Photo: Lifetime
Meghan Markle‘s complicated relationship with her father will be center stage in a new Lifetime movie about the Duchess of Sussex’s romance withPrince Harry.
An exclusive sneak peek of Lifetime’sHarry & Meghan: Becoming Royal, starringCharlie Field and Tiffany Marie Smithas the royal couple, imagines Meghan receiving a phone call from father Thomas Markle in the lead-up to her wedding.
Meghan’s character checks in with her dad about gossip that he had suffered a heart attack, then confront him about staged paparazzi pictures showing him getting ready for his trip to the U.K. for the couple’s big day.
“You lied,” Meghan adds.
“Fine. Maybe it would be better for you guys if I was dead. That way you can pretend to be sad,” Thomas replies before hanging up the phone.
Overwhelmed and realizing that her walk down the aisle will be alone, Meghan runs outside.
“Listen, it’s not about your father and it’s not about the gossip writers. It’s just about you and me,” Harry’s character comforts her.
“Right,” she says. “That’s all that matters.”
Lifetime
In the week beforeMeghan’s May 19, 2018, weddingtoPrince Harry, Thomas decided not to attend after an arrangement with paparazzi to stage several photoshoots ahead of the big day was revealed. Thomas andMeghan’s half-sister Samantha, who claimed responsibility for arranging her father’s paparazzi photos before the wedding, then continued to speak critically of her to the U.K. tabloids.
In anemotional letterdated August 2018, Meghan wrote that she never heard from her father that he wouldn’t be coming — nor did she receive messages from him about hisheart attack, which he said occurred just before her nuptials.
“I have only ever loved, protected, and defended you, offering whatever financial support I could, worrying about your health,” she continued. “So the week of the wedding to hear about you having a heart attack through a tabloid was horrifying. I called and texted…I begged you to accept help — we sent someone to your home…and instead of speaking to me to accept this or any help, you stopped answering your phone and chose to only speak to tabloids.”
A longtime friend of Meghan’s said that after the paparazzi photos emerged, “Meg and Harry were still so focused on getting [Tom] to London.”
“The next morning when the car got there [to take him to the airport], he wouldn’t get in,” explained the close friend, one of five who spoke to PEOPLE. “[Later] Meg heard he had a heart attack and she’s calling and texting, even up to the night before the wedding. It was like, ‘Please pick up. I love you, and I’m scared.’ It was endless.”
Meghan, 37, ended up walking down the aisle at her wedding alone for the first half before taking the arm ofPrince Charlesas she approached her soon-to-be husband.
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Charlie Field and Tiffany Marie Smith as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Field and Smith are replacing Murray Fraser and Parisa Fitz-Henley, who portrayed the royal couple in Lifetime’s original film last year. Field is a rising red-headed actor whose credits include the National Geographic seriesGenius, while Smith has appeared in small roles onJane the VirginandSupernatural.
The movie will premiere on Memorial Day: Monday, May 27 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
source: people.com
