A letter from Meghan Markle has been delivered to her estranged father, Thomas Markle, at a hospital in the Philippines, marking her first direct personal outreach reported since their relationship broke down in 2018. Meghan’s spokesperson confirmed the correspondence reached him as he recovers from emergency leg amputation surgery.
The Duchess of Sussex had spent several days trying to track down her father after reports emerged that the 81-year-old had undergone life-saving surgery in Cebu. According to multiple outlets, she emailed him on December 5 and called several hospitals before arranging for a handwritten note to be delivered via intermediaries she trusts, with her team saying the letter is now “safely” in his hands.
In a statement, Meghan’s spokesperson said efforts to contact Thomas privately were hampered by the presence of a Daily Mail journalist at his bedside, accusing the outlet of crossing “clear ethical boundaries” by documenting his interactions from inside the hospital room. They said that constant media involvement had made private communication “exceedingly difficult” despite her attempts over recent days.
The Daily Mail’s parent company, DMG Media, has strongly rejected the accusation. The company says reporter Caroline Graham has been a friend of Thomas Markle since 2018 and traveled to the Philippines at his request, arguing she has been providing care and support and only shared his contact details and hospital information with Meghan’s team after he gave consent. The publisher insists claims of unethical behavior are “demonstrably false” and “vehemently denied.”
Thomas Markle, a former Hollywood lighting director, is reported to have undergone amputation of part of his leg after doctors identified a major blood clot and tissue damage that required urgent surgery. He was initially treated at a smaller facility before being transferred to a larger hospital in Cebu, and has since been moved from intensive care to a regular ward as he continues his recovery.
Meghan and her father have been estranged since the turbulent run-up to her wedding to Prince Harry in May 2018. Thomas admitted staging paparazzi photographs and spoke repeatedly to the media as speculation swirled over whether he would walk his daughter down the aisle; he ultimately missed the ceremony, citing health issues. The fallout led to a lengthy silence between them and, later, to Meghan suing the Mail on Sunday for publishing excerpts from a private letter she sent him that year, a case she ultimately won.
Recent coverage of Thomas’s health has reignited some of those older wounds. In interviews from his hospital bed, he has suggested he had not heard from Meghan, prompting her team to go on the record about her attempts to reach him by email and phone before the letter was dispatched. Other family members, including Meghan’s half-sister Samantha Markle, have publicly questioned claims of contact, underscoring how much of this family drama continues to play out in the media rather than in private.
The latest dispute also comes against a wider legal backdrop. Prince Harry is due to take the Daily Mail’s publisher, Associated Newspapers, to trial in early 2026 over allegations of unlawful information-gathering, one of several cases the couple have launched as part of what Harry describes as a push for “truth and accountability” after years of press intrusion. Meghan’s criticism of the Daily Mail’s conduct around her father’s hospital care has now become another flashpoint in that long-running confrontation.
Whether Meghan’s new letter will lead to any real reconciliation remains unclear. Given that an earlier private letter became the center of a high-profile court battle when it was leaked to the press, commentators note that both sides may be under intense scrutiny over how this latest message is handled. For now, the note represents a rare and tentative gesture across a painful family divide, made at a moment when Thomas Markle’s health has brought questions of regret, responsibility and privacy sharply back into focus.
