Thomas Markle slams daughter Meghan ‘and her ginger husband’ Prince Harry as he says he will give evidence for daughter Samantha in legal battle with her half-sister

The father of the Duchess of Sussex is ready to give evidence against her in a court case brought by her half-sister, he announced yesterday as he launched his YouTube channel.

Thomas Markle, 77, said he would be ‘thrilled’ to come face-to-face with his estranged daughter and her husband Prince Harry, and accused her of lying about her half-sister.

Samantha Markle, 57, is suing the Duchess of Sussex for defamation, and claims that Meghan made ‘false and malicious statements’ about her during her TV interview with Oprah Winfrey last year.

Lawyers for Miss Markle also allege that the duchess lied to the authors of Finding Freedom, the controversial book about the Sussexes’ exit from royal life.

Mr Markle said he believed his eldest daughter should win her case and revealed he would be willing to give evidence on her behalf.

He said: ‘I would be more than happy to. I’ve been trying for almost four years to get to see my daughter and her ginger husband in a courtroom face-to-face. I’d be thrilled to defend my oldest daughter.’

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The father of the Duchess of Sussex Thomas Markle is ready to give evidence against her in a case brought by her half-sister, he announced yesterday as he launched his YouTube channel

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Meghan Markle (pictured in 2018) is facing a defamation lawsuit from her half-sister Samantha over comments made in her Oprah interview last March and her book Finding Freedom

Mr Markle also added that he believed Meghan, 40, should settle the case, saying: ‘She can’t defend the things she said.’

In the lawsuit filed in Tampa, Florida, Miss Markle demanded $75,000 (£57,000) in damages and asked for her half-sister to cover her legal fees.

She claimed it was ‘defamatory’ for the duchess to imply during the Oprah interview that she was a ‘virtual stranger’ to her half-sister and that she grew up ‘as an only child’.

She also accused Meghan of denigrating their father to portray a misleading ‘rags to royalty’ story of her life, and claimed she ‘published and disseminated false and malicious statements’ in Finding Freedom.

In November, Meghan apologised to the Court of Appeal after emails were disclosed which contradicted a claim that she did not collaborate with Finding Freedom’s authors.

The messages showed she sent details about Samantha and her brother Thomas Jr for the book.

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Mr Markle has launched the podcast with his friend, celebrity photographer Karl Larsen

But Meghan insisted: ‘I had absolutely no wish or intention to mislead the defendant or court.’

The duchess’s lawyer Michael Kump has previously described Miss Markle’s defamation lawsuit as ‘baseless and absurd’.

Thomas Markle made his latest comments as he hosted the debut episode of his own Youtube channel alongside friend and celebrity photographer Karl Larsen.

The channel is said to be a weekly topical review of current events, including Mr Markle’s royal daughter and son-in-law.

The first episode – which aired earlier today – features Mr Markle discussing the upcoming lawsuit and whose side he’s on.

Mr Markle said: ‘I’m certainly pulling for my oldest daughter Samantha.’

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Thomas Markle, 77, said he would give evidence against her if the lawsuit led to a deposition

Mr Markle told Karl that he was surprised Prince Harry didn’t fly out to see him in person to ask for Meghan’s hand in marriage.

He added: ‘I thought the Royals had some kind of sense of dignity where he would have taken the time to fly down and see me.’

According to documents seen by TMZ, Samantha claimed the lawsuit harmed her book sales and she also took issue with claims she had changed her surname back to Markle when Meghan began seeing Prince Harry.

Lawyer Michael Kump, representing Meghan, said: ‘This baseless and absurd lawsuit is just a continuation of a pattern of disturbing behavior.

‘We will give it the minimum attention necessary, which is all it deserves.’

Thomas Markle and his friend Mr Larsen were reportedly influenced in setting up their show by successful podcasts from royal biographer Lady Colin Campbell and US podcast legend Joe Rogan.

Mr Markle added: ‘We have discovered YouTube… we’ve decided to join and share our story.’

He added that ‘no one came to help [him] or protect [him]’ when he discovered by the press and that the only advice he got was from the Duke of Sussex who told him not to speak to anyone.

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Pictured: Samantha Markle, the estranged half-sister of Meghan, is firing back at comments the duchess made about their relationship in her TV interview with Oprah Winfrey last year

Describing himself as ‘on the Queen team’, he added: ‘It amazes me that a man that tells me don’t talk to anyone rides on the top of a bus down Hollywood Bvd doing an interview.

‘It amazes me that they go on Oprah Winfrey for hours and sat there and talked and exposed things that they shouldn’t be exposing to anyone and I think it’s so disrespectful to the Royals.’

In November, Meghan Markle apologised to the Court of Appeal after failing to remember she told a royal aide to brief the authors of her Finding Freedom biography, Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand.

The Mail on Sunday had sought to defend itself against Meghan’s claims that it unlawfully breached her privacy by publishing extracts of a letter to her father Thomas Markle, which appeared in the book.

The Duchess of Sussex, who previously insisted she and Prince Harry did not co-operate with the two writers of the book, said she had ‘forgotten’ providing the aide details of what to reveal ‘when you sit down with them’.

The messages, revealed by the duchess’s former communications secretary Jason Knauf, showed she sent information about her half-siblings Samantha and brother Thomas Jr for the book.

But she said: ‘I had absolutely no wish or intention to mislead the defendant or the court.’

The paper lost its appeal the following month.