The physical distance between Montecito, California and Cebu in the Philippines is roughly 7,000 miles, but for the Markle family, the emotional chasm might as well be infinite. While the Duchess of Sussex prepares for a new year in her Californian enclave, her father, Thomas Markle Sr., is confronting the harsh reality of a life irrevocably changed.
Lying in a hospital bed in the Philippines, the 81-year-old former Hollywood lighting director is beginning the gruelling process of recovery after losing his left leg, a traumatic event that has once again highlighted the deep, unresolved fracture at the heart of his family.
