Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle, is denying involvement in a royal sightseeing tour — organized by his friend, photographer Karl Larsen — that has been halted over privacy concerns.
“I never gave my approval to Karl Larsen for any tour anywhere,” Markle, 79, told Mail Online Royals on Tuesday. “I’m not involved in any way.”
The tour was advertised on travel firm Tripening’s website because the “Royal Celebrity Tour of Los Angeles and Montecito.”
Potential sightseers (as much as six at a time) were promised an “in-depth tour” of the realm where Meghan, 42, grew up and where Markle and her husband, Prince Harry, 38, call home.
The Post reached out to reps for Meghan Markle and her father, in addition to Tripening for comment.
Details concerning the tour — which costs $1,200 for the group of six — were later scrubbed from the web site following backlash.
Within the since-deleted ad viewed by The Post, Larsen wrote in the outline, “I’m the world-famous celebrity photographer Karl Larsen, a best friend of Thomas Markle (Meghan’s father) and the guy with a surprising exclusive portfolio of images of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle together in Montecito.”
Passengers were presupposed to be taken to the royal couple’s famous hangouts in Montecito, including various eateries and the Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club.
Within the listing, Larsen claimed he’s the just one who has an “open communication pathway” between Markle’s camp and the remaining of her family, much of whom she is estranged from.
“I’m the one one who has an open communication pathway between Meghan’s camp and the remaining of the Markle family,” he wrote within the listing.
“There’s no person on the planet that knows more info that [sic] me and I’m the one individual that’s qualified to placed on such a tour.”
Not only has Markle’s father denied involvement, but so has her half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr.
“On no account in any way did my father or myself ever agree or pay attention to being involved in such a ridiculous cheesy embarrassing idea of being involved in a tour bus business with Karl Larsen,” he wrote in a Tuesday statement on Instagram.
“And moreover, it’s against the law to make use of anyone’s name for promoting without their written permission, and a previous business agreement.”
Lately, Markle has had quite a strained relationship together with her father, whom she was once near. Their bond soured shortly before Meghan’s 2018 wedding to Harry.
The Hollywood director suffered a stroke last yr and has publicly pleaded to reconnect together with his daughter to repair their relationship.
Now there’s outrage concerning the tour, especially from tech entrepreneur Christopher Bouzy, who called it “harassment” of the royal couple.
“The recent incident where a celeb tour was being organized to go to the neighborhood of the Duke and Duchess’s residence is a concerning escalation of online harassment transitioning to the actual world,” Bouzy told Newsweek on Tuesday.
“The problematic listing was an act of targeted harassment, and it jeopardized the security of the Duke and Duchess’s family.”
In response, Larsen claimed he had “no intentions” of driving past the Sussexes’ house.
