Thomas Markle

Thomas Wayne Markle (born July 18, 1944) is an American retired television lighting director and director of photography.
He received a Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award for work on the television program ''Made in Chicago'' in 1975 and was a co-recipient of two Daytime Emmy Awards for work on the television soap opera ''General Hospital'' in 1982 and 2011. His youngest child is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

Early life

Thomas Wayne Markle Sr. was born on July 18, 1944, and raised in Newport, Pennsylvania, the son of Doris May Rita (''née'' Sanders; 1920–2011) and Gordon Arnold Markle (1918–1979). His mother's family was from New Hampshire. The Markle (formerly spelled Merckel) family on his father's side have ethnic German 18th-century origins from the Alsatian town of Lampertsloch, Hanau-Lichtenberg, now part of Bas-Rhin, France. He has two brothers, Michael (1939–2021) and Frederick (also known as Dismas F. Markle; born 1942). He was raised in an Anglican Christian denomination.

Among Markle's distant ancestors are his paternal great-great-grandmother, New Hampshire landowner Mary Hussey Smith (died 1908), who was a descendant of Christopher Hussey. He also descends from Sir Philip Wentworth and Mary Clifford, a daughter of John Clifford, 7th Baron Clifford and Lady Elizabeth Percy, a descendant of Edward III.

Career

Markle worked as a lighting director at WTTW-TV Channel 11 in the 1970s. He worked on the television series ''General Hospital'' and '' Married... with Children''. He also oversaw the lighting for the 1984 Summer Olympics.

Awards

In 1975, he received a Chicago / Midwest Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement for Individual Excellence: Non Performers for his lighting design work on WTTW-TV Channel 11's ''Made in Chicago'' program.

In 1982, Markle was one of the 14 named co-recipients of a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Design Excellence for a Daytime Drama Series for work on ''General Hospital'', and in 2011, he shared a Daytime Emmy Award with Vincent Steib for Outstanding Achievement in Lighting Direction for a Drama Series for work on ''General Hospital''. He was also nominated (with various co-nominees) for Daytime Emmy Awards for work on ''General Hospital'' on seven other occasions.

Markle was nominated, along with two other co-nominees, for a Primetime Emmy Award in 1986 for Outstanding Lighting Direction (Electronic) for a Miniseries or a Special for the lighting design for the 58th Academy Awards.

Personal life

Markle married student and secretary Roslyn Loveless in 1964; they had met the year before at a campus party at the University of Chicago. They had two children, Yvonne Marie Markle (who later changed her name to Samantha) in 1964 and Thomas Wayne Markle Jr. in 1966, before divorcing in 1975. In a 2019 interview with ''Daily Mirror'' Loveless accused Markle of having extramarital affairs during their marriage, allegations which he denied.

He married Doria Ragland at the Self-Realization Fellowship Temple of Paramahansa Yogananda in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on December 23, 1979, officiated by Brother Bhaktananda. Their daughter, Rachel Meghan Markle (known by her middle name), who later became the Duchess of Sussex, was born on August 4, 1981. The couple split when their daughter was two years old. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1987. He won a California State Lottery prize in 1990, "scooping $750,000 with five numbers, which included Meghan's birth date". Both parents contributed to raising Meghan and, at the age of nine, she started living full-time with her father as Ragland pursued a career. He paid for Meghan's private education from preschool at Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse to Northwestern University as well as living expenses. In addition to his regular job, Markle spent time helping with lighting for plays and musicals at Immaculate Heart High School, which Meghan attended.

In 2016, Markle filed for bankruptcy for a second time over a debt of $30,000. He lived in Rosarito, Mexico, before moving to Cebu, Philippines, in 2025.

In May 2018, Markle underwent a heart surgery days before his daughter Meghan's wedding to Prince Harry. In May 2022, he was hospitalized after suffering a stroke.

In the media

In 2018, Markle was the subject of considerable media speculation as to whether he would attend his daughter Meghan's wedding to Prince Harry, at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom. He did not attend as he was recovering from heart surgery after being discharged from the hospital two days before the wedding. He later stated that he was never sent a formal invitation.

In May 2018, a few days before the wedding, Markle became a subject of controversy after it was revealed that he had staged photographs for a paparazzi photographer in return for money. His elder daughter, Samantha, later stated that it was her idea, and that her father's motivation was not financial but "to show the world that e'sgetting in shape and doing great healthy things." Markle admitted that he initially had lied to Harry about the staged photos and later regretted his decision. Later it was reported that the photographer who took the pictures previously worked for Meghan and had been hired by her after she moved back to the United States. In November 2021, Markle sued the photo agency Coleman-Rayner in Los Angeles County Superior Court and sought $1 million in damages, alleging that the staged paparazzi photos were published without his approval and he was not given his 30% share of sales from images in accordance with their initial contract. In September 2022, a judge issued a restraining order instructing Markle to keep away from Jeff Rayner for the next two years as Rayner stated that Markle had threatened to kill him in his statements published in Tom Bower's book ''Revenge: Meghan, Harry and the War Between the Windsors''. The case against the photo agency was dismissed in January 2023.

In June 2018, he appeared on '' Good Morning Britain'' in which he discussed his personal relationship with Meghan and his son-in-law. In another interview with ''The Mail on Sunday'' in July 2018, Markle said that his daughter "ouldbe nothing without me. I made her the Duchess she is today." His continual paid interviews with the press reportedly damaged his relationship with his daughter, with whom he indicated he had not been in contact since the royal wedding.

In February 2019, he published excerpts of a letter sent to him by his daughter shortly after her wedding, in direct response to a ''People'' article involving five of Meghan's friends referencing the letter and negatively commenting on his character, in which she stated that he had broken her heart "into a million pieces" with his actions. Markle described the letter as a "a dagger to the heart" rather than an "olive branch". The letter later became the subject of a privacy and copyright infringement case involving Meghan and Associated Newspapers during which Meghan and Harry's former communications secretary Jason Knauf revealed that when writing the letter Meghan wondered whether she should refer to her father as "daddy" as she believed "in the unfortunate event that it leaked, it would pull at the heartstrings".

In January 2020, it was revealed that ''The Mail on Sunday'' could possibly use evidence provided by Markle against his own daughter in an ongoing legal battle between the paper and the Duchess. The ''Daily Mail'' also named him as a potential witness who could testify against Meghan in court. In the same month, he said in an interview that Meghan is "tossing away every young girl's dream of becoming a princess, for money", and that she and Harry are "destroying and cheapening" the royal institution, and that they are "lost souls". He also stated that he does not expect to see Meghan ever again but still hopes for reconciliation one day.

In July 2021, Markle stated that he would be petitioning California courts for rights to see his grandchildren Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet of Sussex.

In 2022, Markle began publishing videos on the YouTube channel ''Remarkable Friendship'' together with photographer Karl Larsen although he states he has severed their relationship after recording their last video.

In 2023, he along with his son and elder daughter took part in a special '' 7NEWS Spotlight'' interview, called ''The Markles''.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Markle Sr., Thomas
1944 births
American expatriates in Mexico
American lighting designers
American people of English descent
American people of German descent
Daytime Emmy Award winners
Living people
Markle family
People from Newport, Pennsylvania