Meghan Markle’s father Thomas Markle is speaking out again in what he says is an effort to make peace with his estranged daughter and son-in-law Prince Harry.
Markle, who said he hasn’t spoken to his daughter since two days before her May 2018 royal wedding to Harry, told Australia’s “60 Minutes” in a segment broadcast on Sunday that he hopes to meet his newest grandchild, Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, who arrived earlier this month.
Markle told the television show he received “no phone calls” about Lili’s birth and learned about it “on the radio.”
“Lili is a perfect name and the other thing that makes me happy is now there’s a lot more Markle blood in the royal family,” Markle said. “All I can say is I hope I get to eventually, sometime see these grandchildren of mine because I’m a pretty good grandpa.”
Lili is sister to the couple’s 2-year-old firstborn, Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, whom Thomas also has never met.
The rift between Markle and his royal family members has been ongoing since the runup to the wedding, when he was seen in staged paparazzi photos reading books about England. It was later discovered that he had been receiving money from the same tabloid that had harassed Meghan for years.
Meghan told Oprah Winfrey earlier this year that her father lied when she confronted him, and she can’t reconcile that.
“I genuinely can’t imagine doing anything to intentionally cause pain to my child. I can’t imagine it,” the Duchess of Sussex said in her bombshell interview with Winfrey in March. “So it’s hard for me to reconcile that.”
Of this situation, Thomas Markle told “60 Minutes” that he “made one dumb mistake and I’m never being forgiven for it.”
“There’s no compassion for me,” he said, adding that even ax murderers in prison have family members who visit and he does not. He went on to say he really does miss his daughter and that he’s “certainly hurt by a lot of it.”
Markle also accused Winfrey of “taking advantage” of both Meghan and Harry.
In that explosive interview, Meghan revealed that she had suicidal thoughts during her time as a royal.
“The only person benefitting from this is Oprah Winfrey,” Markle said of the interview. He claimed Winfrey is exploiting the couple and “she’s pushing it to get more and more out of it.”
Still, Markle said he’ll “never give up hope” for a reconciliation.
You can watch his entire “60 Minutes” interview above.