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The Duchess of Sussex has accused the Daily Mail of breaching “clear ethical boundaries” by reporting from the bedside of her estranged father, following his claims he had not received his daughter’s messages.
Thomas Markle appealed to Meghan to see him in a Mail on Sunday interview at the weekend, after he underwent serious surgery in the Philippines.
However, a spokesperson for Meghan said she had been attempting to reach her father, and criticised the paper’s behaviour.
“Given that a Daily Mail reporter has remained at her father’s bedside throughout, broadcasting each interaction and breaching clear ethical boundaries, it has been exceedingly difficult for the duchess to contact her father privately, despite her efforts over the past several days,” the spokesperson said.
“With the support of reliable and trusted contacts, her correspondence is now safely in his hands.”
A spokesperson for DMG Media, the parent company of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, said Markle was a friend of the journalist that interviewed him, Caroline Graham, and denied unethical behaviour.
“When Thomas Markle was taken ill in the Philippines he contacted Caroline Graham and asked her to travel from LA to be with him,” said the spokesperson. “As well as being a journalist, Caroline has been friends with Mr Markle since 2018. She has been with Mr Markle in hospital every day, providing him with care and support.
“As soon as Mr Markle gave consent for his contact details, the name of his hospital and his room number to be provided to his daughter’s spokesman, Caroline shared them.
“It is entirely untrue that each interaction has been broadcast, and the suggestion that Caroline has breached ethical boundaries is demonstrably false and vehemently denied.”
It also follows a tense few days in which Meghan is understood to have been attempting to reach her father with a message. Her team claim they have struggled to locate him or find a way to reach him directly.
The row comes weeks before the Duke of Sussex is due to begin a lawsuit against the publisher of the Daily Mail over allegations of unlawful information gathering.
Meghan has been estranged from her father since 2018, when she married Prince Harry. Markle was supposed to walk Meghan down the aisle, but pulled out of the ceremony because of health problems.
The two were then engaged in a row over whether he had spoken to the press, and it later emerged he had worked with newspapers and staged paparazzi photographs before the wedding.
The duchess has also said that a private letter she wrote to her father, extracts of which were published in the Mail on Sunday, begging him to stop talking to the media “actually signalled the end of our relationship, not a reconciliation”.
In the court case scheduled for next month, the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday is being sued by Prince Harry, Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Liz Hurley, Sadie Frost, the campaigner Doreen Lawrence and the former politician Sir Simon Hughes.
The claimants allege Associated Newspapers Limited carried out or commissioned unlawful activities such as hiring private investigators to place listening devices inside cars, “blagging” private records and accessing private phone conversations. ANL vehemently denies the allegations.
