Meghan Markle's father Thomas Markle likens UK royal family to secret cult like Scientology

LONDON: In his latest media outburst, Meghan Markle's father has attacked the British royal family for their secrecy and likened them to secret cults like Scientology.

Thomas Markle, who has previously criticised the royals for cutting him out of his daughter's life since her marriage to Prince Harry earlier this year, said the royals are "cult-like" who may even have secret handshakes.

Speaking to the Sun' newspaper from his home in Mexican town Rosarito, the 74-year-old former Hollywood lighting director said: They (the UK royal family) are either like Scientologists or the Stepford family.

If they hear anybody say anything they just lock the doors.

They need to speak up! They are cult-like like Scientology because they are secretive. "They close the door, pull the shades down and put their fingers in their ears so they don't have to hear.

Maybe they have a secret handshake too! You cannot ask a question of them as they won't answer, he added.

The Church of Scientology is controversial for its secretive practices and claims of brainwashing its members, which the church denies.

Its famous celebrity followers include Tom Cruise, who has donated heavily to the Church set up by American author Ron Hubbard in 1952.

The Stepford Wives' is a 1970s thriller novel by Ira Levin where men in American suburbia turn their spouses into brainwashed submissive robots.

Markle, an Emmy Award-winning lighting director, has been trying to persuade Meghan, 37, and her husband Prince Harry, 33, to contact him after three months of silence.

They have not spoken since the day of the couple's wedding at Windsor Castle on May 19.

Markle did not attend the wedding due to bad health and amid controversy over his media interactions.

  He dismissed some recent reports implying that he was after a payback.

Merkle said: I worked hard to provide for my children.

I am their father, I don't expect them to pay me back.

He has been at the centre of media controversies ever since he was caught up in a staged-photography row days before the royal wedding.

It resulted in him not attending the wedding to walk his daughter down the aisle, something he later said he cried over.

  Meghan Markle, now Duchess of Sussex, has been busy with her royal duties alongside Prince Harry, the sixth in line to the British throne.

Both Buckingham Palace and Kensington Palace declined to comment on her father's latest outburst.