Meghan Markle is 'tearful and embarrassed' over dad's Royal Wedding debacle

Sean Mandell, a TMZ reporter who has been speaking to dad Thomas Markle, said the bride-to-be has suffered a "trying time" following the revelation he had been staging snaps.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain this morning, Mr Mandell said Mr Markle had not spoken directly to his daughter but had heard about her state.

The reporter said: "She is holding up, from what I've been told. It has been a tearful, at times, and a trying time for her."

He added she was "embarrassed" by the episode but added: "She's no stranger to having to deal with hard moments in her life."

Mr Markle is said to be "okay" after his heart surgery which took place yesterday.

Living in Mexico, the dad is unlikely to make it to the wedding.

Mr Mandell said: 

"I do get the sense he does want to be reunited with Meghan.

"He told us he wanted to be there."

The comments followed Meghan's half sister, Samantha Grant, being taken to hospital after suffering from a broken ankle and fractured knee following a confrontation with the media.

Samantha’s boyfriend, Mark, told TMZ the couple were driving in Florida when they had a “paparazzi confrontation”.

He claimed a photographer “veered” in front of them and forced him to swerve and hit a concrete barrier.

It is understood Samantha hit the car windscreen as a result of the collision and fell to the vehicle’s floor mat.

The half-sister was then unable to pick herself up - she suffers from Multiple sclerosis.

Mark said his girlfriend’s foot had been twisted backwards. He then drove her to an emergency room where doctors were treating her.

The incident came after Samantha Markle launched yet another extraordinary verbal attack on the bride-to-be and said she would not be silenced.

She said: “She’s not going to tell me that I can’t speak about my life.

“I’m not going to take it. She’s way out of her league to tell me that I can’t speak.

“If it’s about my life or my father’s there is something in this country called freedom of speech.

“Meghan doesn’t have a copyright on that and she’s not going to tell me that I can’t speak about my life or my father’s life where it’s a matter of public self-defence.

“The media is disparaging us. I’m not going to take it. This is not Great Britain.

“I am a United States citizen and that’s all there is to it. She’s way out of her league to tell me that I can’t speak.”

The 53-year-old, one of two children born to Meghan’s father Thomas from his first marriage, has given a series of increasingly bitter interviews about her sibling.

She alleged Meghan rejected her family during her search for stardom and and claimed Prince Harry should be “appalled by what she’s done”.

Samantha, who has not seen Meghan for 10 years, branded her “narcissistic and selfish” and has written a memoir called The Diary of Princess Pushy’s Sister.

Earlier this week Samantha appeared on ITV show Loose Women and claimed she was behind Thomas Markle’s decision to stage photos of himself ahead of the royal wedding.

She admitted she “suggested” Mr Markle's father collude with the media to stage the photos.

She told the show’s 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.”

Over the weekend a video emerged of Mr Markle walking into a library with a photographer.

It was alleged he then staged photos of himself looking at images of Prince Harry and his daughter on a public computer.

Mr Markle is said to be “alone and upset” after undergoing heart surgery and may not be allowed to leave hospital before the royal wedding.

He has had three stents implanted in arteries following a heart attack at home in Mexico eight days ago and is now unlikely to be able to travel to the UK to give away his daughter at St George's Chapel, Windsor, on Saturday.

He told celebrity website TMZ: “I’m okay. It will take a long time to heal. Staying in the hospital a few more days. Not allowed to get excited.”

Mr Markle said his doctors needed to “go in and clear blockage, repair damage, and put a stent where it is needed” during the operation.

Meghan’s nephew, Tyler Dooley, said he hoped his grandfather would fly to England for the big but added: “We’ll just have to wait and see.”