CCTV images were recently obtained of Meghan Markle’s father staging photos for paparazzi just days before the Royal Wedding.
Thomas Markle, who will walk Meghan down the aisle on Saturday at Windsor Castle, was caught posing for staged photos that have been sold to newspapers around the world for £100,000.
The 73-year-old was seen at an internet cafe and a party favors store in Mexico, where he lives, with Jeff Rayner, the British photographer who took the photos.
In the CCTV image, it can be seen that Markle and Rayner planned to make it look like Markle was looking at a news story of his daughter and Prince Harry on the computer.
He was also seen at a party favors store where an attendant pretended to take measurements of him. Markle allegedly brought his own measuring tape and handed it to the attendant.
The party favors store attendant, David Flores said, “It was really strange. This big American guy got the measuring tape out of his pocket and he was saying things in English. I don’t speak good English but I understood what he wanted me to do. The photographer he was with stepped back to the street and started taking pictures.”
Markle also went to a coffee shop nearby where photos of him studying a book on British landmarks were staged.
Carlos Ortiz, 19, the barista who took Mr Markle’s order for a flat white coffee, said: “They came in together. He [Mr Markle] sat down in one of the seats in the window reading this book he had with him. The other guy who was with him didn’t order a drink.”
“He went back outside into the parking lot and started taking pictures. Mr Markle sat in the window for half an hour. I thought it was some sort of photoshoot. We then saw it in the news and we realized the Princess’s dad was here. I had no idea who he was at the time,” Carlos continued. “I had never seen him here before or since, and I work here most days. It’s the only time he has come in here.”
Another staged photo of him was taken on April 19 as he “prepared” to lose weight for the Royal Wedding.
Kensington Palace issued out warnings to the media prior to this revelation, saying that they would “continue to make interventions with the media out of concern for his safety and security”. But after word got out that the photos were staged, Kensington Palace declined to make a comment regarding the issue.