Meghan Markle’s estranged father Thomas today hit back at her claims he had ‘betrayed’

Meghan Markle’s estranged father Thomas today denied his daughter’s claims to Oprah that he had ‘betrayed’ her before branding his son-in-law Harry ‘snotty’ and accusing him of failing to properly support her when she was suicidal. 

Mr Markle says that he’s apologised ‘100 times’ for doing a deal with a paparazzi photographer before the Royal Wedding in 2018 and urged the couple to see him with Archie now they only live ’70 miles away’ from his Mexico home.

He said: ‘We all make mistakes – but I’ve never played naked pool or dressed like Hitler like Harry did’. 

And in a further attack on Harry, Mr Markle said that his daughter’s admission she was suicidal while living in the UK reflected badly on his son-on-law. 

He said: ‘It really did upset me, like I said, it would have been easy for her to reach out to me, any of the rest of her family, who she claims she doesn’t know. But the other thing is that I would think that she could turn to her husband.’ When noted she did speak to Harry, Mr Markle said Meghan’s husband Harry had ‘obviously not supported her that well’.  

Mr Markle than slammed his daughter’s decision to refuse to see or speak to him, Mr Markle said: ‘The biggest problem here is she’s pretty much ghosted all of her family’.  

The 76-year-old also denied the Royal Family – or Britain – is racist, saying if it is true an unnamed royal asked about how ‘dark’ Archie’s skin would be, it was probably just a ‘dumb question’, before calling Meghan and Harry’s claims ‘bulls**t’.

Mr Markle, who has watched the entire two-hour CBS interview, said he was ‘upset’ when he saw his youngest daughter tell Oprah that royal life was so stressful she was suicidal and ‘couldn’t be left alone’ – but then said Meghan’s husband Harry had ‘obviously not supported her that well’.

He spoke to Good Morning Britain in the UK after watching the Oprah interview with his daughter and her husband, which was watched by 11.1million in Britain last night and tens of millions more when it was shown by CBS in the US on Sunday.

In it Meghan said she could not fathom hurting her son Archie in the way her own father ‘betrayed’ her, admitting she ‘found it hard to reconcile’ with Thomas. She said: ‘I look at Archie, I think about this child, and I genuinely can’t imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child’. 

Mr Markle said that while he did let her down, she had ‘let me down too’ by cutting him off after heart surgery almost three years ago. He said: ‘The bottom line is she didn’t lose me, she made a statement saying she lost me, she didn’t lose me, I would’ve always been there for her, I’m there for her now if she wants me’.  He added: ‘We all make mistakes – but I’ve never played naked pool or dressed like Hitler like Harry did’. 

Mr Markle was referencing Harry’s decision to wear a Nazi uniform to a party when he was 20 and seven years later in 2012 the prince was photographed wearing nothing but a necklace with a naked female playmate hiding behind him having just played a game of strip pool in his VIP Las Vegas hotel suite.

Describing his last phone call with Harry after heart surgery in May 2018, Mr Markle said: ‘Harry had said to me if you had listened to me, this wouldn’t have happened to you. Me, laying in a hospital bed after a having procedure, I had a stent put here and put here [points at his heart] and that was kind of snotty so I hung up on him.’ 

But Mr Markle also used the rare interview to urge his daughter to reach out to him. He said: ‘I’d like to say again. I’m sorry for what I’ve done. This was two years ago. But I’ve tried to make it up to her. I’m now only 70 miles away. I’ve never stopped loving her. I don’t agree with all the things that my children they do. But I will always love them. And I certainly love Meghan’.

The GMB show had already made headlines before Mr Markle spoke when host Piers Morgan walked off set live on air after being criticised by weatherman Alex Beresford who accused Mr Morgan of unfairly ‘trashing’ Meghan Markle.

