Meghan Markle had her sights set on global fame long before she met Prince Harry, it seems.
The former Suits star showed great ambition from a young age, as revealed in a letter she wrote to a former teacher when she was just 11 years old. Meghan was seen visiting her elementary school in a scene from the Sussexes’ 2022 Netflix docuseries, and reading aloud a note she had written to her then-principle as she prepared to leave for middle school.
“When I am rich and famous and I write my life story, I will talk about you and the school so you will be known worldwide,” she wrote.
It follows reports that Meghan was “utterly indulged” as a child by her father Thomas Markle Sr, from whom she is now estranged. Unlike his two older children from his first marriage, Thomas sent her to elite private schools – first the private Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse and then an exclusive all-girls Catholic school, Immaculate Heart High School.
Despite working gruelling hours as a light director on shows such as General Hospital and Married… with Children, Thomas dedicated himself to helping Meghan fulfil her dreams.
He got into a daily routine of dropping Meghan off at high school and either collected her himself or sent a limousine to bring her to his studio or to her friend’s house while he finished work, according to author Tom Bower.
In his 2022 book, Revenge, Bower wrote that Meghan was ‘utterly indulged’ by her father, with Thomas himself admitting he ‘spoiled her’. Thomas further said his efforts caused Meghan to change. “She became controlling at school, the master of ceremonies, and controlling at home too,” he said.
Certainly, Meghan and Thomas were once very close. Two years before she met Prince Harry, Meghan wrote about her father’s dedication to giving her a good life on her now defunct blog The Tig.
“The blood, sweat and tears this man (who came from so little in a small town in Pennsylvania) invested in my future so I could grow up to have so much,” she wrote. “To my dad – my thoughtful, inspiring, hard-working Daddy – Happy Father’s Day.”
But despite once admitting the importance of her father’s influence on her life, Meghan has been estranged from him for years. Furthermore, Thomas has never met Harry. He was due to come to their royal wedding in May 2018 but cancelled at the last minute after The Mail on Sunday revealed he had arranged pictures with paparazzi for cash.
Meghan’s two children, Archie, five, and Lilibet, three, have also never met their maternal grandfather.
Thomas recently told the Mail on Sunday he feels resigned to the fact he will likely never meet Meghan’s children . And he said while he didn’t approve of some of the things Meghan has done, he “will always love her”, adding: “My door is always open to her. I love her and that will never change. I love all my children.”
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