Thomas Markle sent text to Meghan Markle saying how excited he was to try on his new wedding shoes before fall out
THOMAS Markle texted daughter Meghan Markle less than two weeks before her wedding to Prince Harry saying he was “looking forward to trying on my shoes”.
According to court papers, the Duchess of Sussex bought her dad a new suit and shoes for the royal wedding in May 2018 - but he didn’t end up attending due to ill health.
The text is claimed to have said: “I look forward to trying on my shoes and see how we look thank you for getting it ready for me its probably past your bedtime so have a good night I love you Dad”.
Thomas was advised that he should not fly after having emergency heart surgery, and Prince Charles walked Meghan down the aisle instead.
This week, Associated Newspapers - the owners of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday - released their 44-page defence to Meghan suing them over publishing a letter she sent Thomas.
In the defence papers, it is claimed Thomas "called and texted his daughter numerous times in the weeks preceding the wedding, and they were on good terms".
They said demonstrates that it is “misleading” of Meghan to say that Thomas did not answer her calls, and fails to mention "texts and other communications from Mr Markle in the two weeks before the wedding."
The handwritten letter, sent to Thomas in August 2018, was published by the Mail on Sunday in February 2019, and in October 2019 Meghan announced legal action against the paper.
In the letter, Meghan claimed her dad had ignored 20 telephone calls, and said speaking to the media had "broken my heart into a million pieces".
But the defence papers, filed at London’s High Court, claimed she was behind a smear campaign against him.
They say intimate details of her broken relationship with Thomas, revealed in a US magazine by five “friends,” could only have come from her.
MEGHAN MARKLE'S 'PAL PRESSURE'
MEGHAN is said to have recruited her best friend to put pressure on a former business adviser not to speak to a newspaper, according to the legal documents.
The Mail on Sunday had interviewed Gina Nelthorpe-Cowne, an ex-commercial adviser and friend of Meghan, a month before her wedding to Prince Harry.
But before publication Gina, 54, was contacted by Meghan’s best friend Jessica Mulroney, the documents state. The newspaper claims Meghan asked Jessica, 39, to intervene to put pressure on Gina to withdraw the interview “or change statements she had made.”
The documents say the MoS wrote to Harry’s communications chief Jason Knauf to complain about the interference.
It has now been claimed that Thomas is prepared to take the stand against the Duchess of Sussex as a key witness for the defence in a court case she has brought against a newspaper, .
The court documents also say that after Thomas messaged his daughter saying he couldn't come to her wedding because he had been rushed to hospital for emergency heart surgery and told not to fly on health grounds, he received a text that appeared to be from Prince Harry.
The message accused him of causing hurt to his daughter and did not ask about his health, leaving him "deeply hurt".
In return, Thomas wrote: "I've done nothing to hurt you Meghan or anyone else … I'm sorry my heart attack is … any inconvenience for you."
Meghan was seen this week for the first time since the “Megxit” crisis exploded — leaving her Canadian hideaway in a seaplane.
The Duchess, 38, had been lying low at an £11million retreat on Vancouver Island while Prince Harry thrashed out their royal breakaway deal in Britain.
There was no sign of nine-month-old son Archie, who is believed to be with a nanny.
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We shared how Prince Harry’s friends claim he’s ‘cut off’ from pals since marrying Meghan Markle and many ‘no longer have his number’.
Meanwhile, Prince Harry and Meghan are ‘not welcome’ in Canada, says country’s biggest newspaper.