The Duchess of Sussex: Family and Background

[wymanda]

Originally Posted by Madame Verseau

Dad is talking to the press again

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mir...d-13040035.amp

He would soon shut up if the newspapers stopped paying him. Same goes for his elder daughter!

[M. Payton]

Oh this is just another *Pity Me Party* by Sr. Nothing new, same old stories rehashed again simply because they have NOTHING new to talk about. Still trying to force Meghan into coming to Ca to see her dad.......Meghan's choice but I sure hope it does not happen for the media circus will be all over them.

[Zaira]

I still find it interesting that we have no pics of Meghan and her dad after high school? College maybe? Thomas is obviously giving the media pics now (another betrayal) but doesn't have anything more recent?

As I have said before, despite his IMO obvious issues, Meghan loved her father and trusted him enough at one point to want him in her wedding, to have supposedly told him about Harry before it was public knowledge, etc. I can fully believe that he was perhaps a supportive dad because Meghan has written as much, but that he is also a deeply troubled man. I think the reporting that she often "mothered" him and that he was very emotionally dependent on her is also true too. So I think its complicated. This relationship goes much deeper than her relationship with her sister and I think it pains her more to have it fall apart. I mean I thought there were red flags with her dad when we heard Harry had not met him yet in the engagement interview, but he had also kept a respectful silence for two years before the pre-wedding blow up.

It just doesn't add up but I hope for Meghan's sake that she finds peace. If that means reconciling, so be it. If that means never speaking again, so be it. Either way, this all is just very sad.

[TLLK]

Originally Posted by Muhler

Modest homes?!?

Apart from the flat above the garage, there is plenty of room in those homes.

Yes Muhler, there is plenty of space in the home/apartments that Meghan lived in during her childhood and youth. Apart from the down years, Los Angeles County real estate has been inflated from 1981 onward. (Speaking as a native of Southern California.)



Meghan's childhood home in Woodland Hills would have been a perfectly safe, comfortable place for her to grown up in but her parents did separate and divorce in a few years after her birth. After that, her parents appear to have done their best to find safe neighborhoods for her to live in while still being within a reasonable commute to work/school. Their money needed to go toward tuition, childcare etc...for two separate households. By the time Meghan was living with her father in her high school years, they'd have to include the costs for her required school uniforms, the expected donations that always accompany private school tuition and her activities. Those costs would not be included in her tuition.



As for Trevor and Meghan's Sunset Strip home, I'm not surprised that they would choose to live in that trendy neighborhood. Again it is relatively close to the studios, restaurants, shops etc..that many young people want access to before they begin their family life.

[Osipi]

Sometimes adding things up does make things add up. This is what my tabulating is telling me now.

Samantha has stated that she talks with her father every day. Its also been reported that Samantha now has a publicist and if I'm remembering right, the publicist is friends with Dan Wootten, a UK tabloid writer.

This publicist is working for the Markles masterminded by Samantha. This recent article that is trying to portray the great and the good of Thomas Markle, Sr. is geared totally to keep Tom in the forefront of reader's minds and paint the picture of what they want the world to see him as.

What we do have in this article that is new is quotes from Meghan, herself, in adoration and praise of her father which is geared to make us believe that Tom, Sr. has always been up there on his godly pedestal.

There is absolutely no mention of Samantha's words that there are no plans for Tom, Sr. to meet with Meghan at all. They want us to think that has never happened. If Samantha's words never happened, then more and more people are *expecting* Meghan to rush right into Daddy's arms, apologize to him for being so cruel and mean and horrible to him and put him right back up there on his godly pedestal where he belongs.

Ain't gonna happen. Not in this universe at least. That publicist though is working overtime. Wonder if he gets bathroom breaks?

[Osipi]

Y'know, sometimes I wonder if perhaps Thomas Markle, Sr. spent too much time around the set of "Married With Children". He most certainly seems to have adopted the characteristics of Al Bundy.

"He (Al Bundy) is a misanthropic, working-class father of two, portrayed as a somewhat tragicomedic figure."

[Dman]

The relationship between parent and child isn’t always peaches and cream. Most of these relationships go up and down. None of it means that there’s no more love and admiration there.

