Meghan Markle critic Lady C sets up fundraiser for Thomas Markle and takes swipe at Duchess
Lady C's fundraiser has secured thousands of pounds of donations
PA
Meghan Markle has come under fire again from Lady Colin Campbell after she set up a fundraiser for the Duchess of Sussex's "rejected" father on his 80th birthday.
Lady C - a long-time Meghan critic - had set up the appeal on popular crowd-funding website GoFundMe four days after Thomas Markle's big occasion.
The socialite-turned-biographer-turned-TV personality had called on members of the public to "show him solidarity and give him the acknowledgement he should be getting" - with the Duchess of Sussex's father having been estranged from his daughter since 2018.
In the fundraising appeal, named "Lady C celebrating Thomas Markle Sr's 80th birthday", Campbell heaped praise on Thomas - but not without a few digs at the duchess.
Lady C says Meghan would have been the most popular person on the planet had she remained a working royalGetty/GBN America
Its description reads: "Many people have suggested that I spearhead this fundraiser to meaningfully note Thomas Markle Sr's 80th birthday.
"He has been exceedingly generous with his time and money over the years, as I have learnt from the teachers at his daughter's school, who could not sing his praises highly enough.
"His kindness and generosity are well known in the film community, and I agree that now that he has been rejected and abandoned by the daughter.
"Those of us who wish to show him solidarity and give him the acknowledgement he should be getting from the actual recipient of his largesse, will hopefully, through our contributions, no matter how small, demonstrate to him that there are still people in the world with good hearts, good values, and good intentions.
MORE ON MEGHAN:
Lady C made a few digs at Meghan in the fundraiser
GoFundMe
"Hopefully our actions provide him with the comfort he deserves in more ways than one in his declining days."
More than £3,300 has been raised since the fundraiser's conception - but it may come as little consolation for Markle, who celebrated his eighth decade without Meghan.
He told the Mail: "I've had a good life and I am proud of what I've accomplished, but everything has been overshadowed by what has happened in the last six years.
"I've never been one for birthdays, but I know the one person I most want to hear from, Meghan, won't be in touch."
Neither Meghan nor Harry have communicated with Thomas since 2018
GettyThe duchess and her father, who lives some 250 miles from the Sussexes' mansion in Montecito, have not been in contact since just before her May 2018 wedding to Prince Harry.
The relationship between Meghan and her retired lighting director dad had become strained when he staged paparazzi photos just before she tied the knot - while he also suffered two heart attacks just before the ceremony, preventing him from walking his daughter down the aisle.
Since then, neither Meghan nor Harry have communicated with Thomas - and he has never met his princely son-in-law, or his grandchildren, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Though that hasn't prevented him from speaking out; in a bombshell interview just one month ago, he asked the Mail: "Why didn't Harry ever come to meet me?"
The Duchess of Sussex and Thomas Markle have not not spoken for yearsThomas continued: "He has the resources to fly around the world - and does - but why didn't he come to see me, particularly when people in the royal household like Jason Knauf [Harry and Meghan's former communications secretary] were urging him to do so? That has never made sense to me.
"What man gets married without meeting his wife's father?"
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