Thomas Markle will never meet baby Archie

Thomas Markle will never meet his newborn grandson.

Or so say royal watchers, who firmly believe that the royal grandpa’s behaviour means there is no chance of any ‘olive branch’ healing the rift.

Duncan Larcombe, a former royal editor at The Sun who has known Prince Harry since he was a teenager, says he thinks the Duchess’ father has been permanently cut off.

“I’ve said all along, since the week before the royal wedding when it turned out he had done a deal with paparazzi photographers and then he gave interviews.

“I said, ‘that’s him cut off’,” says Larcombe.

Speaking on Yahoo UK’s The Royal Box, Larcombe adds that while Thomas has tried to make amends, he has no chance of repairing his relationship with both Meghan and the royal family.

“We’ve seen him give interviews trying to put out the olive branch again - you don’t do that in royal circles. You simply don’t.”

But Larcombe has empathy for Thomas, who he says never intended to be ‘vicious’.

“Bad luck for Thomas, I don’t think it was vicious, I think it was just naivety,” says Larcombe.

“But I think that ship has sailed,” he adds.

“I feel desperately sorry for them all, because Meghan won’t have wanted this. And Thomas obviously wouldn’t want this. No one wants it. It is what it is.

“Whether this can be sorted now? Perhaps the baby will build that bridge.”

The strained relationship

While Thomas Markle released a statement congratulating his daughter on the birth of her son on Monday, it’s believed he hasn’t had any other contact with her.

The Duchess and her father have had a strained relationship since he failed to make it to the royal wedding nearly one year ago because of health reasons.

According to an interview that Thomas did with Good Morning Britain, he has since tried to make amends with his daughter and says that his pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

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