TMZ reported this morning that Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle, suffered a heart attack six days ago and following news that he participated with paparazzi shots will no longer be attending his daughter’s wedding on Saturday. The decision is said to have been his choice as he is deeply embarrassed by the news coverage and couldn’t face meeting the Royal Family or the attention that would come from walking Meghan down the aisle.

It’s unclear at this point who will in fact take Thomas’s place on Saturday, though speculation has run the gamut of her mother and the Prince of Wales, or Meghan walking herself.

Kensington Palace has sort of confirmed the news with a brief statement:

BREAKING: Kensington Palace has released a statement following the news that Thomas Markle will no longer be attending the #RoyalWedding pic.twitter.com/6Z7WPpmsYc

— Charlie Proctor (@MonarchyUK) May 14, 2018

It’s been further noted in the conversation that Thomas didn’t attend Meghan’s first wedding in 2011, and that the Palace should have done a better job of preparing him for how to handle both the media and what he would be facing when he arrived in London. Perhaps, though it’s hard to point fingers given that we have no idea what’s been happening behind the scenes.

At this point, this is kind of a cluster and frankly I just feel horrible for everyone involved, particularly Meghan. No one wants to be dealing with this kind of situation in the run up to their wedding, much less when it’s an event with huge international attention.

Needless to say the news has drowned out other tidbits that were released this morning, such as that Harry and Meghan will both attend a garden party at Buckingham Palace three days after the wedding in honor of Charles’s charitable work. The Prince will turn 70 this November and it is but one of what will be a series of occasions marking the milestone.

We also now know that Meghan will spend the night before her wedding at Cliveden House Hotel. At one point in its history it was the home of the Astors, which we recently referenced in this recent post on Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, Queen Marie of Romania.

Harry will spend Friday night with the Duke of Cambridge at Cowarth Park.

UPDATE: It’s now being reported that the Palace has confirmed at least one foreign tour for Harry and Meghan this autumn. As we know, they are expected to be in Sydney in October for the Invictus Games, but it’s now being said that they will also visit New Zealand, Tonga and Fiji around the same time.

Way to change the subject, KP 😉