Thomas Markle has spoken out as he approaches his 80th birthday.

Prince Harry and Meghan live just 250 miles from her estranged father (Image: Getty)

Prince Harry’s ongoing troubled relationship with his father the King and brother Prince William is well known – but the relationship between wife Meghan Markle and her father is also strained.

The Duchess of Sussex and her father, Thomas Markle, has been estranged from his daughter since 2018 and there has reportedly been no contact since.

Mr Markle has never met his daughter’s husband.

The 79-year-old, who turns 80 in July, has also never met his two grandchildren – five-year-old Archie and three-year-old Lilibet.

The retired lighting director now lives in Mexico, just 250 miles from his daughter’s home in California, and said he is baffled by this.

Prince Harry has never met his father-in-law (Image: Getty)

Speaking to the Mail Online, he said: ” When I reflect back on my life, as you do when you are approaching 80, that’s one of the questions I cannot find an answer for

“Why didn’t Harry ever come to meet me? He has the resources to fly around the world – and does – but why didn’t he come to see me, particularly when people in the royal household like Jason Knauf [Harry and Meghan’s former communications secretary] were urging him to do so?

“That has never made sense to me.”

Meghan is estranged from her father (Image: Getty)

Mr Markle, who has previously given a number of interviews to the press about his relationship with his daughter, said he felt empathy for King Charles, who has rarely seen Harry’s children since his younger son moved to the US.

He told the Mail: “He [The King] is going through cancer treatment and I’m not in the best of health. I’m not afraid of dying. It is what it is.

“I have so many questions I’d like to ask Meghan and Harry. The main one being, why have they treated not only me but the Royal Family and the King so badly?”