Thomas Markle’s first words on the Oprah interview came as: 

• Prince Charles smiled uncomfortably but stayed silent when quizzed about Harry and Meghan’s interview in first public royal engagement since to vaccine centre at majority black church;
• Meghan Markle says everyone should have ‘basic right to privacy’ in latest Oprah interview clip;
• The Queen prepares to sign of an official statement in response to his grandson’s Oprah interview, which contained allegation-after-allegation that damages the global standing of the Royal Family;
• New clips from the interview included Harry alleging that the Queen had reneged on a promise to allow him to visit her Sandringham home to discuss his plans, leaving him devastated; 
• Harry and Meghan have been urged to name names over which royal relative made comments about how ‘dark’ Archie’s skin would be and the Duchess’ claims he was not made a prince because he is mixed-race. Labour’s Diane Abbott claims Palace aides did not ‘adjust well’ to Harry marrying a ‘mixed race woman’;
• 11.4 million viewers tuned into ITV’s bombshell Oprah interview with Harry and Meghan last night – fewer than I’m A Celeb final that was network’s most-watched show of 2020;
• Nearly half of Britons believe Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey was ‘inappropriate’, a snap poll had found;
• Meghan Markle’s half-sister Samantha slams her Oprah interview, accusing Duchess of using ‘depression as an excuse to treat people like dishrags’;

Buckingham Palace was paralysed with ‘horror and dismay’ last night as Prince Harry stood accused of ‘blowing up his family’ after his bombshell interview with Meghan.

The Prince of Wales stayed silence when he was asked if he had seen the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s interview with Oprah Winfrey.

Charles was questioned by the media as he made his first public appearance since Meghan and Harry’s devastating claim an un-named member of the royal family made a racist comment about their son.

As Charles left following a visit to a pop-up vaccine clinic in a London church, a reporter asked, ‘Sir, what did you think of the interview?’. 

According to reports at the scene, Charles turned around to see who had called out, before smiling and carrying on walking. 

The Mail can reveal that the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William were all locked in crisis talks over how to react to a string of incendiary accusations unleashed by the couple during their two-hour special with Oprah Winfrey.

The most damaging appears to be the claim that an unnamed royal asked about how ‘dark’ Archie’s skin would be when he was born. Meghan and Harry have refused to say who it was, but Oprah later said it wasn’t the Queen or Prince Philip. 

Thomas Markle has sided with the royals today. 

He said: ‘I don’t think the British Royal Family are racist at all. I don’t think the British are racist – I think Los Angeles is racist, California is racist but i don’t think the Brits are’.

He went on: ‘The thing about what colour will the baby be or how dark will the baby be, I’m guessing and hoping it’s just a dumb question from somebody, it could just be that simple – rather than being a total racist.’   

He added: ‘This whole thing about colour and how dark the baby is was bulls***.’

‘A racist comment should be investigated. But all I’m saying is it could have been just a stupid question from someone. You know, someone who doesn’t understand a black person marries a white person, what do you get, you know? You never know but you get a baby. That’s what you get, you get a baby. Maybe we’re getting a little too political.’ 

He was asked about Meghan’s depiction of him betraying him – and said that on her blog before they fell out Meghan had urged other fathers to be more like him.

He said: ‘I’m very disappointed about it. I’ve apologised about this thing [the paparazzi deal] at least 100 times or so, bottom line I’ve never heard back from Meghan and Harry’.

Describing their lost conversation, when he was in hospital before the couple married, he said: ‘I also feel she let me down as well because I was in a hospital bed the last time we talked and I never heard from them again. They didn’t care if i died’.

But urging her to reach out to him, he said: ‘I’d like to say again. I’m sorry for what I’ve done. This was two years ago. But I’ve tried to make it up to her.

‘I’m now only 70 miles away. I’ve never stopped loving her. I don’t agree with all the things that my children they do. But I  will always love them. And I certainly love Meghan’.

He added: ‘I’ve been pushed around and knocked down for one thing I did, for one big mistake I made. I’ve apologised for it as many times as I possibly can. However, I love my daughter very much and if I’d known she was having psychological problems, I would have been there for her. Biggest problem here is she’s pretty much ghosted all of her family. On her mother’s side and my side. So, she really had no one to reach out to. She would have had us if she’d kept us’. 

Mr Markle was asked about the letter sent to him by his daughter after the royal wedding, which is at the centre of the Duchess’ legal battle with Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Mail on Sunday and MailOnline.

He said: ‘I’m the one who released a part of the letter. That was because a magazine was doing a story about me, Meghan’s friends were telling a story about me that was mostly lies. 

After reading these things, these lies, I said I have to retaliate. By retaliating, I released part of the letter. I didn’t release the whole letter. Had I done that you would have seen something that was horrible’. 

He went on: ‘I had held that letter for six months and I was going to destroy it, it was so bad. A lot of things that were said to me […] The people in the magazine said she reached out to me with love and wanted to get back together, that wasn’t the letter at all, that wasn’t what it was intended to do.’ 

