Meghan Markle’s estranged father has been left “fuming” over claims he’s involved in a “tacky” sightseeing tour of Montecito, California, which promises to take tourists within a stone’s throw of daughter Meghan and Prince Harry’s swanky mansion.
The bus tour, advertised as the ‘Royal Celebrity Tour of Los Angeles and Montecito’ is being led by photographer Karl Larsen, who claims to be a close friend of Meghan’s father Thomas and is being sold for £958.84 ($1200) for a group of six, reported The Mirror.
However, Thomas Markle has hit out at claims that he gave Mr Larsen the go-head to run the tawdry tour.
The 79-year-old told Mail Online: “I never gave my approval to Karl Larsen for any tour anywhere. I am not involved in any way.”
Mr Markle is “fuming and deeply distressed” at the very suggestion that he would put his name to the celebrity tour.
A source close to Mr Markle said: “The claim that somehow Tom is involved in this tacky and, frankly, exploitative tour is 100 per cent false and has left Tom angry and deeply distressed. There is no truth to any of it. He would never lend his name to something like this.
“Tom is not close friends with Karl Larsen.”
Mr Markle certainly has a chequered past with Mr Larsen – Meghan’s estranged dad quit a YouTube show when he felt uncomfortable with some of the comments Larsen made about the Sussexes.
“Tom may be estranged from Meghan but he loves her and would never do anything to hurt her or place her or his grandchildren in jeopardy. He was briefly involved in a project with this person (Larsen) years ago, something he has come to regret. Tom has severed contact with this man and wants nothing to do with him personally or professionally,” the close source said.
Mr Larsen was first reported in Sunday Mirror as saying that Meghan’s dad gave him the thumbs up to run the tour – priced for six people – that offers tourists the opportunity to drive through some of the most famous sights of Montecito, including Harry and Meghan’s £11million mansion.
The tour was first listed on the website Tripening, where Mr Larsen wrote the description: “I’m the world-famous celebrity photographer Karl Larsen, a best friend of Thomas Markle (Meghan’s father) and the guy with a stunning exclusive portfolio of pictures of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle together in Montecito.”
He added that he was the “only person” who knew the truth about what happened between Meghan and her father, and promised to give tourists an “in-depth” tour of the area Meghan grew up in, including her old homes and schools, and various Montecito hotspots that she and Harry have been spotted at.
News of the tour has sparked a fierce backlash online, with tech entrepreneur Christopher Bouzy coming to Harry and Meghan’s defence.
Mr Bouzy, who appeared on the Netflix series Harry & Meghan, said the tour would be tantamount to “harassment”.
He posted on his social media platform Spoutible: “The harassment of Harry and Meghan is escalating, and now these deranged people are taking their harassment offline while trying to profit off their harassment. This is sick.”
In response, Tripening posted an update on their Twitter page saying that they had removed the tour from sale on their website.
Mr Larsen later clarified that he had “no intentions” of driving past Harry and Meghan’s actual home, telling Newsweek: “I want to have the tour be available where she grew up. We’re going to go to Montecito but just places they go to, restaurants they go to.
“It’s a custom tour so if people want to go see other sights that’s what we’re going to do but we will not go past Doria’s house and we will not go past Harry and Meghan’s.”
Follow our social media accounts here on facebook.com/ExpressUSNews and @expressusnews
