Meghan Markle’s shamed dad Thomas watched royal wedding from a £23-a-night Airbnb in Mexico
MEGHAN Markle’s absent dad watched the royal wedding on TV in a £23-a-night Airbnb guesthouse in Mexico, The Sun can reveal.
Thomas Markle Sr, 73, had told celebrity website TMZ that he was recovering from heart surgery in California when he watched his daughter walk down the aisle with Prince Harry.
But we discovered that the ex-Hollywood lighting director was actually holed up inside a rented home at the back of a Mexican villa just three miles from his home in San Antonio Del Mar.
Thomas Sr, said to have stickers on his chest from surgery, had checked into the one-bedroom guesthouse after asking the landlady if she had a TV – so he could watch the royal wedding.
A source told The Sun: “Thomas got to the Airbnb on Thursday – two days before the royal wedding. He had definitely had a procedure done – he wasn’t feeling very well. He seemed like he was in a bit of pain. Heart surgery obviously isn’t something minor.
“He definitely wanted to lay low. He was given his space and he did not come out of the guesthouse.It was an apartment with a full kitchen so he could cook. He didn’t have any visitors – it was a bit sad that he was all by himself.
“He checked out on Monday and said he was feeling better and well rested. It is good to see him back on his feet again.”
He emerged from the guesthouse, in a gated compound three miles south of Antonio Del Mar, on Monday afternoon, after telling the landlady that his daughter looked “beautiful” at the wedding.
Despite recovering from heart surgery, Thomas Sr was picked up by a pal, single mum Lori Davis, 38, and driven to a Starbucks, where he was seen holding a creamy Frappuccino with whipped crème.
The Emmy Award-winning lighting expert was then taken back to his scruffy cliff-top home – carrying a bag marked ‘personal belongings’. It was one week since he had been seen at the property – following the heart drama which eventually saw him ruled out of attending the royal wedding on health grounds.
He had told TMZ on Monday last week that he suffered a heart attack six days previous and was not going to go to the royal wedding. Twenty-four hours later he informed the website that he had checked into hospital.
The father-of-three underwent surgery on Wednesday – later revealing that three stents had been inserted into his blood vessels. He then told TMZ that he had crossed over the border, 45 minutes from his Mexican home, and was recovering in California, where he watched Meghan get hitched from the bedroom of a ‘safe house’.
Thomas Sr, who watched as Prince Charles gave Meghan, 36, away, told the website it was “emotional a joyful”, adding: “My baby looks beautiful and she looks very happy. I wish I were there and I wish them all my love and all happiness.
“The service was beautiful and it's history. I will always regret not being able to be there and not being able to hold my daughter's hand. My baby girl is a duchess and I love her so much.
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“When you watch your child get married, every thought goes through your mind, every memory from the first day she was born, the first time I held her.”
The Sun told on Monday how Meghan and Harry – who had spoken to Thomas Sr during an emotional phone call on Thursday – were discussing plans to visit him.
They are thought to be leaving on their honeymoon this week, following Saturday’s glitzy wedding at Windsor Castle – attended by David Beckham, Oprah, Tom Hardy and George Clooney. Thomas Sr did not answer the door of his Mexican property last night.