Thomas and the Royal Family are reeling after the Sussexes ‘went nuclear’ on Sunday night. 

Meghan’s critics unaired footage from the Oprah interview, which will not feature when it is shown on ITV at 9pm tonight, was released earlier today following the original CBS broadcast on Sunday. 

Meghan drew a contrast with her mother Doria Ragland, who she praised for remaining ‘in silent dignity for four years’.

The clip also saw Meghan distance herself from her half-sister Samantha, who has released a ‘tell-all’ book about their relationship. 

The Duchess retorted: ‘I think it would be very hard to tell all when you don’t know me.’

She said she grew up ‘an only child’ and even claimed Samantha only changed her surname back to Markle after Meghan struck up a romance with Harry. 

The tension between the Markles was addressed in unaired sections of the Sussexes CBS sit-down with Oprah, who probed about her relationship with Thomas. 

Thomas was supposed to walk Meghan down the aisle in May 2018 but pulled out of the ceremony following health problems.

The two were also engaged in a row about him speaking to the press. 

Oprah asked: ‘Did it feel like betrayal when you found that your father was working with the tabloids?’ 

After weighing up if she was ‘comfortable’ delving into the issue, Meghan said her father had assured he had ‘absolutely not’ spoken to the press. 

She said: ‘If we’re going to use the word betrayal it’s because when I asked him, when we were told by the comms team this was a story that was going to be coming out which, by the way, the tabloids had apparently known for a month or so and decided to hold until the Sunday before our wedding because they wanted to create drama, which is also a key point in all this, they don’t report the news, they create the news. 

‘We called my dad, and I asked him, and he said no, absolutely not. I said, you know, the institution has never intervened for anything for us, but they can try to go in and kill this story. But if they do this once, we’re not going to be able to use that same leverage to protect our kids one day. 

She added: ‘I said we won’t be able to protect our own kids one day, and I said, I just need you to tell me. If you tell me the truth, we can

‘And he wasn’t able to do that. And that for me has really resonated, especially now as a mother.’ 

Meghan went on: ‘And also me saying just full stop, if we use this to protect you, we won’t be able to protect our own children one day, I’m talking about your grandchildren. 

‘I look at Archie, I think about this child, and I go I genuinely can’t imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child. I can’t imagine it. So it’s hard for me to reconcile that.’ 

Buckingham Palace has been paralysed with ‘horror and dismay’ as Prince Harry stands accused of ‘blowing up his family’ with his bombshell interview – with the Queen said to have refused to sign off on a statement.

The Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William were all locked in crisis talks over how to react to a string of incendiary accusations unleashed by Harry and wife Meghan during a two-hour special with Oprah Winfrey on American TV.

With pressure growing for a statement today, Palace insiders described a mood of ‘intense personal shock and sadness’ that the prince had pressed the ‘nuclear button on his own family’. ‘People are just reeling,’ a source said.

The couple’s interview on CBS late on Sunday night sent shock waves around the world yesterday as the couple laid bare the extent of their rift with the Queen and other senior royals.

They accused an unnamed Royal Family member of racism, suggesting the relative had asked ‘how dark’ their baby would be; said they had been driven out of Britain, in part, by racism; and accused the Palace machinery of failing to support a ‘suicidal’ Meghan.

Harry revealed an astonishing rift with his father, saying his family had cut him off financially while suggesting the Queen had been badly advised and had cancelled a meeting scheduled at Sandringham.

Meghan also accused her sister-in-law Kate of making her cry; suggested senior royals plotted to ensure Archie would never have a title or adequate security; and said officials had failed to stand up for the couple against ‘racist’ commentary, while lying to protect other royals.

A senior Government minister and Boris Johnson ally, Lord [Zac] Goldsmith, echoed the mood of many in royal circles yesterday. Responding to the suggestion that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had ‘loaded up a plane and dropped bomb after heavy bomb on Buckingham Palace’, he tweeted: ‘Not ‘Buckingham Palace’ – Harry’s family. Harry is blowing up his family.’

A statement is understood to have been prepared by Buckingham Palace highlighting the Royal Family’s love for the couple, in attempt to avoid tensions mounting even further. However the Queen was keen not to rush it out without careful consideration overnight, according to The Times.

