Royal staffers are having private crisis meetings about Thomas Markle's behavior, and there is talk that the Queen may have to intervene to help try and quell his outbursts, a new report claims.
Simply put, Thomas has been a royal pain.
A source told Britain's The Mirror that the royal family's patience has "snapped" over Thomas' continuous media interviews, specifically the one's in which he claims his daughter, Duchess Meghan, has frozen him out of her life. He has said multiple times that he has no way of contacting Meghan anymore.
"Meghan is deeply hurt by what is happening and everything is being done behind the scenes to make sure her welfare is at the top of the agenda," a source said. "It's an increasingly desperate situation and now it's come down to three options being on the table."
"Firstly, Meghan could contact her father straight away and appeal to him directly to ask him to stop hurting her, but right now she's decided to cut him off. There is a possibility an intermediary could meet with him and appeal to him to stop making such hurtful statements," the source continued. "The final option would be for Meghan to cut him off completely in the hope he will stop, but the situation is so precarious no one knows when that would be."
The fear from the Palace is that Thomas may go straight to a media outlet and profit from his conversation with his daughter. Before the royal wedding, Thomas was snapped by a paparazzi photographer prepping for his daughter's nuptials in various ways. It was later revealed that the images weren't taken by happenstance, but rather that Thomas struck a financial deal with the photographer.
Thomas later said the photo shoot and financial agreement were mistakes and that Meghan and Prince Harry had forgiven him. While he hasn't been posing for images of late, Thomas is still granting for-profit media interviews. He even said he's "not going away."
In a recent interview, Thomas said Meghan is "terrified" in her role as the Duchess of Sussex and added that Prince Harry's mother, the late Princess Diana, would have "loathed" the way this whole thing is playing out.
Meghan, The Mirror's source said, is "deeply embarrassed and hurt" that her dad mentioned Diana.
"This could be the final straw for Thomas," the source said. "A line has been crossed."
Royal writer Phil Dampier told The Mirror, "This is getting out of control. If this carries on I wouldn't be surprised if the Queen herself gets involved and bangs a few heads together."