Meghan Markle’s estranged father Thomas Markle fighting for life in intensive care after medical emergency

Meghan Markle’s estranged father is in intensive care “fighting for his life” after undergoing emergency surgery in the Philippines.

Thomas Markle, who moved to the Asian country this year, fell seriously ill at his home on Tuesday and was in “imminent danger” before undergoing a three hour surgery, according to his son Thomas Jr.

The 81-year-old is now facing the prospect of a second surgery to remove a blood clot.

Royal insiders say Prince Harry has been “gently but firmly” urging Meghan to make peace with her dad.

“Harry knows estrangement. He made peace with his dad; now he wants Meghan to have the same chance. He’s been saying, ‘Don’t wait, do it now’,” one told celebrity journalist Rob Shuter.

Another said, “This is a moment where Meghan can choose — silence or family.”

Harry has led by example on the reconciliation front, they say, making overtures to his father King Charles and “showing Meghan what reconciliation looks like”.

Her estranged half brother Thomas Jr. said he took his father to a hospital close to home where the did various scans and the doctors said his life was in “imminent danger”.

“They raced us by ambulance, with the sirens going, to a much bigger hospital in the centre of the city. My dad has undergone emergency surgery. I would ask everyone around the world to keep him in their thoughts,” he told the UK’s Daily Mail.

Thomas Jr. continued, “My only wish is that Meghan shows my father some compassion. He is literally fighting for his life.”

Mr Markle’s daughter Samantha, Meghan’s half-sister, said her father was a strong man who had already endured a number of health scares.

“He is a strong man, but he has been through so much. I am praying that he is strong enough to survive this.”

Mr Markle is believed to have become frail in recent years, with a massive stroke in 2022 leaving him with speech difficulties.

The retired Hollywood lighting director suffered two heart attacks on the eve of daughter Meghan’s fairytale royal wedding 2018, meaning he had to miss the event entirely.

Their already strained relationship was severed entirely after Mr Markle posed for paparazzi photos just before the wedding to “show him in a better light”, infuriating Meghan and Harry.

“(Harry) and Meghan were angry with me and when I said I was in hospital and had nearly died from two heart attacks they didn’t even ask how I was,’ Mr Markle later said.

“I reached out every way I could. I appealed to them publicly and I wrote private letters. They cut me dead. It broke my heart.”

Mr Markle has never met Prince Harry or his grandchildren Archie, 6, and Lilibet, 4.

Meghan has not made any public comment about her father’s latest health challenge.