Sources close to the Duchess of Sussex insist she has reached out to her seriously ill father after newspaper reports claimed he was having his leg amputated.
Speaking to the Daily Mail from his hospital bed in the Philippines, Thomas Markle, 81, claimed he had not heard from Meghan, but "would love to speak to her" while he still can.
However, GB News has learned Meghan has actively attempted to contact her estranged father, sending him an email at 11.53am Pacific Time on December 5.
A source close to Meghan has told GB News: “The Mail made no attempt to contact the Duchess’ team, prior to publication to verify the claims in their report.
Meghan Markle is struggling to contact Thomas Markle amid confusion over his email address
| GETTY/GB NEWS“Had they asked – particularly in light of the quotes they relied upon from Mr Markle and hospital staff – we would simply have told them to ask Mr Markle to check his email.
“We first saw the story only after it was published. We immediately informed the Mail that the duchess had, in fact, emailed her father – a detail we had deliberately chosen not to share in order to avoid further dragging this private matter into the public eye.”
Despite reports claiming the email address "hasn't been active for a least five years," it is understood the duchess received no bounce-back or block, suggesting the email address is still active.
The email address was provided directly from Thomas Markle to his youngest daughter, Meghan, when they were still in regular contact.
It is thought the duchess believes her father regularly uses email, despite unnamed family friends claiming he doesn't.
GB News understands Meghan's aides have attempted to contact the Daily Mail to resolve the "confusion", asking for an updated email address or phone number to contact Mr Markle, but have not heard back.
Thomas Markle told the newspaper he had not changed his phone number since becoming estranged from his daughter "so she could always get in touch with me".
Meghan Markle has been estranged from her father since 2018 | GETTYIt is understood the duchess no longer has the phone number, and hasn’t had it for some time.
After Meghan's team asked the Daily Mail journalist to check with Thomas about passing along the number, the journalist offered to supply it.
At the time of the writing, it is understood the phone number has not been shared with Meghan or her team.
The Daily Mail journalist, The Mail on Sunday's US Editor Caroline Graham, has been pictured today, posing with Thomas Markle inside his hospital room.
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Meanwhile, The Duchess of Sussex has not contacted the hospital in the Philippines where her father is a patient, because it is understood she doesn't know which hospital he is in.
Meghan became estranged from her father in the run-up to her marriage to Prince Harry in 2018, after he was caught accepting money to pose for paparazzi photographs.
Reports suggest that Thomas Markle has had his leg amputated
|CHANNEL 7
Thomas Markle pulled out of the Royal wedding, citing heart problems, and is not believed to have met Prince Harry or his grandchildren, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
A spokesman from the Daily Mail told GB News: "Our journalist, Caroline Graham, has had a close relationship with Mr Markle since 2018. He contacted Ms Graham when he was taken ill and asked her to travel to the Philippines to be with him. Nothing has been published without his specific consent and that of his son.
"Ms Graham has confirmed to the Duchess of Sussex's representative that Mr Markle does not have an active email address but that his phone number, which the Duchess has previously used for him, remains unchanged.
"Ms Graham has made clear that if she can do anything to facilitate contact between Mr Markle and his daughter to have a conversation, then she would be happy to do so. That remains the case.
"Any suggestion we have 'puppeteered' Mr Markle is entirely false and strongly denied."
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