Thomas Markle staged photos – what has Meghan’s dad said about the paparazzi pictures?
MEGHAN Markle’s dad has admitted he lied to Prince Harry about THOSE staged paparazzi photos before the Royal Wedding. In a new documentary, Thomas Markle: My Story, the Duchess of Sussex’s dad admitted it was wrong of him to set up the photos. What has Meghan’s dad Thomas Markle said about the pictures? Thomas Markle […]
MEGHAN Markle’s dad has admitted he lied to Prince Harry about THOSE staged paparazzi photos before the Royal Wedding.
In a new documentary, Thomas Markle: My Story, the Duchess of Sussex’s dad admitted it was wrong of him to set up the photos.
What has Meghan’s dad Thomas Markle said about the pictures?
Thomas Markle admitted lying to Prince Harry about posing for paparazzi photos which he staged in a bid to improve his image.
The 75-year-old American set up snaps of himself getting fitted for a suit and reading articles about his daughter in the lead up to the Royal Wedding and has acknowledged that he made the wrong call.
Speaking about the decision in a Channel 5 documentary, he claimed he had been approached by a man claiming to be a PR expert who pitched the scheme to improve Thomas’ image.
Meg’s dad said he had a feeling that the pictures would be “hokey” but the man assured him he knew what he was doing.
He said: “He told me ‘they are going to love it and they are going to love you.’ I didn’t do it for money. I did it to change my image.”
And Thomas confessed that he lied to Harry – who he has never met – on the phone about posing for the pictures.
He said: “I’m not proud of that, but I did.”
Thomas admits he is still making money off the images, adding: “The reality is that those images will sell forever.”
The admission came as Meghan and Harry announced they were stepping down as royals – paying back the £2.4m on refurbishments to their Frogmore Cottage and moving to Canada part-time.
But Thomas has not spoken to Meghan since she married Prince Harry in May 2018 – and has not even met his grandson baby Archie.
Back in June 2018, The Duchess of Sussex’s dad revealed that his daughter and Prince Harry had forgiven him over staging pictures for the paparazzi.
Thomas Markle said he made a “serious mistake” in deciding to stage snaps of him working out ahead of the wedding and looking at the royal couple online.
Why did he set them up?
Markle said he wanted to improve his image after being snapped doing menial tasks.
He told GMB: “They would take pictures of me grabbing a beer, taking the garbage out, buying a toilet and making a big deal out of it.
“I thought this would be a nice way of improving my look. But that was a mistake.”
He added: “I didn’t do this for money, I did this to change my image. I was presented as a hermit hiding out in Mexico but obviously that was a mistake and went wrong.
“I realised it was a serious mistake. It’s hard to take it back.
“I spoke to them both and apologised. I realised it was a serious mistake but it was hard to take it back. I had been seen as a negative for an entire year and I wanted to improve my look.”
The former lighting director, who lives in Mexico, was forced to pull out of the royal wedding with just days to go for a heart operation.
He added: “They were very forgiving, it wasn’t that difficult. Both Harry and Meghan were very forgiving about it.
“Meghan said ‘everything is ready for you’, Harry said ‘I’ve got one of my military friends to take care of you when you’re here’ and it was all set. Everything was booked.
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“The truth is that I couldn’t get over the fact that that had happened.
“I’ve got a bit of a heart condition and this pushed me a little further to the point where I had heart palpitations and I had to go to the hospital.
“I had a heart attack.”
Mr Markle said he regretted being “a footnote in one of the greatest moments in history” after missing out on his daughter’s big day.
But he said he was “honoured” that Prince Charles stepped into his place and walked his daughter down the aisle.
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