The mastermind behind this entire Markle Debacle is Samantha Markle. The woman started to engage with the media through social media and everything just snowballed into this huge mess. I firmly believe a lot of this stems from her own jealousy of Meghan and she has influenced Tom to make some very rash decisions.

I’m sorry about her physical disability, but she’s a simple jerk in a wheelchair. Period.

Meghan has started a brand new life for herself and she needs all the love and support she can get. Royal life have its perks, but there’s a lot of pressure and stresses involved with being a senior member of the royal family. Meghan has her mother, Harry, royal family and friends to support her. Hopefully things will work out with her father and they’re able to share this incredible journey together.

My last comment on this subject for a while.

[Claire]

Its days like this when Prince Charles, Andrew, Edward and William and even Princess Anne need to be thankful for their in- laws :)

[jacqui24]

That whole article was dumb and didn't offer any new information. Is there a "simple" family relationship ever?

[Lady Reem]

Originally Posted by Claire

Its days like this when Prince Charles, Andrew, Edward and William and even Princess Anne need to be thankful for their in- laws :)

At least Prince Harry knows he can rely on the dignified Doria Ragland for discretion & decency.

I’ve never seen anything like it, these people have their lives in America but have gone out of their way to deliberately court almost all sections of the British media/tabs on a regular basis. And all because they believe playing royal-adjacent is their RIGHT so long as Meghan remains married to the Prince. Other in-laws have quietly gotten on with their normal lives. But not these people.

Doria was here just a couple of days or so before the wedding and left soon afterwards. Back to her way of life. No expectations of favours from the royals. Unlike some greedy people with already more than enough to live on, She doesn’t act like she expects to live in the pockets of royalty. This woman also raised, nurtured and funded her child growing up. We don’t see her bleating about it as though she’s the only one ever to feed, cloth and put a child through school. True loving parents would want their offspring to breathe freely as adults, especially in a new marriage - without the need to hang around their neck like an albatross.

Imagine whining in media a mere few weeks after the wedding that your daughter had spoken to you just the once since. Would you be surprised at that given how you betrayed her so often?

[Osipi]

Some of the wisest words I've ever heard in regards to parenting stands true for me today.

"The job of a parent is to become unnecessary to the child". If a parent does this, their children will be able to stand on their own two feet independently in their adult lives. It by no means says that the parent is never needed only that they're unnecessary to function in their own lives.

Doria is a proven success of these words. Tom, Sr. exhibits the behavior of a child that still wants and needs to depend on somebody else. His daughter.

[TLLK]

Originally Posted by Osipi

Y'know, sometimes I wonder if perhaps Thomas Markle, Sr. spent too much time around the set of "Married With Children". He most certainly seems to have adopted the characteristics of Al Bundy.

"He (Al Bundy) is a misanthropic, working-class father of two, portrayed as a somewhat tragicomedic figure."

Too bad that Tom Sr. seems to have forgotten that Al was a fictional character.

[XeniaCasaraghi]

Originally Posted by alvinking

One thing for sure, with this family from hell, the next European royalty will think really hard and twice before marrying another american unless their backgrounds are fully vetted. Who would want this kind of mess in their lives?

As an American I must say I agree; the way the Markles have behaved has given Americans a bad name and has made more people think negatively of us and those people didn't have a high opinion anyway.

[XeniaCasaraghi]

Originally Posted by Chloep

If people don't want to support vile tabloids with their clicks, please use this link to read the story:

Meghan Markle's 'complex' relationship with her estranged dad laid bare - in her own brutally honest words - Mirror Online

What is different about this one that doesn't support tabloids

[Chloep]

Originally Posted by XeniaCasaraghi

What is different about this one that doesn't support tabloids

If you click on the link you can see that it's the archived site. This doesn't generate new clicks/revenue for the paper. I use this exclusively for the Fail, Mirror and co.

[Madame Verseau]

The PR piece from the Mirror only works if it were just the pep shots. Dad knows he went over the line when he attacked Doria and backed Sam's two year attack of Meghan; so this is done to change the perception that Thomas Markle Sir is a monster. Despite the hit pieces Meghan was serenaded at Harry's friend wedding Happy birthday. The timing of that is off but I think it's a way to support her.

