Sky News Reporter Challenges Thomas Markle’s Filipino Nurse Romance, Putting Caroline Graham’s Daily Mail Exclusive Under Scrutiny
In March, the Daily Mail published what Caroline Graham presented as a heartwarming romance between Thomas Markle Sr. and a Filipino nurse 35 years his junior. Meghan Sussex’s estranged father had supposedly found love again after years of loneliness, illness and family estrangement.
Now, a Sky News correspondent reporting from the Philippines has challenged that entire narrative. And the consequences for the woman at the centre of the story are heartbreaking.
According to Sky News Asia correspondent Cordelia Lynch, a colleague of Rio Canedo told her that the nurse was never romantically involved with Thomas Markle. Instead, she was a nurse caring for him during his recovery. Lynch reports that the publicity surrounding their supposed relationship left Canedo so humiliated that she resigned from her job. If this account is correct, Caroline Graham and the Daily Mail have serious questions to answer.
Sky News Challenges the Daily Mail’s Romance Story
On October 29, Lynch responded to a Substack article by Guardian columnist Marina Hyde examining the disturbing relationship between Thomas Markle, Caroline Graham and the British media. Lynch revealed that she had visited the hospital in Cebu where Graham had previously reported on Markle’s supposed romance.
According to Lynch’s account, a colleague of Canedo told her there had been no romantic relationship.
Lynch wrote on X:
She continued:
Lynch concluded that the worldwide publicity embarrassed and upset Canedo so badly that she felt compelled to resign. Lynch based her reporting on a conversation with Canedo’s colleague, rather than Canedo herself, and independent sources have yet to confirm the circumstances surrounding the nurse’s resignation.
Nevertheless, the allegations are extraordinary, particularly when compared with what Graham published seven months earlier.
What Caroline Graham Told Daily Mail Readers
On March 28, the Daily Mail published Graham’s account of Thomas Markle finding happiness with Canedo, then 46. The article portrayed the pair as romantically involved, described their affectionate behaviour and discussed the possibility of marriage. Thomas himself was quoted enthusiastically discussing the supposed relationship. In one passage, he said: “Rio makes me happy.”
Thomas also discussed marrying Canedo if it benefited her, while Graham described their interactions at his rehabilitation facility as evidence of a developing romance.
But Lynch highlighted one crucial detail: the Daily Mail never included a direct statement from Rio confirming her romantic involvement with Thomas Markle. For a story involving an elderly patient and a much younger healthcare worker, that omission now looks particularly significant.
Did Graham ask Canedo directly whether they were dating? Did Canedo know how the newspaper intended to present the photographs and interviews? More importantly, did she consent to the Daily Mail portraying her internationally as Thomas Markle’s girlfriend? Those are basic journalistic questions, and the Daily Mail should answer them.
We Questioned This Story Back in March
On March 29, we questioned Graham’s extraordinary access to Thomas and the supposed romance. At the time, we assumed Rio Canedo knew how the newspaper would use the photographs, and we speculated that financial motives might explain her involvement. If Cordelia Lynch’s reporting is accurate, our earlier speculation about Canedo’s motives was unfair, and we owe her an apology.
What makes the story even more troubling is how easily it reinforces racialised and misogynistic stereotypes of Asian women as romantic companions to older Western men. If Canedo never consented to that portrayal, the Daily Mail turned a Filipino healthcare worker into a romantic character in Thomas Markle’s story without giving her a voice.
The story also deserves scrutiny because of Graham’s unusually close personal relationship with Thomas. Her dual role as journalist and trusted confidante makes it especially important to establish whether she independently verified the supposed romance.
For years, British tabloids pressured Meghan to reconcile with her father, while the Daily Mail’s coverage of his private life may have caused serious harm to a Filipino nurse who had nothing to do with their estrangement.
The irony is appalling. The British press expected Meghan to protect her family relationships at all costs, while its own journalists may have cost a Filipino nurse her livelihood by failing to protect her privacy.
Caroline Graham’s Relationship With Thomas Markle Deserves Deep Scrutiny
Caroline Graham’s relationship with Thomas Markle has long blurred the boundaries between journalism and personal loyalty. She has described him as a father figure and reportedly learned about his leg amputation before his other two children, despite their continued contact with him.
This raises serious concerns about her editorial independence, particularly given her involvement in publishing Meghan’s private letter. In 2021, Meghan successfully sued The Mail on Sunday’s publisher, Associated Newspapers, for copyright infringement and misuse of private information after Thomas supplied Graham with Meghan’s private letter, which the newspaper subsequently published in substantial extracts.
The Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics outlines four principles: Seek Truth and Report It, Minimize Harm, Act Independently, and Be Accountable and Transparent.
Graham’s conduct deserves examination against those standards. There is also the question of Thomas’s reported dementia diagnosis. While dementia does not automatically remove someone’s capacity to consent, interviewing a vulnerable individual requires particular care, especially when discussing serious criminal allegations and complicated family relationships.
Journalistic independence becomes difficult to defend when a reporter develops such a close personal relationship with the subject of her reporting.
Graham’s involvement in the copyright dispute, her personal attachment to Thomas and the latest controversy demand accountability from both her and the Daily Mail.
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What About the Woman Who Lost Her Job?
For years, British tabloids gave Thomas Markle a platform to complain about his estranged daughter. His interviews generated headlines, sympathy and endless opportunities to criticise Meghan.
But Rio Canedo was not part of that family dispute. She was a Filipino healthcare worker whose photograph and identity became international news.
Now Cordelia Lynch’s reporting suggests that the supposed romance never existed and that Canedo lost a job she loved because of the publicity.
The Daily Mail owes readers an explanation. Did Graham independently verify the relationship? Did Canedo consent to the portrayal? If the newspaper published an inaccurate account, will it issue a prominent correction?
IPSO should examine the reporting if someone submits a complaint raising possible breaches of the Editors’ Code. Until Canedo’s account receives independent confirmation, questions remain about exactly what happened. But the newspaper should not need a formal complaint to investigate concerns about its own reporting.
If Lynch’s account proves accurate, a Filipino nurse paid a devastating price for a romance story that Thomas Markle and the Daily Mail presented to the world as fact.
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