Meghan Markle's estranged dad Thomas Markle said he is “very pleased” following the arrival of his new granddaughter.
The retired lighting engineer and Meghan fell out three years ago amid claims he staged photos in return for cash. They haven't spoken since.
Following the announcement on Sunday that his daughter had given birth to a 7lb 11oz daughter, Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, on Friday in California the 76-year-old told Sun Online he wished them “all my love”.
He added: “I’m very pleased that my daughter and my new granddaughter had a successful delivery. I wish them all my love and the best of luck.”
Thomas hasn’t spoken to Meghan since she wed Prince Harry in 2018 at a ceremony he did not attend.
He was supposed to walk his daughter down the aisle but he pulled out after he had a heart attack and had to undergo vital surgery.
Thomas has not met Prince Harry or his grandson Archie and royal biographer Robert Jobson said it’s unlikely he will meet his new granddaughter anytime soon.
“As it stands it seems unlikely that either grandfather will meet their new granddaughter for some time,” he told the Daily Mail.
Nigel Cawthorne , author of Call Me Diana: The Princess of Wales on Herself, agrees that Thomas will not get to meet his grandchildren for now.
He said: “In due course he very likely will, but at the moment he won't be at the top of the couple's list for obvious reasons."
Thomas and Meghan fell out when he admitted he had staged snaps of himself in the run-up to her wedding.
An action he said 'he is not proud of'.
He said he has apologised "100 times" to the Sussexes but says they refuse to speak to him.
In Meghan and Harry's explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey she said she felt 'betrayed' by her dad's actions and she felt 'crushed' he had lied to her.
The new arrival is a little sister for Archie, who was born in 2019, and a new cousin for Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.
She has been named Lilibet after the Queen's childhood nickname - but she will be known as Lili.
The Queen and the royal family said they were 'delighted' with the news.
A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said: “The Queen, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been informed and are delighted with the news of the birth of a daughter for The Duke and Duchess of Sussex.”
The happy news comes after Meghan suffered a devastating miscarriage last summer.
