Thread by @GodlessNZ

(1) I didn't plan on covering the UK's Royal Wedding but the latest antics of Megan Markle's mentally ill siblings have forced my hand.

Living in a country that has QEII as Head of State, I've been a "royal watcher" since my childhood in the 1970s. I thought I had seen it all.

(2) The Markle-Grant family make the Middletons look super classy.

Thomas Markle Sr, 73, married Roslyn Grant in the 1960s & had a son, Thomas Markle Jr & daughter Samantha Grant (now 53).

Then he remarried Doria Ragland. Meghan was born in August 1981.

(3) Thomas Markle Sr still owns a home in LA but now lives just across the border, in Mexico, presumably because his living costs there are lower. He declared bankruptcy in June 2017.

Roslyn Grant lives in ABQ, New Mexico.

Doria Ragland lives in LA.

(4) Thomas Markle Jr has been previously married & has 3 young adult kids. He was arrested in January 2018 for holding a gun to his girlfriend's head during a drunken fight. Charges were later dropped. Probably because they're just as stupid as each other.

(5) Samantha Grant is 17 years older than Meghan Markle. So obviously, by the time Meghan was old enough to know who she was, she would have long moved out of the family home. They have had virtually no relationship for 10 years.

(6) Over the two years Meghan and Harry have been together, both of Meghan's siblings have said extremely nasty things about her in the press. Then they backtrack and say it's all a big misunderstanding. They even publicly begged for wedding invites AFTER doing this.

(7) Understandably, Markle Jr & his ex-wife are estranged. She & the kids have arrived in the UK & will be "reporting" on the wedding for a TV network, presumably from the street outside, while still complaining that they weren't invited.

(7) Doria Ragland, who seems to be the only other sane person in the family besides Meghan, is en route to the UK now. She has maintained a dignified low profile throughout. Due to Markle Sr's health issues, Doria is likely to walk Meghan down the aisle on Saturday.

(8) Queen Victoria walked two of her five daughters down the aisle. So it's not unprecedented. IMO the British royal family has modernized to the point that they are absolutely fine about it. Meghan & Doria are feminists so borrowing a man would be odd to them.

(9) If Meghan was to go the traditional route and ask a man to step in for her father at the wedding, I think Harry's father Charles would be the most likely person, followed by William. AFAIK Meghan hasn't invited any other male relatives. Her mother raised her.

(10) Markle Sr may mean well, but he comes across as naive and/or having a drinking or mental issue. Alternatively, it could be long term pot smoking effects, IDK. He hasn't stood up to his nasty son & elder daughter to show enough support for Meghan.

(10) Markle Sr has obvious health problems. He is morbidly obese & twenty year old photos show him well on the way to that state. His heart attack risk was high. He reportedly had his second heart attack on or around 5/8/18 & says he is having surgery this Wednesday.

(11) Markle Sr was reportedly hospitalized in a "charity hospital" in Mexico & discharged himself so he could travel to the UK for the wedding. If his claims of heart disease are true, then I worry that he's not getting adequate medical care.

(12) My impression is that he refuses offers of help from Meghan and others, such as being helped by professionals who could have made sure he got the best care, followed medical advice and managed to get himself to the UK in time. Meghan is worth about $5 mil & Harry ?$20 mil.

(12) The nasty siblings, Markle Jr & Samantha, claim Meghan exploited Markle Sr financially & abandoned him (& them) once she became successful.

My spidey senses call BS. It's the kind of thing crazy family members say, worldwide.

(13) It's clear they are looking to milk her royal connections all the way to the bank and, sadly, plenty of media & consumers will gladly line their pockets. Public opinion appears to be firmly on the side of Meghan. It's just so undignified for the royal family though.

(14) I dislike Meghan because she has brought her SJW politics into the royal family, which is bad for the future of the UK. But I will never condone the way her own "family" have treated her at this time. She's an actress & will put on a brave face on the day regardless.

(15) Harry probably suspected her family would do this and, let's face it, his own parents weren't particularly dignified during their long divorce process. But I think if he'd ditched yet another girlfriend he'd never get married. They seem good together, for now.

(16) I'm now convinced Markle Sr did not have heart surgery today. Evil half-sister claims he checked in anonymously to avoid photographers.

Clearly fiction. Every photog in North America would be following him & camped outside hospitals. No one has corroborated her story.

(17) Also, every hospital employee, esp. in Mexico, would gladly spill the beans for a bit of cash.

There is zero evidence he had any heart trouble or saw any Dr for it this month. TMZ & Samantha Grant are the least credible sources in the world rn.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5…

(18) I don't think anyone knows where Markle Sr is or what state he's in. No matter. His non-attendance at the wedding is for the best.

Piers Morgan wrote this excellent piece:

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5…

(19) "[Novelist] Lisa Kleypas: ‘Weddings are never about the bride & groom, weddings are public platforms for dysfunctional families.’

I just never thought the day would come when a family marrying INTO the royal family would be more dysfunctional than the royal family itself."

(20) We don't KNOW that Markle Sr wasn't OFFERED help. We also don't know if he is really speaking to TMZ, or if it's the ghastly Samantha, or they're making it all up.

If Meghan & Harry had tried to persuade them to co-operate, that would have backfired, too.

(21) Here's what I think happened. Meghan knew from years of experience that her siblings could not be trusted, period. She hoped her father could be, & waited until two weeks before the wedding to announce that he was invited. He then proved her wrong with the papparazzi scandal

(22) At that point, Meghan decided to disinvite him, & has stuck to that. Her reps released this cleverly vague statement:

(23) All claims that Meghan tried to persuade him to come to the wedding can be treated as fictional. I don't blame her for shutting them all out. The damage they would do if they could claim they heard at the wedding someone say such-and-such is immense.

(24) I try to judge an individual by their actions and no one else's. I haven't seen Meghan do anything wrong so far. These sort of family dynamics are seldom just a "difficult relationship." They are domestic abuse.

(25) Years ago, Meghan started implementing "no-contact," which is what I usually recommend in such situations. The narcissist or other personality-disordered manipulator will find any & every opportunity to abuse his target. The best you can do is enforce No Contact.

(26) Domestic abuse laws enable a survivor to get contact stopped, but there is no legal way to stop the abuser talking about you to others. Accordingly, celebs are impacted by their abuser to a far greater degree than us plebs.

(27) Someone has been reading from the Hillary playbook on faking accidents with implausible stories. It's comical at this point.

*Wheelchairs users have to wear seatbelts like the rest of us.
**No Police report.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5…

(28) Claiming the paparazzi drove you off the road, when you're emotionally abusing a woman whose fiance lost his mother at the age of 12 in a coincidentally similar fashion, is really sick.

Narcissistic abuse. It's not pretty.