Meghan Markle’s estranged dad Thomas, 81, rushed to hospital for emergency surgery: ‘Keep him in your thoughts’
Meghan Markle’s estranged dad is said to be fighting for his life.
Thomas Markle, 81, was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery after suddenly falling ill at his home in the Philippines on Tuesday, according to the Daily Mail.
Following a three-hour surgery, Thomas was reportedly placed into intensive care as doctors continued to monitor his condition. He is now said to be set to undergo a second procedure to remove a blood clot.
This isn’t the first time the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged dad suffered a startling health scare. Best Image / BACKGRID
Thomas Markle, 81, was rushed to the hospital for emergency surgery after suddenly falling ill at his Philippines home. Good Morning Britain / ITV1
“I took dad to a hospital close to our home and they did various scans and the doctors said his life was in imminent danger,” Thomas Markle Jr. told the outlet Wednesday.
“They raced us by ambulance, with the sirens going, to a much bigger hospital in the center of the city.
“My dad has undergone emergency surgery,” he continued. “I would ask everyone around the world to keep him in their thoughts. My only wish is that Meghan shows my father some compassion. He is literally fighting for his life.”
Meghan Markle has yet to comment on her estranged dad’s latest health scare. BACKGRID
Following a three-hour surgery, Thomas was reportedly placed into intensive care as doctors continued to monitor his condition. REUTERS
Thomas Markle Jr. and Samantha Markle have asked for thoughts and prayers amid their dad’s health scare. Channel 7
Thomas Jr., 59, added that he expects his dad to be in the hospital for “a long time” and that it will be a “grueling” recovery.
Thomas’ daughter, meanwhile, said that she is praying for her ailing father.
“He is a strong man, but he has been through so much,” Samantha Markle, 61, told the outlet. “I am praying that he is strong enough to survive this.”
Meghan Markle has been estranged from her father ever since May 2018. ?????????????
“My father has been through two heart attacks, a stroke and an earthquake,” she added. “I hope he can pull through this.”
The Post has reached out to Meghan’s rep for comment.
This wouldn’t be the first time the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged dad suffered a startling health scare.
Meghan Markle posing with her dad during her graduation from Northwestern University in 2003. News Licensing / MEGA
Meghan and Thomas Markle years before their estrangement. News Licensing / MEGA
The Duchess of Sussex with her father, Thomas Markle, years before their estrangement. News Licensing / MEGA
In May 2018, on the eve of Prince Harry and Meghan’s wedding ceremony, he suffered two heart attacks that prevented him from traveling from Los Angeles to London to walk his daughter down the aisle.
The pair have been estranged ever since.
“We were always so close,” Thomas, who split from Meghan’s mother Doria when Meghan was 3, told Daily Mail in 2018. “Being shut out of her life is the biggest tragedy of my life.”
“I don’t understand what I did so wrong that she never talked to me again,” he added. “I have been upset at my daughter, I have been angry at her at times – but I have never stopped loving her.”
Thomas Markle split from Meghan’s mother, Doria, when Meghan was 3. Channel 5
Thomas Markle on “Good Morning Britain” in September 2023. ITV
Thomas later suffered a massive stroke in 2022 that left him unable to speak for months, and he reportedly barely survived a 6.9-magnitude earthquake in the Philippines earlier this year.
“My father is stuck on the 19th floor of a building in the Philippines after a massive earthquake and he can’t walk and he is trapped,” Samantha wrote on X at the time.
Thomas spoke out shortly after to say that he was “fine.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex in South Africa in October 2019. EPA
Meghan Markle in “With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration,” which was released on Netflix on Dec. 3, 2025. Netflix
As for the 44-year-old “Suits” alum, she released her “With Love, Meghan: Holiday Celebration” Netflix special on the same day it was announced that her father had been hospitalized.
“I would ask Meg, on a week when she has released a TV show talking about the power of love and family, to reach out to our dad,” Thomas Jr. said.
“She needs to start showing the compassion she preaches about,” he concluded.
