Kensington Palace officially addresses rumours that Meghan Markle's dad may not walk her down the aisle at royal wedding

Meghan Markle's dad, Thomas Markle, is rumoured to not be attending the royal wedding on Saturday 19 May, where his daughter is set to marry to Prince Harry.

Celebrity news site TMZ reported that Thomas Markle told journalist that he will now not be attending the royal celebration, following the news that he had staged paparazzi photos.

Thomas Markle was meant to meet Prince Harry for the first time before walking Meghan down the aisle on Saturday, but now the bride-to-be will officially join the royal family before they meet.

Following the news, Kensington Palace issued an official statement addressing the rumours, where a spokesperson explained that Meghan was in the midst of a 'deeply personal moment'.

A palace spokesperson 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.'

The palace had confirmed earlier in the month that Meghan was set to be walked down the aisle by her dad on the day.

However since then, Thomas Markle has said that after suffering a heart attack last week, he checked himself out of the hospital in order to attend the wedding, but decided against it after it was revealed that he staged photo shoots.

Meghan and Prince Harry will be tying the knot this Saturday

On Monday’s episode of Loose Women, Meghan’s half-sister Samantha Markle confessed that she arranged the photo shoots of their father, but argued that their intentions were good.

‘There’s a lot of scrutiny that it was money motivated, it was not’, she said.

Samantha insisted that she and Thomas did it to combat the media coverage that they felt portrayed him in a negative light.

Talking on Good Morning Britain this morning, Samantha confirmed that Thomas Markle is quite depressed over recent events involving the media.

She went on to comment that her father’s ‘staged photos’ were because he was feeling defenceless against the British media after they ‘distorted his image’ with published ‘shabby looking’ photos.

When asked by Susanna Reid if Thomas will make the wedding on Saturday, Samantha replied: ‘I hope he does’.

Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, is still expected to attend, and will be staying at a hotel with her daughter the night before the royal wedding. They will then travel together by car to St. George’s Chapel.

Meghan's parents divorced when the actress was six-years-old and there had been speculation over whether her dad would make the trip before the palace confirmed his attendance earlier this month.

Some reports had said Meghan was worried about how her dad, who is said to value his privacy, would handle the pressure, although others insisted he was "excited" about the big day.