Samantha Markle has appeared on Good Morning Britain on Monday to address rumours her half-sister Meghan is trying to reach out to their dad, Thomas, after his recent health scare. Mr Markle, 77, had been planning to fly to the UK in June for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee but was admitted to hospital last week after suffering a stroke.
It came after Mr Markle spoke last month of his desire to travel to the UK for the jubilee with hopes to meet members of the royal family and his grandchildren – Archie and Lilibet – for the first time. Speaking to GB News from his home in Rosarito, Mexico, last month Mr Markle said: "I’m looking forward to it.
"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."
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Since becoming ill it has been reported that the Duchess of Sussex, who is believed to have not spoken to her father for a number of years, was trying to reach out to Mr Markle. However, when GMB hosts Richard Madeley and Charlotte Hawkins asked Samantha if she or her dad had seen any signs of Meghan trying to reach out to her dad sher said: "We have not.
"I heard rumours that she was trying to reach out to my dad’s camp, but my brother and I are my dad’s camp and his phone number has never changed, his address has never changed. Even though he can’t speak, his language comprehension is perfect. She could text him, she could contact him and he can text back." She added: "Those rumours are not true, she has not reached out.”
Richard, 66, then asked about her dad's plans to fly to London for the Queen’s Jubilee and attempt to reconcile with Meghan and Harry on camera and Samantha said: “Well, who told you about that plan? It sounds like the PR staff were drinking too much mercury in the water."
Co-host Charlotte took time to ask Samantha, who hasn't spoken to Meghan since 2016, how her dad is and she said: "I think he feels blessed to be alive. He’s doing well, he can’t speak but his language comprehension is perfect. He understands, he can text and communicate that way. He’s feeling a bit stronger every day. All things considered, after two heart attacks, a pandemic and now this, he is rebounding remarkably well and we’re so happy about that."
On his recovery in the long-term, Samantha added: "Learning to speak again could take six months or a year... he understands the words perfectly, but he has to train his mouth and his tongue to form the words, so [it will take] six months to a year, realistically. It will be tough but he’s very patient, feels very strong about it and has a lot of love and support around him, so I think he’s going to do well."
At the end of the interview, Richard asked how Samantha would have described her sister before the fallout and she said: "We’re comparing apples to oranges, life changes people. We all said we always loved her and she was great and funny and all of those things, but time changes people. She’s become a completely different person, so it’s almost not appropriate to put things in that light."
But GMB viewers were taking to social media to complain about Samantha being on the show. @AlliGraay tweeted: "#GMB Why do you keep having Markles sister on? One second of seeing her face and I've switched over to BBC." @patchdennizen complained: "#GMB Good grief what a distasteful interview with Meghan Markle’s half sister."
@it_soniaa fumed: "There's are important things happening in the world but #gmb is giving airtime to samantha markle?? Are these people serious?" @ReviewsNewsView wrote: "It annoys me so much that @GMB keep giving Samantha Markle airtime." @caroleamurphy4 argued: "@GMB This really is not of interest to most people & should not have been given airtime more important things to cover!"
