How Kate Middleton May Be Helping Meghan Markle Weather the Storm Over Her Father

Meghan Markle’s relationship with her father seems to be unraveling even further under the glare of the media spotlight as Thomas Markle poured his heart out to the Mail on Sunday this weekend, telling the newspaper that Meghan has cut him out of her life. But the Duchess of Sussex has at least found an ally in the royal family. Step forward the Duchess of Cambridge, who has apparently been “a pillar of support” for Harry’s wife as she navigates her new royal role and comes to terms with the seemingly irreparable breakdown of her relationship with her father.

Behind the gilded gates of Buckingham Palace the two duchesses are said to be forming a solid friendship, which will be of huge comfort to Meghan as she weathers yet another personal storm. According to one source, Meghan is “at her wit’s end” over her father’s decision to continue speaking to the press and feels angry and betrayed by her family who say they won’t be silenced and will continue to speak out. While the ongoing saga has no doubt been embarrassing for Meghan, she has had the support of Harry’s family, particularly Kate, her sister-in-law.

“Kate’s well aware of what Meghan is going through. Her family has been dragged through the tabloids and she knows it’s not nice. She’s made a big effort to be kind to Meghan and look out for her,” says a source.

Despite rumors in the press that Kate feels threatened by her glamorous sister-in-law, the duchesses are said to get along well. Their recent appearance at Wimbledon, where they seemed very comfortable in one another’s company, hinted at a blossoming friendship, which will come as a big relief to Harry. He is keen on Kate and Meghan getting along, and according to one royal source: “Kate’s made a real effort to be kind to Meghan and to include her. They’re quite different characters but they get along well.”

In addition to their love of dogs, chocolate, tennis, and the English countryside, the duchesses have a shared love of fashion. Kate has recommended a number of London-based designers to Meghan, including Emilia Wickstead, who has dressed Meghan on two occasions. According to the source, Kate regularly invites Meghan over to the Cambridge family’s apartment at Kensington Palace for tea.

“They speak on the phone and Kate makes a point of inviting Meghan over,” the source says. “I’d say they try to see each other once a week, sometimes with Harry, sometimes Meghan goes on her own. Kate’s really busy juggling three kids; she has a lot on her plate and she has her own friendship group, but she has made an effort with Meghan. She’s been very sympathetic to what’s been going on with Meghan and her dad.”

Meghan has also had the support of the rest of the family, including the Queen, who is said to be “a fan” of Meghan’s. The sensitive subject of Thomas Markle is unlikely to be raised when the Sussexes visit the Queen at Balmoral over the summer. In the interview with the Mail on Sunday, Thomas threatened: ”I tell you, I’ve just about reached my limit with Meghan and the royal family. I’m about to unload on them.”

In the wide-ranging interview the elder Markle also claimed that he had taken drugs while he worked as an award-winning lighting director, but insisted he is not an alcoholic, does not have a drinking problem, and hasn’t touched drugs for 20 years.

And in a startling admission likely to hurt his daughter, he said: “Perhaps it would be easier for Meghan if I died. Everybody would be filled with sympathy for her. But I hope we reconcile. I’d hate to die without speaking to Meghan again.” Once again Thomas suggested the couple would be starting a family soon and said he fears never seeing any future grandchildren.

“What’s sad is that some time in the next year Meghan and Harry will have a baby and I’ll be a grandfather, and if we’re not speaking I won’t see my grandchild,” he said. “How tragic is that, to deprive a child of its grandfather because I said a few things critical of the royal family?”

Yet Thomas seemed to want to obliterate his chances of reconciliation by invoking Harry’s dead mother, Princess Diana. “They [the royal family] have Meghan treating her father in a way that Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, would have loathed. That’s not what Diana stood for,” he said.

The comments are likely to infuriate Harry, although Thomas also claimed he doesn’t care if he ever speaks to his son-in-law again.

Clearly angry, he said: “I refuse to stay quiet. What riles me is Meghan’s sense of superiority. She’d be nothing without me. I made her the duchess she is today. Everything that Meghan is, I made her.” He said that he had put her through private school, paid out of his wages as a lighting director. “I was having my good years then, making good money, and could afford to give her the best, with a good school, good education, good home. She became the woman that she is today thanks to everything I did for her. And did I get any recognition for it? Any thanks? She doesn’t even speak to me now. How cold is that?”