Or is Meghan Markle making the right choice?

[CaliforniaDream]

I don't know if it actually was her choice or her father's, but it seems to me that it's the right decision for him not to come to the wedding.

He's obviously not at all well and needs to recover from his heart attack. He is also obviously wildly in over his head with the media. I think Kensington Palace have something to answer for there as they should have taken him under their wing from the start and given him more help in dealing with press speculation. But the damage is done and now he has caused himself and his daughter a lot of heartache - that must be causing him stress, and I think he will be happier and more healthy for missing it.

I really feel for Meghan. She obviously had quite a complex and uneasy relationship with her dad. She must feel so betrayed that he went behind her back to have these press photographs taken, and it seems he is also texting gossip fodder directly to TMZ. While there are mitigating factors, he very clearly hasn't been putting his daughter's wellbeing first. If he had, she'd be able to have her dad at her wedding and now she can't.

I hope she still has a great day on Saturday, and that her father recovers, and that she's able to move on from this and have a reasonable relationship with him.

If my relatives were as embarrassing as hers, I would not have had such a big, ostentatious wedding. It's asking for trouble.

I don't think he was ever coming and I suspect Meghan knew that.

'Whatever the ins and outs of MM's family, the press have feasted like vultures on all of them'

So true. It's back to the good old days of the gutter press. A trashy tabloid phone in radio show yesterday had a heart consultant on, talking about the ins and outs of the sort of surgery that Thomas Markle is supposed be having, recovery time etc, all in virtually pornographic detail. The presenter was virtually wetting himself at every detail It was so foul I had to switch off

I'm not a royal family fan.

But why on earth do people think that Kensington Palace should have done more to protect him?

MM is a celebrity herself! She surely knows and understands how the media works based on her YEARS of being in the spotlight in her own right. SHE should have been watching out for her dad ... if she chose to.

@caperberries I don't think you get much choice when you marry a prince!

I think this is a lesson learned TBH. It seemed like they have learned from Diana and Fergie in protecting the actual bride from press excesses, but what they didn’t bank on was press moving on to a vulnerable family member with quite such force.

But why on earth do people think that Kensington Palace should have done more to protect him?

I see it more as protecting themselves from him. For an organisation which protects itself so carefully from the press and controls its media image so tightly, I think they dropped the ball on this one.

Thing is with all the rabid speculation the truth is getting buried abd I wish the gleeful bottom feeders would give it a rest

It is a state funded wedding, I appreciate that op - BUT - this paints her in such a bad light.

If he had piles for instance she wouldn't be expected to fly over and check on him and be with him....but a heart attack...well that is end of life stuff and to some people she is looking like a feckless bride to be having her nails painted and pedicure completed whilst he is lying withering away in a run down hospital in the backend of Mexico.

It is not ideal.

It is the way it looks.

Any day now we will see a photo of him picking up beer and nachos instead of lying in his hospital bed...

I don't buy the heart problems/operation story at al. Nor do I buy the fact that he was just niave when he did a deal with the paps for pics to show him in a better light. He knew what he was doing and wanted the cash - the guy has worked in the entertainment industry on well known TV shows, he also has an Emmy Award according to reputable newspapers. I don't believe there will be any changes to the day/ceremony to accommodate the happenings because to marry Prince Harry she will have to put duty before family. I can see why she made it on her own though, clearly no real family to rely on apart from her mother.

but a heart attack...well that is end of life stuff

Not necessarily. It sounds like he’s had heart trouble before so it’s just part of an ongoing management of that condition.

poor girl.can you imagine telling them to cancel a royal wedding.the pressure that must bring to her heart.
you can not cancel something as huge as this has become im sorry.ok ok she could.and if it was a death etc maybe.and how close to canceling she has been we just don't know do we.but she will be being told and thinking logicaly that she cant do that.the cost that's gone into this.the expensense from the security to the venue to setting up the citys.the plans regarding terrorism and everything we see as a tiny element to our own wedding will be huge mountains for a wedding such as this.
you don't just cancel a caterer or change the decorations on a royal wedding.it would send the whole thing into a tailspin.and I guarantee we normal folk wouldn't thank her for the spiral it sends London into!
I saw what her sister wrote.and the one and only time ive love pierce morgan for calling her on it was on gmb yesterday!
can we perhaps pretend she might be human here with feelings and have a bit of compassion for the girl.

