Shut out. Thomas Markle claimed he learned the news that his estranged daughter, Meghan Markle, and her husband, Prince Harry, welcomed his granddaughter Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten Windsor along with the rest of the world.

No phone calls, I just heard it on the radio,” Thomas, 76, said in an interview with 60 Minutes Australia that aired on Sunday, June 13. “I haven’t spoken to [Meghan] since two days before they got married.”

Meghan, 39, and her father have been estranged ever since he was caught staging paparazzi photos in the lead-up to her wedding to Prince Harry, 36, in May 2018. Following the ordeal, Meghan wrote a personal letter to her father and told him that his actions had broken her heart “into a million pieces” — which was later leaked. Despite his past behavior, Thomas maintains that he doesn’t know what he did to deserve their estrangement.

“There are ax murders in prison. Their family comes to see them, right? I mean, I’m not an ax murderer. I made one dumb mistake and I’m never being forgiven for it,” Thomas said. “There’s no compassion for me.”

The retired lighting director insisted that he should be given a second chance and issued a public plea to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. “I apologized a hundred times for it. I’m not bitter, I’m confused. I just don’t have the answer. I want an answer. If I had done something terribly wrong, that would be fine but I haven’t. So I just want an answer,” he said, adding that the way Harry and Meghan are treating him is “cold.”

thomas markle meghan harry didn't call lilibet birth
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“If I am [to blame], tell me why and how and I’ll try to fix it,” Thomas added. “But I don’t know why or how.”

Later in the interview, Thomas extended an open invitation to Harry and Meghan to visit him at his home in Mexico. He also revealed his motive for coming forward so publicly is because he hopes to settle their feud so that he can meet the couple’s two children — including their 2-year-old son, Archie — before it’s too late.

“July 18 I’ll be 77 years old. Most of the Markle men don’t make it much past 80. So there’s a good chance I might never see my grandchildren,” Thomas said. “I’m not looking for pity. I’m just saying, that’s a reality.”

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