghan and Harry."
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