Reports claim Thomas Markle heart surgery was 'all made up' to avoid wedding

Thomas Markle’s heart surgery, which caused him to miss his daughter’s wedding in May, was ‘all made up’, reports the Daily Mail.

Mr Markle sensationally pulled out of attending Meghan’s wedding to Prince Harry a week before claiming he had to undergo heart surgery.

This was shortly after the former lighting director caused the royal family severe embarrassment after admitting to be paid to stage photos with the paparazzi.

But now, a source ‘close to the Duchess’ has claimed the heart surgery was a lie to get Mr Markle out of attending the wedding.

“The whole story about Meghan’s father undergoing heart surgery was made up,” the source tells the Mail.

“He had to come up with a good enough reason not to attend her wedding and avoid any further embarrassment after those staged photos went public.”

The publication claims that when they reached out to the hospital to confirm Mr Markle was admitted on May 16th, the clinic replied that “no such name” had ever checked in.

The source adds: “The poor health story was his way of generating some compassion from the public, and taking the attention off those staged photos which were a complete embarrassment to Meghan and the royal family.

“Of course Meghan is upset with him. Her father missed her wedding. He missed walking her down the isle all because of that ill-conceived publicity stunt.

“It was really just such poor judgement on his part. Now everyone’s feeling sorry for him. They shouldn’t. He brought this upon himself and if he were truly sick Meghan would have made an effort to visit him. Don’t feel sorry for him. If anything, feel sorry for Meghan.”

The report comes days after the Duchess’s half-sister Samantha Markle launched a Twitter tirade after the Duke and Duchess visited the Nelson Mandela exhibition in London.

“How about you pay tribute to your own father?! Enough is enough,” the 53-year-old wrote. “Act like a humanitarian, act like a woman,” she wrote, adding: “If our father dies, it’s on you Meg.”

Knowing how to manage Markle’s outspoken family is a subject the senior communications team at Kensington Palace has had to contend with since their engagement was announced in November last year.

But royal experts Victoria Howard and Liz Brewer have told Yahoo UK that the royals themselves, including the Queen, will ignore the Markles as part of a long tradition of not responding to unfavourable headlines.

“It’s the Queen Mother who said ‘never complain, never explain,’ says Howard. ‘People will think you’re whinging – being a royal comes with privilege.”

Brewer adds: “They won’t deal with this behind the scenes because it will end up in tears. Rules are rules and this code of behaviour will continue to be followed.”

Watch the full interview with royal experts Liz Brewer and Victoria Howard on episode four of Yahoo UK’s brand new show ‘The Royal Box’ which is available to stream here from Friday 20 July.

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