Buckingham Palace, which was not informed about the couple’s decision to do the interview before it was first announced last month, had been bracing itself for the worst. 

But aides could not have predicted how devastatingly brutal the couple’s interview – watched by 17million in the US alone but set to air last night to a global audience of many times more, including on ITV in the UK – would be.

The Mail has been told that royal staff stayed up until 3am to watch the interview via video link live from the US with a mounting sense of horror – and sadness.

The Queen’s private secretary Sir Edward Young and Charles’s private secretary Clive Alderton are both said to have watched the interview from Buckingham Palace. 

Palace IT staff had set up a computer link so they could see it, while other members of staff watched it on their laptops while working from home, reported the Daily Telegraph.

Aides then had to prepare briefings from members of the Royal Family and agreed that any response would have to be co-ordinated between the Queen, Charles and William. 

As morning broke, crisis meetings were called involving senior officials as well as senior royals, in person and on the phone, as well via video call.

The Queen, at Windsor, spoke with her son Charles, who was at Clarence House, his London home, and grandson William, who has also moved back to the capital from Norfolk in preparation for his children to return to school.

Sources told the Mail that household staff, many of whom had supported the couple as best they could during an ‘extremely difficult and trying three years’, felt ‘angry and let down’ but were determined to put a brave face on the situation for the sake of the elderly monarch.

‘Staff are reeling. But there is [also] a strong sense of needing to retain a dignified silence and show kindness and compassion. There’s a lot people want to say but no one wins with a tit-for-tat battle,’ said one. ‘Bridges need to be built after all this is over, after all.’

Most damaging are the couple’s claims that not only were they unsupported by both family members and staff, but they also suffered as a result of an apparent racist agenda against them.

Meghan suggested that race was the heart of every decision made against them. But there was bemusement among royal insiders at her claims that senior royals had tried to prevent their son, Archie, from having a title – or security – because of blatant prejudice.

‘They didn’t want him to be a prince,’ she told Miss Winfrey.

Long-standing rules, laid down by George V, mean that the title of HRH passes only to the children of a sovereign and their grandchildren through the male line, meaning Archie will only be given a title when his grandfather, Prince Charles, accedes to the throne.

The Queen can issue letters patent to change that on an individual basis but aides for Harry and Meghan briefed journalists at the time of his birth that they were very happy for him to be styled ‘Master Archie’ because they wanted him to have the same kind of freedoms as the prince’s cousins, Zara and Peter Phillips. 

A source close to the Sussexes suggested yesterday the couple were so concerned about Archie’s security because of his mixed race heritage that they wanted him to become a prince so he would be afforded suitable security.

But insiders say there was never any doubt that the Queen’s great-grandson would be protected and although the Prince of Wales has made no secret of his desire to have a slimmed-down monarch, Harry and his family were always part of his plan.

There was no comment, however, on Meghan’s astonishing accusation that Kate had reduced her to tears ahead of the 2018 Royal Wedding over a bridesmaid dress fitting with her daughter, Princess Charlotte.

She even claimed her future sister-in-law ‘owned’ her mistake, apologised and bought her flowers, contrary to claims that it was she who had made Kate cry with her unrealistic demands.

‘She did what I would do if I hurt someone. Just take accountability for it,’ Meghan said. 

The Duchess of Cambridge was yesterday seen driving, stony faced, near Kensington Palace as her office released a video of conducting a call to mark International Women’s Day by speaking to the youngest woman to row solo across an ocean.

The picture of strain was a stark contrast to a new image of Harry and Meghan, pregnant and cuddling Archie, in the garden of their home in California released by her friend, Misan Hariman, to also mark IWD.

The black and white portrait emerged on social media just hours after their interview – in which the couple revealed the second baby they were expecting was a girl – had aired.

A message read: ‘Welcome to the girldad club H!’

The Prime Minister refused yesterday to comment on the details of the Sussexes’ allegations – even when asked whether he believed members of the Royal Family might be racist.

But the White House backed the couple’s decision to speak out, a spokesman saying it took ‘courage’ for Meghan to open up about struggles with mental health problems.

And Labour called on the Palace to launch an investigation into the couple’s claims of racism.

Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was ‘really sad to see the family in turmoil like this’ and that the allegations made by the duchess must be taken seriously.

He added: ‘The issues that Meghan has raised of racism and mental health are really serious issues.

‘It is a reminder that too many people experience racism in 21st century Britain.

