Meghan Markle’s Dad Said She Ignored His Birthday Gift, And It’s No Wonder Why

Meghan Markle surely had a lot of presents arrive on her doorstep on Aug. 4, her 40th birthday. However, this doesn’t mean they were all received with open arms. After falling out with her father, Thomas Markle, it’s being reported (by Thomas himself) that Meghan ignored his birthday gift.

It’s been a long time since Meghan and Thomas were on good terms. Three years, to be exact. The father-daughter duo had a dramatic falling out after her May 2018 wedding, which Thomas failed to show up at after it was revealed he’d been paid to stage paparazzi photos. At the time, he claimed he’d experienced a heart attack, but the validity of that heart attack later came into question. (Elite Daily previously reached out to Kensington Palace regarding these claims, but did not hear back.) The Duchess of Sussex’s father has been trying to patch things up ever since to no avail. His latest attempt included a gift of flowers and a note.

Thomas spoke to TMZ about the gift and shared the exact details of what he sent his daughter. In the card, Thomas wrote, “Wishing you a happy birthday and brighter days.” The bouquet Thomas sent included a dozen red roses with two yellow ones, meant to signify Meghan’s two children, Archie and Lilibet.

Seeing as Thomas has repeatedly spoken to the press behind his daughter’s back, it’s not hard to guess why she would refrain from responding to his latest attempt to connect with her. Even in his latest quest to reconnect with his daughter, Thomas said more than he needed to to the press. As he told TMZ, he wanted to include a sentiment about her children in the present because he wants to be part of their lives. He added he doesn’t think the kids have enough family around them in their town of Montecito, California.

Meghan briefly opened up about the fallout with her father in her March 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. At the time, she admitted things would have been different with her pops if he had just told the truth.

“He wasn’t able to do that. And that for me has really resonated, especially now as a mother,” she said. Given her recent comments, it seems it will take more than flowers to fix this relationship. Not to mention, it had been presumably less than a week after Thomas sent his daughter flowers when he went running to the press for an interview. Even if Meghan did intend to reach out, why would she at this point?