Meghan exaggerated royal racism, says father

Meghan Markle’s estranged father on Tuesday suggested that his daughter exaggerated racism in the British royal family during her interview with US chat show host Oprah Winfrey.

Thomas Markle told ITV the couple’s two-hour chat with Winfrey was “way over the top” and suggested a royal family member could have asked a “dumb question” about her future baby’s skin colour.

The 76-year-old Emmy-winning former lighting director was interviewed from his home in Mexico by one of Meghan’s most vehement critics, the former tabloid newspaper editor Piers Morgan.

“They (Harry and Meghan) went way over the top with these stories with Oprah and should have waited, considering the Queen’s age and Philip’s age,” he said of the CBS show broadcast on Sunday.

He played down Meghan and Harry’s comments that an unnamed royal family member had asked how dark her baby’s skin would be.

“This whole thing about colour and how dark the baby is, is bullshit,” said Markle, who is white while Meghan’s mother is black.

“I’m guessing and hoping that it’s just a dumb question from somebody. I don’t think the British royal family are racist.”

At the same time, he said he was upset by his daughter’s account of feeling suicidal after joining the royal family in 2018.

“Had I known she had psychological problems, I would have been there for her,” he said.

 But he claimed that Meghan had “pretty much ghosted” her family in the US and “she really had no one to reach out to”.

Thomas Markle separated from Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland when the duchess was young.