‘We have to take that very, very seriously.

‘Nobody, but nobody, should be prejudiced (against) because of the colour of their skin or because of their mental health issues.’

Labour education spokesman Kate Green went further, saying the duchess’s claims should be ‘fully investigated’ by the Palace.

But Tory MP Michael Fabricant accused Labour of trying to ‘politicise’ the row.

He told the Mail: ‘Labour are wrong to politicise this. They know full well that there will be inquiries going on.

‘They really do trying to be desperately insert themselves into the story to get attention.’

Mr Fabricant said: ‘Every family is dysfunctional one way or another. 

‘The holder of every high position will have personal little secrets they want hidden. We are all human.

‘You’ve never liked her’: Piers Morgan storms off GMB during furious row with weatherman Alex Beresford who was speaking up for Meghan Markle 

Piers Morgan stormed off the Good Morning Britain set live on air today after the show’s weatherman accused him of unfairly ‘trashing’ Meghan Markle. 

Susanna Reid was forced to send the ITV show to an early advertisement break after the row between her co-host and Alex Beresford boiled over this morning. 

Piers and Alex were discussing the Sussexes’ bombshell interview with Oprah, where the couple accused the Royal Family of racism. 

Alex had suggested Meghan had ‘cut off’ Piers after striking up a romance with Prince Harry.

The GMB host returned to the set after the ad break and the pair continued the debate.

Piers later tweeted: ‘I was annoyed, went for a little cool-down, and came back to finish the discussion.’

He added that it was a ‘strong debate’ and so ‘worth a bit of GMB family tension’, but justifying his exit, said: ‘I just prefer not to sit there listening to colleagues call me diabolical.’

During a debate section of the show at around 6.30am, Alex decided to accuse Piers Morgan of ‘diabolical behaviour’. He then moved on to Piers’ claims that Meghan ‘dropped him’ as a friend, when Mr Beresford said: ‘She’s entitled to cut you off if she wants to’.

He said: ‘I understand that you don’t like Meghan Markle, you’ve made it so clear a number of times on this programme. She’s entitled to cut you off. Has she said anything about you since she cut you off? I don’t think she has. But you continue to trash her’.

Piers then stands up and says: ‘Ok, I’m done with this.  Sorry. You can trash me mate but not on my own show. See you later’.  

But Mr Beresford wasn’t finished, he said to Piers: ‘You know what that’s diabolical behaviour. That’s pathetic’ as the camera watched Mr Morgan walk off set.

‘I’m sorry but Piers just spouts off on a regular basis and we have to sit there and listen. 6.30 to 7am yesterday was incredibly hard to watch. He has the ability to come in here and talk from a position where he doesn’t fully understand’, Mr Beresford said as his colleagues watched in horrified silence.

Susanna Reid said it would be best for the breakfast programme to go to a break amid stony silence from others in the studio. 

After the break a visibly upset Piers Morgan said: ‘What it’s done is raise a lot of emotions.’ 

Turning to his colleague: ‘What we need to do Alex is talk to each other in a civilised manner given we work on the same show on the same team. You launching into a pretty personally derogatory monologue on one of your colleagues probably isn’t one of the best ways to go about it. 

‘As much as I’d like to sit here taking abuse from you, that’s not going to happen.’ 

Alex then hit back, saying to Piers: ‘I’m not trying to come on this show and take you down. Just because we’re on the same side we have to have the same view. 

‘This whole situation is very personal for me and I’m by no way, shape or form accusing you of being racist. I have the luxury of knowing you on and off screen and we’ve had conversations, I know where you stand on this and I have a great amount of respect for you, Piers.’ 

Piers replied: ‘I wanted you on the show today because you sent me a really thoughtful and nuanced message about all this and I thought we could have a thoughtful nuanced conversation’.

Alex then admitted: ‘I’m tired of finding a different way to explain not to you, but to so many people on why what has been said is so wrong. 

He went on: ‘I’ve walked into institutions as the only person of colour and experienced covert and overt racism on so many occasions and why the Meghan interview really resonates with me is because an ex-work colleague – not on this show – asked me if I was worried about the shade of cocoa that my son was going to come out. 

‘So I fully understand the hurt that is behind all of that.’ 

Piers insisted he has not got a ‘racist bone’ in his body, saying he would ‘love’ if one of his children brought home someone from a different race. 

