PRINCE Harry not meeting Meghan Markle’s dad is “very strange”, a royal expert says.
Ingrid Seward also questioned if the Duchess of Sussex was “ashamed” of her estranged father Thomas Markle.
Meghan and Thomas fell out after he posed for paparazzi pictures ahead of his daughter’s 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.
King Charles ended up walking the bride down the aisle, and Thomas has been estranged from his daughter since suffering two heart attacks on the eve of the wedding.
He admitted the snaps were a mistake and said he has apologised repeatedly for them.
The Sussexes currently live in a £12million mansion in Montecito, California, roughly 400km from where Thomas lives in Rosarito, Mexico.
Host of The Sun’s Royal Exclusive programme, Matt Wilkinson, spoke to Ms Seward ahead of Prince Harry’s 40th birthday.
He referenced figures from polling group Statista which showed a drop in the Duke’s popularity, from a 71% positive rating in 2019, to just 32% now.
Ms Seward said: “I think what people really disliked is that [Harry] dissed his family.
“I think, the book Spare might have earned him millions but gosh, he’s paid for it. Oh, he’s paying for it still.
“And I think, especially among the Americans that I know, they hate the idea that he dissed his family, he doesn’t speak to his family, doesn’t speak to his brother, has never met Meghan’s father.
“I mean it’s very strange. Is Meghan ashamed of her father? Why hasn’t Harry met him?
“This sort of distancing from family, people find that very alienating.
“It’s quite the opposite to what William and Kate were showing in their most recent video.”
Earlier this year, Thomas claimed that Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet were being “denied” a relationship with their cousins.
He claimed his grandkids will one day realise “all the things they have missed out on.”
Thomas said their absence was particularly felt with the Trooping the Colour, where Prince William’s kids – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis– stood proudly with their family on the Buckingham Palace balcony.
Why was Thomas not at Meghan's wedding?
IN her candid interview with Oprah, the Duchess of Sussex opened up about her relationship with her dad and said she was left feeling crushed when he “lied to her” before the wedding.
Meghan said she tried to “protect” her parents from the “media frenzy” sparked due to an “obsession about anything in my world”.
It was the first time Meghan publicly discussed her dad, who, it is understood, she has not spoken to since before her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018.
Thomas, an ex-Hollywood lighting director, has spoken about his daughter’s relationship publicly and described their decision to walk away from the royals as embarrassing.
The father and daughter’s relationship soured in the run-up to their 2018 Windsor Castle wedding, when Thomas admitted agreeing to stage pictures of himself.
Meghan was asked if it felt like a “betrayal” when she found out her dad was working with the Press, and replied: “I’m trying to decide if I’m comfortable even talking about that.
“It was… if we were going to use the word betrayal.”
Meghan added: “Because when I asked him, when we were told by the comms team, this is 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 really key point in all this.
“We called my dad and I asked him and he said, no, absolutely not.”
Oprah then said: “He said no, absolutely not. He hadn’t been talking to them. So he basically lied to you.”
The full transcript of the interview can be read here.
Meghan’s dad said the image stirred feelings of “pity” for his own grandkids.
Speaking to New Zealand Woman’s Weekly, he said: “It struck me as very sad that Meghan and Harry‘s kids are being denied the right to know their cousins, who look like fantastic children, or take part in things like Trooping the Colour, which is their birthright.
“They are getting to the age where they will start to ask questions, as all kids do.
“I find myself wondering how Archie and Lilbet will feel in a few years’ time when they realise all the things they have missed out on.”
According to the Mirror, Thomas longs to meet his grandkids for the first time as he nears his 80th birthday, and finds it hard to understand why he hasn’t even met Prince Harry yet.
