Meghan Markle Tries to Make Amends With Dad Who Suffered Massive Stroke

After four years of silence, the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, reached out to her father's camp, Thomas Markle, 77, who is now out of the hospital after five days of treatment for his massive stroke.

Meghan is trying to make amends with her father after being estranged since she married in 2018. The Duchess of Sussex is "concerned" about his health and wants to heal their broken relationship, the Mirror reported.

Meeting her father in private

Since the Royal couple's wedding in 2018, Meghan had not been in touch with her father. He also has yet to meet his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet. The father-daughter relationship had gone downhill, as they clashed in the press on several occasions.

Sources said that the Duchess was looking for ways to get in touch with her ailing father without communicating with her siblings, Thomas Jr., 55, and Samantha, 57.

Samantha previously launched a defamation case against her, while her brother wrote a letter to Prince Harry in 2018 asking him to cancel the wedding. In 2021, he wrote another open letter to Prince Harry, apologizing for what he did.

Meghan wanted to meet her father in private. She also had conditions for the meet-up, such as it should not involve Netflix, photographs, or tip-offs to the paparazzi.

According to Daily Mail, she is concerned for her father despite their estrangement. Thomas, a retired Hollywood lighting director, fell ill in Mexico and was rushed to the hospital.

Samantha, however, told "Good Morning Britain" that Meghan had not contacted their father so far.

Lucky to be alive

Karl Larsen, a vlogger who shares a YouTube channel with Markle, said that the father was looking forward to traveling to the U.K. for the jubilee and meeting the Royal Family for the first time.

However, the recent stroke left him with limited speech and impaired his swallowing ability. Last week, he was in a critical-care ward, but doctors said he had made remarkable progress. The doctors said the severe stroke was due to a blood clot on the right side of his brain.

He can now speak a few words, but the doctor said it would be an uphill battle for him to be able to regain his speech completely.

Using a whiteboard and a felt tip pen, he wrote that he was "lucky to be alive." He expressed gratefulness to doctors and nurses and promised he would "properly" thank them when he could speak again.

He also wrote that he wanted to pay respects to the Queen, to wish her a happy Jubilee and more years to come.

Meghan's father missed her wedding to Prince Harry in 2018 after he had two heart attacks before the event. He blamed the attack on the stress he suffered after he was caught staging paparazzi photographs ahead of their wedding.

Per Metro, Meghan is due to fly to London for the jubilee celebrations, alongside Prince Harry and their two children.