Alex Beresford told Piers: ‘I don’t feel that you are a racist… but that’s why I just feel the stance you were taking on it yesterday was so strong I just felt it was slightly clouded because you’ve had an experience with her.’ 

The pair rowed earlier in the week about the Oprah interview.

Alex tweeted: ‘You ever stop and think maybe you should give this woman carrying a baby a break?’

Piers Morgan then replied: ‘You mean like she’s giving a 94yr-old woman a break as her husband lies in hospital?’ – a reference to the Queen and her husband Prince Philip.    

Several social media users voiced their views of the morning drama. 

One said: ‘I feel there as always been conflict with Alex and Piers, especially when comes to racism topics, and Alex had opportunity to tell it as it is. 

‘But Piers wasn’t expecting that. He doesn’t like hearing the truth about himself.’

A third said: ‘Well that was the most dramatic opening 15 mins of any GMB show I’ve seen… 

‘To be fair, I think Alex was overly critical of [Piers Morgan], who for me has only ever offered a balanced argument of the Sussexes’ ”faults”. ‘ 

‘I think life is about being able to share stories you’re comfortable with’: Meghan says everyone should have ‘basic right to privacy’ in latest Oprah interview clip

Meghan Markle has said she and Harry are trying to share ‘parts of our lives’ they feel ‘comfortable’ with and said everyone should have a ‘basic right to privacy’ in the latest Oprah interview clip. 

The couple have faced criticism for complaining about their own privacy being violated at the same time as sharing damaging details about private conversations they have had with senior royals in front of a global TV audience numbering in the tens of millions. 

They have also been accused of ‘hypocrisy’ for releasing photos of private family moments on Instagram – prompting press stories of their private lives – while complaining about media intrusion after coverage that paints them in a bad light.  

Asked by Oprah if she should accept that losing some privacy was ‘part of the deal’ of being a royal, Meghan argued that ‘everyone has a basic right to privacy’ and ‘I think life is about being able to share stories you’re comfortable with’. 

In the previously unseen clip published by OprahMag.com, Meghan said: ‘Two things here. I think everyone has a basic right to privacy, basic. We’re not talking about anything that anybody else wouldn’t expect. 

‘So if you’re at work and you have a photograph of your child on your desk and your co-worker says ”oh my gosh, your kids so cute, that’s fantastic… can I see your phone so I can see all your pictures of your child?”. You go, ”no, this is the picture I’m comfortable sharing with you”.

‘And then if they double down and say, ”no but you already showed me that one so you’ve got to show me everything, so I’m going to hire someone to sit in front of your house or hide in the bushes and take pictures into your back yard because you’ve lost your right to privacy because you shared one image with me”.

‘That’s sort of the flawed argument and operating mechanism that they’re confusing people to think.’

Meghan claimed she and Harry were not asking for complete privacy, but ‘boundaries and respect’. 

She added: ‘I think life is about being able to share our stories and share parts of our lives that we are comfortable with. 

‘There’s no one on Instagram and social media who would say that because they shared one picture you are entitled to my whole camera roll. 

‘No one would want that, so it’s about boundaries and respect – they’ve created a false narrative, I’ve never talked about privacy, I think that’s just a basic understanding.’ 

 

Meghan Markle’s half-sister Samantha SLAMS her Oprah interview, accusing Duchess of using ‘depression as an excuse to treat people like dishrags’ – and firing back at her claim that they haven’t seen each other in 20 years

Meghan Markle’s half-sister Samantha has slammed the royal’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey, saying ‘the truth was totally ignored and omitted’ while providing photos and documents to disprove each of the Duchess of Sussex’s claims about her.

The 56-year-old also admitted that she has no sympathy for Meghan, 39, who revealed during the shocking interview that she battled suicidal thoughts during her time as a royal – instead accusing the Duchess of using her ‘depression as an excuse for treating people like dishrags’.  

In newly-released footage from Prince Harry and Meghan’s explosive CBS interview, the pregnant Duchess of Sussex told Oprah, 67, that Samantha ‘doesn’t know’ her, claiming she was raised as ‘an only child’ – but her half-sister has now insisted that couldn’t be further from the truth.  

‘I don’t know how she can say I don’t know her and she was an only child. We’ve got photographs over a lifespan of us together. So how can she not know me?’ she told Inside Edition, while sharing images of the two women together at different stages throughout their lives – most recently in 2008, just 13 years ago.

