Meghan ‘raised alarm bells from the start’ at the palace. As their star fades, there are two mistakes from those days that she and Harry must right, writes RICHARD EDEN

Everyone will have mixed feelings when Thomas Markle wakes up today at his clifftop home in Rosarito, Mexico.

This is his 80th birthday. But among the many cards and gifts waiting to be unwrapped, there probably won’t be anything from his famous daughter Meghan.

Tom Markle doesn’t even expect a phone call. Not even an email.

“I’ve never liked birthdays, but I know the person I most want to hear from, Meghan, doesn’t respond,” he complained to my colleague Caroline Graham in The Mail on Sunday.

Thomas Markle told The Mail on Sunday that he doesn’t expect to hear from his daughter Meghan on his 80th birthday

Meghan asked the late Queen for advice on how to repair her relationship with her father, with the monarch suggesting she write him a letter

‘I would love to meet my grandchildren, but at this stage I am happy with a photo.’

Mr Markle has never met five-year-old Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, who turned three last month.

He also never met his son-in-law, the Duke of Sussex. The two were introduced over the phone by an enthusiastic Meghan when their romance began.

Mr Markle became estranged from his daughter in 2018, after posing for photos in controversial circumstances and failing to walk her down the aisle. The former Hollywood lighting director had suffered two heart attacks on the eve of Harry and Meghan’s wedding. The couple have not spoken to him since.

Queen Elizabeth was so shocked by Meghan’s estrangement from her father that the late monarch suggested she write to him.

In her Netflix documentary series Harry & Meghan, the Duchess confirmed that she had asked the Queen for advice.

As she herself put it: ‘I contacted Her Majesty and said something like, ‘This is what’s going on. What do you want me to do? I want… whatever advice you have.’

‘It was eventually proposed by the Queen and the Prince of Wales [now King Charles] that I write a letter to my father.’

She did so, but not with the results Queen Elizabeth may have envisioned.

Speaking later about the lengthy letter he received, Mr Markle said: ‘I thought it would be an olive branch. Instead it was a stab in the heart.’

The late Queen realised the significance of Meghan’s estrangement from her father.

“The public disagreements between Meghan and her father raised alarm bells at the time,” a royal source told me. “Her Majesty realised the potential damage they could do to the Royal Family as a whole.

“In hindsight, the queen may have had an inkling of what was going to happen,” the source said.

Since then, of course, Meghan has become estranged not only from Mr Markle, his other children and her half-siblings, but also from the rest of the royal family – as another birthday reminded us this week.

In his memoir Spare, Prince Harry described Queen Camilla as “dangerous” and a “villain” who had sacrificed him “on her personal PR altar”

Harry and Meghan, pictured at the recent ESPY Awards in Hollywood, have given the impression that they are keen to cut ties with the royal family, writes Richard Eden

Queen Camilla, who turned 77 yesterday, was so shocked by Harry’s attacks on her in his memoir, Spare, that one of her closest friends, the Marchioness of Lansdowne, took the highly unusual step of publicly defending her.

In the book, Harry described his stepmother as “dangerous” and a “villain” who had sacrificed him “on her personal PR altar.”

According to Lady Lansdowne, the Queen was hurt by such a personal attack: ‘It upsets her.’

In recent months, Harry and Meghan have given the impression that they want to make amends with the royal family.

They were only too eager to let it be known that they had had a friendly telephone conversation with King Charles last autumn on his birthday.

Harry was undoubtedly rushing to visit his father, flying 5,000 miles across the Atlantic after the king announced he had cancer.

Yet the Sussexes appear determined to take the risk of conflict.

Harry’s decision to accept the Pat Tillman Award last week – despite protests from thousands of people, including the late American hero’s mother, Mary – was a sign of the couple’s stubborn refusal to take criticism to heart.

Now that their popularity appears to be waning in the US, perhaps it’s time to sort out some of the issues in the UK.

To sign up for Richard Eden’s Royal Newsletter, click this link