Meghan Markle's dad has ‘heart attack’ and will NOT attend wedding after photo scandal
MEGHAN Markle's father will not attend the royal wedding for fear of embarrassing his daughter after he was caught in a paparazzi scandal which saw photographers pay him to pose for "hammy" photos as he revealed he suffered a heart attack last week.
RACHPOOT • TIM STEWART • GETTY
Meghan Markle had previously announced her father would walk her down the aisle at the royal wedding this Saturday.
However gossip website TMZ has revealed this evening Thomas Markle will now not attend the wedding after being caught allowing paparazzi to take his photo.
Mr Markle told the website he felt embarassed by the situation, regreted the "hammy" photos and had even suffered a heart attack in recent days.
He said paparazzi had been hounding him for weeks, capturing unflattering photographs. He said when approached by a photo agency he agreed to stage some photos in an attempt to improve his reputation.
Mr Markle also revealed he had suffered a heart attack just six days ago but had checked himself out of hospital because he was determined to attend the wedding.
However he confirmed this evening he would not be attending the wedding due to the controversy.
Kensington Palace said it had no comment.
Earlier today Meghan’s sister Samantha took the blame for the paparazzi scheme, saying she “suggested” Thomas should collude with the media for staged photographs.
She said she was the “culprit” – and that she had suggested the photos to help her father be portrayed as “respectable”.
Samantha even claimed she did it to “benefit the royal family” as well as her father.
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She told the Loose Women panel: “I have to say I am entirely the culprit.
As we know the media can take very unflattering photos of things by the day.
“They photograph you in unflattering ways, so I said you need to show the world that you’re getting in shape and doing good things.”
This is a developing story, more to follow...