Meghan pleads to her father

Meghan Markle has reportedly pleaded with her father to reconsider walking her down the aisle after he apparently pulled out of Saturday's wedding because of the faked photographs row.

Friends said the bride-to-be was distraught after troubled Thomas Markle, 73, said he wanted to save her further embarrassment, following reports that he colluded with a paparazzi photographer to stage a series of pictures in the run-up to the wedding, reports the Daily Mail.

A friend of Miss Markle, 36, and her fiancé, Prince Harry, told the Mail that she was standing by her father and pleaded for understanding, saying he was "not in a good place".

The friend said: "This is not what she wants. She obviously wants her dad there. And the idea of contemplating him not being there now is not something that she wants to have to do.

"She and Prince Harry are begging for people to give him some space. They have been saying this for weeks, while trying to offer him support and help. He is clearly feeling under immense pressure. The concern for him is real and genuine.

"He is a proud man who wants to be a father and not be taken care of, but it's quite difficult. Everyone needs to pause and think what this is doing to them and, more importantly, to him. It is a really worrying, scary situation. The couple have been doing everything they can to help him."

Harry, 33, is said to be blaming himself.

The friend said: "He is devastated. He feels like this is another thing in the wake of him... the problems he causes. He feels that anyone who gets associated with his life – this is the price they have to pay.

"He wants to protect her and this is really difficult for him to swallow."

The couple issued an unprecedented official statement through Kensington Palace last night in the wake of the crisis.

A spokesman said: "This is a deeply personal moment for Ms Markle in the days before her wedding. She and Prince Harry ask again for understanding and respect to be extended to Mr Markle in this difficult situation."

Last night US gossip website TMZ claimed to have spoken "on the record" to Miss Markle's father, who confirmed he had worked with the freelance photographer to set up images of him being measured for his wedding suit and searching online for articles about his daughter.

He said he did it to "rehabilitate" his image but had been left looking "stupid and hammy" – and would not be travelling to the UK to give her away in order to spare her further embarrassment.

Kensington Palace was clearly broadsided by the claims as aides had insisted on Sunday that Mr Markle would be by his daughter's side at Windsor Castle this weekend. TMZ further claimed that Mr Markle – a former award-winning Hollywood lighting director who lives a reclusive life in Mexico and has yet to meet his future son-in-law – confirmed he had been offered money by US-based freelance photographer Jeff Rayner.

But he insisted the "deal" was not "principally" about money. Instead, he wanted to "rehabilitate" his image after pictures had been published of him looking overweight and dishevelled.

Daily Mail