Meghan Markle Slammed: Columnist Claims Duchess Has Shown 'Not One Drop' of Compassion Towards Ailing Father

While Meghan Markle presents a picture of festive warmth and familial bliss in her latest Netflix special, a starkly different reality is playing out in a sterile hospital room in the Philippines. The Duchess of Sussex has found herself at the centre of a firestorm of criticism, accused of turning a blind eye as her estranged father, Thomas Markle Sr., fights for his life in intensive care.

The timing could not be more jarring. Just as the duchess launched her With Love, Meghan Christmas special on Wednesday, Dec. 3, news broke that her 81-year-old father had been rushed to a hospital in Cebu following a severe medical emergency.

While Meghan curated an image of 'warmth, love, friendship and family' for the cameras, her father was undergoing a critical three-hour operation to address a blood clot, with doctors describing his initial condition as grave.

Critics Blast Meghan Markle for 'Performative' Compassion

The chasm between Meghan's public persona and her private actions has provoked fury among commentators. Jan Moir, writing for the Daily Mail, did not hold back, branding the situation as 'pure hypocrisy.'

Moir highlighted the uncomfortable contrast of the duchess celebrating with celebrity friends while the man who raised her lay reportedly 'languishing on his deathbed.'

'Mr. Markle has been exiled, banished, cancelled and snubbed for seven long years by the Sussexes,' Moir wrote, painting a picture of a father 'treated like an embarrassing sack of family rubbish hurriedly put out with the bins while the Duke and Duchess get on with their gilded lives.'

The criticism focuses heavily on the timeline of Thomas Sr.'s health struggles. Since the highly publicised fallout in 2018 — days before Meghan's wedding to Prince Harry, 41 — Thomas has suffered two heart attacks and a massive stroke in 2022 that robbed him of his speech. Through it all, the silence from Montecito has been deafening.

'(Meghan) has shown no compassion over the past few years, not one drop, as her father suffered one health blow after another,' Moir noted, adding that on the Netflix set, strangers gathered to 'grease up the old Duch as if she were a fattened goose.'

Family Pleads With Meghan Markle as Thomas 'Languishes'

The anguish is palpable among the Markle family, who feel the estrangement has now become a matter of life and death. Despite conflicting reports suggesting Meghan may have reached out, family insiders insist otherwise.

A source close to the family revealed, 'It's heartbreaking for the Markle family. He's literally fighting for his life, and Meghan has yet to reach out.'

Thomas Markle Jr., 59, described the terrifying moment his father's health collapsed. 'I took dad to a hospital close to our home, and they did various scans, and the doctors said his life was in imminent danger,' he explained. 'They raced us by ambulance, with the sirens going, to a much bigger hospital in the center of the city. My dad has undergone emergency surgery.'

For Thomas Jr., the duchess's current media blitz only rubs salt in the wound. 'With Meghan constantly posing as this hippie-dippy, loving mom at home in her Netflix shows, it really rankles,' a family insider noted.

Thomas Sr.'s half-daughter, Samantha Markle, 61, is praying for his recovery, reminding the world of her father's resilience. 'He is a strong man, but he has been through so much,' she said. 'I am praying that he is strong enough to survive this. My father has been through two heart attacks, a stroke and an earthquake. I hope he can pull through this.'

The heartbreaking rift means Thomas Sr. has never met his grandchildren, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4. He has previously expressed a deep fear of running out of time, stating in 2018: 'I'd hate to die without speaking to Meghan again.'

As he faces a second potential procedure, the world waits to see if this health crisis will finally bridge the divide, or if the silence will continue.

IBTimes UK has reached out to Meghan Markle for comments.