[M. Payton]

Well the last time I checked, Leopards do not change their spots so Sr has lots of spots that will never be changed.......what he said and did is on the internet to be seen forever.......now he must suffer the consequences of his behavior as will Sam some day........

[Fros]

Originally Posted by Zaira

I still find it interesting that we have no pics of Meghan and her dad after high school? College maybe? Thomas is obviously giving the media pics now (another betrayal) but doesn't have anything more recent?

As I have said before, despite his IMO obvious issues, Meghan loved her father and trusted him enough at one point to want him in her wedding, to have supposedly told him about Harry before it was public knowledge, etc. I can fully believe that he was perhaps a supportive dad because Meghan has written as much, but that he is also a deeply troubled man. I think the reporting that she often "mothered" him and that he was very emotionally dependent on her is also true too. So I think its complicated. This relationship goes much deeper than her relationship with her sister and I think it pains her more to have it fall apart. I mean I thought there were red flags with her dad when we heard Harry had not met him yet in the engagement interview, but he had also kept a respectful silence for two years before the pre-wedding blow up.

It just doesn't add up but I hope for Meghan's sake that she finds peace. If that means reconciling, so be it. If that means never speaking again, so be it. Either way, this all is just very sad.

I think Meghan let Tom in on the secret of her and Harry's relationship as an attempt to reconcile and also an exercise in trust. As soon as Meghan knew the relationship was serious she knew they would have a traditional wedding and not inviting her living father would be unacceptable as no one knew the truth of the relationship between them. (Imagine the drama if she hadn't invited her father and all the Markles including Tom sr. spoke out)

I do think Meghan admires and loves her father but always kept him at a distance. So my theory is that Meghan has actually been trying to work on Tom sr. since the time she knew the relationship was serious. She kept her father in the loop about the relationship, Harry and Tom sr. spoken a few times and Tom did his part and to prove to her he could handle this responsibility and valued their (father-daughter) relationship by keeping the secret and not speaking to anyone about it.

If you have a dysfunctional parent you know they have a tendency to screw things up last minute, blame someone else and make themselves the victim. This sort of trust exercise fails more often than not because regardless of the situation in the end it comes down to the person at the center of it.

They themselves are always the ones who cause the problem then blame everyone else who actually have to deal with the consequences.

[jacqui24]

Originally Posted by Fros

I think Meghan let Tom in on the secret of her and Harry's relationship as an attempt to reconcile and also an exercise in trust. As soon as Meghan knew the relationship was serious she knew they would have a traditional wedding and not inviting her living father would be unacceptable as no one knew the truth of the relationship between them. (Imagine the drama if she hadn't invited her father and all the Markles including Tom sr. spoke out)

I do think Meghan admires and loves her father but always kept him at a distance. So my theory is that Meghan has actually been trying to work on Tom sr. since the time she knew the relationship was serious. She kept her father in the loop about the relationship, Harry and Tom sr. spoken a few times and Tom did his part and to prove to her he could handle this responsibility and valued their (father-daughter) relationship by keeping the secret and not speaking to anyone about it.

If you have a dysfunctional parent you know they have a tendency to screw things up last minute, blame someone else and make themselves the victim. This sort of trust exercise fails more often than not because regardless of the situation in the end it comes down to the person at the center of it.

They themselves are always the ones who cause the problem then blame everyone else who actually have to deal with the consequences.

I honestly don't think Meghan involving her father in the wedding is because of any reason other than she wanted him there. I think this is probably reading too much into using her own relationship as a means to reconcile with her father. No one would take a chance like that if they aren't already in a good place. It does seem like the father and daughter dynamic changed after all of this between Tom and both of his daughters. Samantha now plays the role of doting daddy's girl when in reality Tom didn't trust her either. By her own admission, she didn't know Meghan was dating Harry until the news broke. However, Tom knew long before that. Plus the fact that Samantha didn't know that Tom was going to be in the wedding. Daddy clearly kept secrets from her. Although I'm sure she wouldn't care about that now that she gets her father all to herself finally.

[sshepard7]

I am from Los Angeles originally and my son knows the dean of students at Immaculate Heart High school (one of the most prestigious girls' academies in the area). She told my son how highly thought of Meghan Markle was during her years at IH, and her sincere involvement in charitable work, even then. No one at IH had anything but the highest praise for her character, academic performance and personality.