Meghan Markle’s dad Thomas heard baby news on the radio and was ‘filled with love and happiness’

THOMAS Markle found out his daughter was pregnant after hearing it announced on the radio, it has been revealed.

The 74-year-old retired Hollywood lighting director was driving towards the US-Mexico border when the news broke just before 1am, leaving him "filled with love, joy and happiness".

Mr Markle said: "I was sitting in line waiting to cross the border when I heard the baby announcement on the car radio.

"The first thing I thought about was holding Meghan in my arms as a newborn 37 years ago. I thought 'My baby is having a baby'.

"It was a very proud moment."

, he added: "A new baby is a blessing."

Thomas said his daughter would be a wonderful mum.

He said: "Meghan loves children and she and Harry have been taking about wanting a family from the start.

"I'm delighted for them both. She will make a fantastic mother."

It comes after it was revealed the Duchess of Sussex refused to tell her father Thomas Markle she was pregnant - asking mum Doria to do it instead.

Meghan, 37, felt too “bruised and raw” to speak to him after her dad sold her out by revealing details of his conversations with Prince Harry.

So she asked mum Doria Ragland - who was one of the first to know of the couple’s happy news - to do it instead.

A royal source said: “Meghan was extremely upset and bruised over what happened with her father.

“She felt let down and betrayed after he spoke to the press, when she’d asked him not to, so she thought the best way forward was not to speak to him.

“She and Harry were surprised at how quickly she got pregnant, and obviously one of the first people she told was her mum.

“But she had decided not to speak to her dad and it was still too raw for her to ring him and tell him the good news.

“She didn’t want him to know at all, but Doria persuaded her that Tom should know and she would tell him before it was announced publicly.

“For the time being, she won’t speak to her dad. It’s self-protection really.

“How can she trust him after everything he’s said?

“Never say never and maybe she will in the future, but she hasn’t spoken to him since just after she married in May and won’t for the foreseeable future.

“She also instructed all her staff to make no comment publicly on anything relating to her father, as she thought silence was the best policy.

“Of course she was devastated by him not coming to her wedding and publicly speaking out, but she wanted to maintain a dignified silence.

“There’s a good chance Tom will never meet his grandchild.”

Kensington Palace announced Meghan and Harry were having a baby, due in the spring, last Monday just as the couple started their three-week tour of Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand.

This morning, she missed appointments after Harry told her to 'rest' and cut back, telling pals 'pregnancy takes its toll'.

The Sun on Sunday understands the Duchess is at least 15 weeks pregnant and is doing well with the baby due mid-April.

But the rift with her dad is bound to cause sadness.

Tom, 74, stunted up paparazzi pictures before Harry and Meghan’s wedding in May, then failed to walk his daughter down the aisle after a suspiciously timed heart attack.

Meghan forgave him for the pap pictures, but cut off contact after the royal wedding.

Tom then spoke out in a series of angry interviews demanding his daughter contact him.

Meghan is very close to social worker mum Doria, 62, who has regularly flown over to the UK this summer to visit her daughter and son-in-law.

A source said: “Doria is not moving to London, but will want to help Meghan as much as possible. This will be her first grandchild and she’s over the moon.”

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