If I was Kensington Palace I would have flown Harry and Megan over to him for a 'photo opportunity' complete with get well balloons and a teddy bear and turned this around.

Heart attack no heart attack that would shut down her critics, and she could get on and enjoy her day without him.

As it stands, this makes her look rather cold hearted (I am sure she isn't at all) Someone somewhere not pointing any fingers Samantha Markle has spent A LOT of time planning this moment (revenge)

I feel really sorry for Meghan, she must be wondering "what next?" all the time with regards to her family. It sounds as if her mum is the only one she can rely on. I think if she and Harry had known how crazy it would become they would have chosen a much more low key way of marrying.

However, I don't think there was a heart attack or surgery at all. Her dad is way out of his depth and I think this "health problem" has been the only way to gain any sort of control over how the big day goes. Goodness only knows how the other relations, who have turned up without invitations, will behave.

Flown them over a couple of days before the wedding?? It is not as though they are close are they?

Maybe Meghan doesn't want her future inlaws and "the Palace" interfering in her affairs. She isn't a small child. She's an adult who could have visited all these various relatives if she wished, but she chose not to.
The Windsors' long term relationship with Meghan is more important than pissing her off to look good in the media in the short term.
If she wants to visit him after the wedding she can do so. He will be able to watch it on TV unlike any other relative who had an MI in USA just before their daughter got married in the UK. I agree flying immediately post MI is dangerous and would be stupid.

Most of us on Moments should Megan have asked would have said to her given your crappy family are very unlikely to do the right thing why not have a more private intimate wedding in a beautiful castle in Scotland with just the family (that are invited) and keep everything low key. There was no need for the full state wedding under the glare of the vultures. It would have been much better to have kept the wedding small and dignified, it is her second wedding - I wonder what the first was like?

I hate how much pleasure people are drawing from this.

mycatistoofat

It is not difficult to fly anywhere when you have a private jet at your disposal

ILikeMyChickenFried I don't think pleasure would be the word I would use tbh, more like horrified for her.

It would have been much better to have kept the wedding small and dignified, it is her second wedding - I wonder what the first was like?

Unnecessarily snide comment. She isn't responsible for the traditional pomp and circumstance surrounding a royal wedding. There is only so much she will have been able to control.

If I was Kensington Palace I would have flown Harry and Megan over to him for a 'photo opportunity' complete with get well balloons and a teddy bear and turned this around.

Her relationship with her father is her business, and nobody else's. Harry appears to respect this. So should everyone else.

And a photo op with balloons and teddies sounds tacky in the extreme.

There’s a good article on the BBC website about how KP have dealt with this - ie not well. They’ve relied too much on the gentleman’s agreement with the British Press and neglected to realise that other overseas Press organisations don’t give a stuff about what is and isn’t “appropriate”.

<a class="break-all" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44146766?intlink_from_url=www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cpwpy79d6dxt/royal-wedding-2018-prince-harry-and-meghan-markle&link_location=live-reporting-correspondent" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44146766?intlink_from_url=www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cpwpy79d6dxt/royal-wedding-2018-prince-harry-and-meghan-markle&link_location=live-reporting-correspondent

@ILikeMyChickenFried not sure if that was directed at me but I definitely don't feel pleasure - I feel terribly sorry for her and think she has been badly let down by her family and by KP. I think she seems like a lovely woman and I hope that her wedding is wonderful and her marriage long and happy!

Also don't understand how everyone has become so uppity about second weddings.