Royal bride-to-be Meghan Markle’s shy father Thomas, 73, is no misfit — he’s just like the rest of us
IT would have made a good episode of The Twilight Zone.
A shy, intensely private man retires to a sleepy corner of Mexico for what he hopes will be a quiet life.
Then his daughter becomes the most famous bride on the planet and this most reclusive of men is obliged to walk his daughter down the aisle while watched by an audience that will be counted in the billions.
This is the fate of Thomas Markle, 73, retired TV lighting director and father of Meghan Markle. On Saturday at 11.59am precisely — these royal weddings really do run like Rolex watches — Thomas will meet his daughter at the West Door of St George’s Chapel, Windsor, and escort her to where her ginger Prince Charming is waiting.
“Poor Pa Markle!” sighed one pundit. “A total nightmare!”I have a different prediction. This shy man with an allergy to publicity will tug on the heartstrings of the world at Meghan’s wedding to Harry.
Because no matter how awkward it feels to be under the pitiless gaze of planet Earth, Thomas Markle is above and beyond all else, a proud and loving father.
No matter how bashful his instincts may be, no matter how comfortable he was in obscure retirement in Rosarito, Mexico, I would bet my life that there was never a chance that he would miss his daughter’s wedding. Thomas Markle is clearly — and understandably — apprehensive about the big day.
He has been seen in one of his local cafes in Mexico, head buried in a book called Images Of Britain. At an internet cafe, he stares with some bewilderment at the engagement photos of Meghan and Harry. But what father of the bride, any bride, would not feel a giddy cocktail of pride, anxiety and a touch of sadness at the prospect of walking his baby girl down the aisle?
I doubt if he is enjoying the big build-up — having a wedding suit made to fit his bear-like frame, contemplating meeting the Queen, Prince Philip and the sprawling royal clan, and, horror of horrors, working out what to say when he rises to his feet to make that wedding speech.
But Thomas Markle’s nerves about the big day do not make him a misfit or a freak. They make him gloriously human. Meghan Markle is loved because she brings some Hollywood flash to our staid, stoic, rather fusty Royal Family.
But Meghan is also loved because she seems strangely familiar to us — a mixed-race child of divorced parents, divorced herself and a working woman who has fought hard for her success.
Beyond the showbiz gloss, we have some understanding of the life of Meghan Markle. Because millions of our own lives are not so different.
Her father, thrust into the brightest of all spotlights, is an important part of her story. And I don’t believe the royal wedding will be a “nightmare” for Thomas Markle.
Because no matter how self-conscious this shy man feels taking to the global stage, his overwhelming emotions on his daughter’s wedding day will be love and pride. As any father of the bride will tell you, love and pride trump everything.
Ball games
IT is exciting news that Major League Baseball is coming to the capital for the first time next year, when the Boston Red Sox meet the New York Yankees at the London Stadium.
Mayor Sadiq Khan has worked hard to make this happen.
But when the streets of London have turned into killing fields, maybe the Mayor should be thinking about something other than ball games.
Stringfellows
WITH their fiery eyes and flashing thighs, female cadets in Vladimir Putin’s barmy Red Army look as though they are ready to invade somewhere.
Possibly Stringfellows.
What a buffoon
WHAT makes Brexit inevitable is the total lack of respect shown to this country by Brussels since we decided to leave.
German EU commissioner Gunther Oettinger sneers that Theresa May is “weak” and mocks Boris Johnson for having the same hair as Donald Trump.
“That says everything,” sneers Herr Oettinger, 64, who once called a group of Chinese ministers “slitty-eyed” and has joked that gay marriage will become compulsory.
And that says all you need to know about this buffoon.
You miss the point here, Em
LABOUR’S Emily Thornberry has called for the Little Miss books to be renamed because they are sexist.
“I don’t like this thing about being little,” says Emily. “I think that’s my problem with the Mr Men books.” Funny enough, that’s my problem with the Labour Party. The institutionalised sexism. The casual misogyny. The assumption that men should lead and the little ladies should tiptoe meekly behind.The Labour Party is at least as overtly sexist as the Little Miss books, Emily.
The Tories are already on their second female Prime Minister while Labour have never even had a woman as their leader. Why not? It’s not as though the long line of miserable male mediocrities who have led Labour were much cop.It’s hard to believe that Barbara Castle or Yvette Cooper wouldn’t have done a better job of leading Labour than Foot, Kinnock, Brown, Miliband or Corbyn – who didn’t win one General Election between them.
If Thornberry truly wants to prove that women can do anything that men can do, she should be demanding to know why no woman has ever led Labour in its 118-year-history.
Totally demented
ED MILIBAND looked totally demented as he ranted and raved because MPs voted in favour of a free and independent press.
When washing down the next bacon butty, better stick to the decaffeinated coffee, Ed.
Sir Alf is still no1
SIR BOBBY ROBSON inspired the current managers of Manchester United and Manchester City, and inspired love in all who played for him from England to Barcelona, including Paul Gascoigne in his mercurial prime. Sir Bobby remains one of only two England managers to take our national team to a World Cup semi-final.
The subject of a new feature film called Bobby Robson: More Than A Manager, Robson was clearly a wise and com-passionate man.In comparison, Sir Alf Ramse was a cold, distant and aloof figure with a robotic voice and a weird accent fabricated by elocution lessons. He went to school with my father – he should have talked like a Cockney, not the Duchess of Devonshire.
But Sir Alf did it. He made the dream – that eternal dream of every England football fan – come true.So I have to beg to differ when Gary Lineker says that Sir Bobby Robson is the “best England manager of all time”. There is only one Sir Alf Ramsey.
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All religions should be this tolerant
THE Met Gala is the most fashionable party in New York and this year the theme was Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination – inspiring a host of celebrities to bowl up in what looked like deeply religious lingerie. Rihanna was possibly a mini-skirted Pope or perhaps a cleavage-flashing cardinal. Katy Perry was an angel.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley had a golden halo and a neckline that skimmed her navel. Madonna wore a crown made of multiple crucifixes.
Many prominent Roman Catholics, from actor James Woods to Piers Morgan, said that the organisers would not have dared to mock any non-Christian religion. “What if it had been an Islamic theme?” asked Piers. “Or with a Jewish theme, all hell would be breaking loose.”
It is true that these Big Apple fashionistas – the Met Gala is hosted by the editor of American Vogue, Anna Wintour – would not have taken the mick out of any non-Christian religion. But perhaps that is a compliment to Christianity. It can be mocked by empty-headed, attention-seeking celebrities and nobody gets a death threat. Perhaps all religions should be this tolerant.
Having the choice
BRITISH scientist Dr David Goodall, 104, ended his life at a Swiss suicide clinic.
“I no longer want to continue life,” said Dr Goodall before he died. “I’m happy to have the chance to end it.”
Every one of us should have that choice. Dr Goodall should never have been compelled to go to Switzerland.
Save the matchday memento
IN more than 50 years of going to watch football matches, I have still never had one of those mythical half-time pies. But man and boy, I have collected football programmes. What could be a more evocative memento of a match? An overpriced replica shirt? A polyester team scarf? A football programme is the next best thing to memories.
But now, after more than a century of programmes being sold on match days, the English Football League will decide in June if it will continue to make it compulsory for clubs to produce them.In the age of social media, the death of football programmes makes sense, although 600,000 of them are still sold every weekend. But there will be a little less magic in the world if they are allowed to die.
I still have my treasured copy of England v West Germany in the World Cup Final of 1966. Second-hand editions go for anything from £10 for a fake to £10,000 for the real thing.But to me, that programme is priceless.