When Oprah had asked Meghan about Samantha’s tell-all book, The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister, the Duchess retorted: ‘I think it would be very hard to tell all when you don’t know me.’

The expectant mom added that she had grown up ‘an only child’ and claimed she hadn’t seen her half-sister in nearly two decades. 

However, Samantha provided photos that show them together throughout the years, including one of them at her college graduation in 2008. 

The Duchess also claimed that Samantha only changed her surname back to Markle after Meghan struck up a romance with Harry – suggesting that her half-sister was trying to capitalize on the public interest in her name. 

‘She changed her last name back to Markle… only when I started dating Harry. So I think that says enough,’ she said. 

But Samantha insisted that this claim was wholly inaccurate, and shared further evidence to refute it. 

‘I was a Markle before she was,’ she said. ‘I though that was kind of weird that she would say I only changed my name back when she met Harry. Markle has always been my name.’ 

Samantha then showed Inside Edition her petition to change her name that was dated back to December 1997 and her college diploma, which says Samantha M. Markle. 

When asked about her half-sister’s revelation that she struggled with suicidal thoughts, Samantha said that she had little sympathy for her, and actually accused Meghan of using her mental health an ‘an excuse’ for treating people ‘like dishrags’. 

‘Depression is not an excuse for treating people like dishrags and disposing of them,’ she said. 

During the interview, a tearful Meghan told Oprah that the stress of her role as a royal became so bad that she felt suicidal as a result of the pressure she was under. 

‘I didn’t want to be alive any more -this was a very real and frightening constant thought,’ she said. 

She said she didn’t want to tell Harry at first because of the loss he had suffered as a result of his mother’s death, but she did and he ‘cradled me’. 

Meghan said she begged a senior member of the royal to assist her get help for mental health issue but she was left to suffer alone.

‘I said that I needed to go somewhere to get help,’ she told Oprah. ‘I said that I’ve never felt this way before and I need to go somewhere. And I was told that I couldn’t, that it wouldn’t be good for the institution.’ 

In one of the most recently-released clips from Meghan’s interview – which were aired the morning after the bombshell sit-down was broadcast – she also spoke about her father Thomas, who is Samantha’s father. 

She said she cannot fathom hurting her son Archie the way her own father ‘betrayed’ her before the royal wedding, admitting she ‘found it hard to reconcile’ with Thomas after he insisted that he had not been speaking to the media.

‘I look at Archie, I think about this child, and I genuinely can’t imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child,’ she said. 

Meghan drew a contrast with her mother Doria Ragland, who she praised for remaining ‘in silent dignity for four years’. 

The tension between the Markles was addressed in unaired sections of the Sussexes CBS sit-down with Oprah, who probed about her relationship with Thomas. 

Thomas was supposed to walk Meghan down the aisle in May 2018 but pulled out of the ceremony following health problems.

The two were also engaged in a row about him speaking to the press. 

Oprah asked: ‘Did it feel like betrayal when you found that your father was working with the tabloids?’ 

After weighing up if she was ‘comfortable’ delving into the issue, Meghan said her father had assured he had ‘absolutely not’ spoken to the press. 

She said: ‘If we’re going to use the word betrayal it’s because when I asked him, when we were told by the comms team this was a story that was going to be coming out which, by the way, the tabloids had apparently known for a month or so and decided to hold until the Sunday before our wedding because they wanted to create drama, which is also a key point in all this, they don’t report the news, they create the news. 

‘We called my dad, and I asked him, and he said no, absolutely not. 

I said, you know, the institution has never intervened for anything for us, but they can try to go in and kill this story. But if they do this once, we’re not going to be able to use that same leverage to protect our kids one day. 

She added: ‘I said we won’t be able to protect our own kids one day, and I said, I just need you to tell me. If you tell me the truth, we can help. 

‘And he wasn’t able to do that. And that for me has really resonated, especially now as a mother.’ 

Meghan went on: ‘And also me saying just full stop, if we use this to protect you, we won’t be able to protect our own children one day, I’m talking about your grandchildren. 

‘I look at Archie, I think about this child, and I go I genuinely can’t imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child. I can’t imagine it. So it’s hard for me to reconcile that.’ 

Meghan also said that despite her sister Samantha releasing a book about her, she ‘doesn’t know her’ and they’ve never been close.

