The Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father has been taken to hospital after suffering a suspected stroke, according to reports.
Thomas Markle Snr, 77, had been due to the fly to the UK for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee next week.
Mr Markle’s family said he began experiencing pains at his home in Rosarito, Mexico on Monday night.
Paramedics were called and he was transported - with an oxygen mask strapped to his face - by ambulance to a hospital across the border in Chula Vista, California around 9.30pm.
His two eldest children, who Meghan Markle also no longer speaks to, were reportedly by his side.
Mr Markle’s son, Thomas Markle Jnr, 55, is now living close to his father, while eldest daughter Samantha, 57, was flying in from her home in Florida to be with her father.
Samantha told journalist Dan Wootton: “My father is recovering in hospital. We ask for privacy for the family, for his health and wellbeing.
“He just needs peace and rest. Godspeed. We are praying.”
Mr Markle has not seen his royal daughter in years, but has given several TV interviews about her marriage to Prince Harry.
It is understood he hasn’t met his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet.
Mr Markle, who did not attend the wedding of Harry and Meghan in 2018 as he was recovering from heart surgery and has had a strained relationship with the couple, said he also hoped to repair their relationship.
Speaking to GB News in April from his home, Mr Markle said: “I’m looking forward to it [flying over for the Jubilee]. I’m going to show my respect for the Queen and I’m going to make sure that the Queen understands that my entire family respects the Queen and the Royals.
“We admire them and we want them to know that’s how we feel about them and that’s how we feel about England.
“I would like to meet with Prince Charles and thank him for walking my daughter down the aisle, and also to meet and talk with him because I think we have a lot in common now. We’ve pretty much both been ghosted by our children.”
He added he was reaching out to all members of the royal family ahead of the visit to make them aware that he and his family have “no ill feeling about the royals whatsoever”, and they have “nothing but respect and admiration” for them.
Mr Markle also criticised Harry and Meghan for not bringing Archie and Lilibet with them when they visited the Queen last month ahead of their appearance at the Invictus Games in the Hague, the Netherlands.
“Not bringing the children was like another slap in the face to the Queen,” he said.
Questioned if he was expecting them to be in London during the Jubilee celebrations, Mr Markle said: “I’m getting the feeling that if they know I’m coming, they won’t be coming. But if they do come I would love to reach out, speak with them and try to figure out what was wrong and how we can repair it.
“I don’t see that happening. But I certainly would like to try.”
