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(CNN) —
Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle, told American publication TMZ on Monday that he will not attend his daughter’s wedding to Prince Harry.
According to the TMZ report, Markle decided not to walk his daughter down the aisle on Saturday, after it was revealed he worked with a picture agency to stage some pictures of him preparing himself for the wedding.
Thomas Markle said he now thought the pictures were “stupid and hammy,” according to the TMZ report. He said he made the decision to skip the wedding so he wouldn’t embarrass the royal family or his daughter.
CNN has reached out to Thomas Markle for comment over phone and over email but has yet to receive an answer.
CNN has learned that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are very concerned about the pressure Thomas Markle is under and want the media to give him some space. CNN has also learned that though Markle is upset about what has transpired, her feelings about having her father give her away on Saturday haven’t changed since photographs were published.
“This is a deeply personal moment for Ms. Markle in the days before her wedding,” a Kensington Palace spokesman said Monday. “She and Prince Harry ask again for understanding and respect to be extended to Mr. Markle in this difficult situation.”
Thomas Markle has been the subject of many unflattering media reports in the British tabloids as his daughter Meghan prepares to marry Prince Harry on Saturday.
Images of him at an internet cafe checking out a website featuring his soon-to-be royal daughter sparked an “awww” moment on social media last week.
But Markle’s half-sister told a British TV network on Monday that she urged their father to stage positive photos for the paparazzi to help improve his image.
“I said the world has no idea that you’re getting in shape and doing healthy things,” Samantha Markle said on the ITV program “Loose Women.”
“They don’t photograph you buying vegetables and pH water, they photograph you in as [many] unflattering ways as they can. I said, ‘Really you need to show the world you are getting in shape and doing great, healthy things.’ So I suggested it.”
PHOTO:
Jeff Rayner/Coleman-Rayner
Another photo of Thomas Markle that may have also been staged
In Sunday editions and online, Britain’s Daily Mail published what it said was security camera footage showing Thomas Markle arriving at the internet cafe with a photographer.
Samantha Markle took full responsibility for arranging the photos, saying she was “entirely the culprit.” When asked if her father had been paid, she said she didn’t think so but wasn’t sure.
“I do not believe so. That was not the motive – it was my suggestion,” she said. “I have no idea. But if he did, I am going to assume it was a pittance – they don’t pay that much. It really was so the world could see him doing the healthy things.”
01:39 - Source: CNN
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