Samantha’s autobiography, titled ‘The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister: A Memoir, Part One, goes into detail about their childhood.

But the Duchess said: ‘I don’t feel comfortable talking about people that I really don’t know. But I grew up as an only child, which everybody who grew up around me knows.’

She added she wished she had had siblings and was pleased Archie was going to have a younger sister. 

A MILLION more Britons watched I’m A Celeb final than Oprah’s Meghan and Harry interview: ITV’s tell-all chat was seen by 11.1m compared to 12.1m who watched 2020 Jungle result (and less than CBS’s 17m US viewers)

Oprah Winfrey‘s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle drew more than 11 million viewers last night – but failed to draw more viewers than I’m a Celebrity. 

The broadcast at 9pm on ITV attracted a total audience of 11.4 million – 54.4 per cent of all television viewers in the UK. 

Some 12.4 million people were watching the interview at its peak, and the two-hour interview had an average of 11.1 million viewers during the 9pm-11pm slot.

And 2.2 million viewers streamed the programme live on the ITV Hub.  

But it failed to beat the average viewing figures for I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!, which was ITV’s most watched programme of 2020.

During the lockdown in December some 12.1 million viewers watched Giovanna Fletcher as she was crowned series champion.

The interview was also beaten in the ratings war by the Prime Minister’s lockdown addresses last year, and the Queen’s message to the nation last April, both of which amassed more than 14 million views.  

The couple’s wedding in May 2018 drew in a peak audience of 27.7 million in the UK. 

It is not yet known how many people have watched the interview after it aired. 

In the US, the interview pulled in 17.1 million viewers, and scored a rating of 2.6 among the 18-49 demographic, according to preliminary Nielsen numbers. 

The tell-all has become the biggest TV show of the year so far, beating Boris Johnson‘s statement to the nation on January 4 which had 15.6million viewers.  

The Queen’s Commonwealth Day address, broadcast on BBC One and ITV at 5pm on Sunday, attracted an audience of some 2.2 million with 2.7 million at its peak and a 14.4 per cent share.  

When Princess Diana was quizzed by Martin Bashir for the BBC’s Panorama programme in 1995, almost 23 million tuned in. 

Data released this morning has revealed the interview also attracted a much younger profile than normal, with a 72 per cent share for adults aged 25-34.

This compare to the average 16.2 per cent of adults aged 25-34 who usually tune in at the same time. 

Boris Johnson’s lockdown announcement on March 23 last year drew more than 14 million viewers.  

The Prime Minister’s speech was simultaneously broadcast across six television channels: BBC One, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky News and BBC News.

On BBC One, the speech attracted 14.6 million viewers, but combined with the ratings across all six channels, the speech had a total TV audience averaging 28.2 million.

The Queen’s televised address to the nation on April 5, during which she echoed Dame Vera Lynn’s wartime song and told the nation ‘we will meet again’, had a combined TV audience across seven channels of 24.3 million. 

Mr Johnson’s second TV address delivered on May 10, during which he announced an initial easing of the lockdown in England, pulled in a combined audience of 27.6 million.

A massive 18.8 million TV viewers saw this second speech on BBC One alone.  

The Gavin And Stacey Christmas special – the most-watched programme of 2019 – pulled in a TV audience of 17.1 million viewers. 

The biggest audience in the past decade for any broadcast on a single channel was 24.5 million, which was the number who watched the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

But excluding news and sport events, the biggest TV audience of the past decade was 17.7 million, set by an edition of The X Factor back in December 2010.

Figures quoted here are consolidated ratings, meaning they include people who recorded and watched a broadcast up to seven days later – the industry standard for measuring TV audiences.

The 1966 World Cup final is often cited as the most-watched broadcast in British history, with 32.3 million viewers, just ahead of Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997, but the method of calculating ratings has changed several times, meaning it is difficult to make like-for-like comparisons.

Advertising revenue during the 110-minute programme could double the £1million ITV paid for it. 

ITV is thought to have sold some 30-second slots for as much as £120,000, double its usual rate, with others going for £70,000 to £100,000. 

The current record for audience figures in the US is 90million – set when Oprah sat down with Michael Jackson in 1993.

It became the second most watched non-sports entertainment program in the US so far this year, behind the February premiere of Queen Latifah’s new drama, The Equalizer, which aired after the Super Bowl and pulled 20.4 million viewers.