Meghan Markle could be about to get a new stepmother, and she’s just two years older than the Duchess of Sussex.

Her estranged father Thomas Markle Snr, 81, fell in love with a Filipino woman who helped nurse him back to health after a close call last year and is now telling those close to him he wants to marry her.

Mr Markle moved to Cebu in the Philippines with his son in January 2025 before his health took a near-fatal turn.

He was in intensive care fighting for life in December after a blood clot in his thigh cut off blood supply to his foot, forcing doctors to perform an emergency amputation below the knee.

Afterwards, Mr Markle praised the care and compassion of the Filipino people.

“I would not be alive today were it not for the care I received from the wonderful doctors and nurses in the Philippines. They saved my life.”

Mr Markle has previously gushed about his much younger girlfriend, Rio Canedo, 46, a nurse who he met while in rehab.

“I know some people will say hurtful things but I don’t care,” he told the Daily Mail in March.

“I want to talk about this because I never thought I would ever be happy again. I want people to know you’re never too old to find peace and love.

“There’s a lot of negative things going on in the world and if my story can give a little hope to one person then I’m happy . . .the haters will hate.

“But, to be honest, I don’t give a damn. Life is for living. There’s nothing more important in life than love.”

Meghan, 44, who has been estranged from her father since her 2018 marriage to Prince Harry, is reportedly “concerned” about her father’s relationship.

“(She) is shocked and thinks it’s sad because it seems from the age gap and the state of him that he’s at risk of being used,” a source told Woman’s Day.

“She is concerned about this woman in her father’s life. . .She has no doubt he genuinely thinks he’s in love, but this Rio woman could easily become an even bigger thorn in her side than her father.”

Regardless of Meghan’s concerns, things appear to be getting serious between the couple, with a source close to the Markle family telling UK’s Express that “Thomas told me he’d marry her in a heartbeat”.

“He’s telling the rest of the family he’s happier than he could ever have imagined at the thought of spending the rest of his life with Rio.”

Mr Markle has reportedly told friends he “would love” to move Ms Canedo to the US.

“From everything he’s been saying, the sound of those (wedding) bells is very much on his mind, and it’s pretty clear she loves him to bits too.”

Mr Markle is currently back in the US to be fitted with a prosthetic limb, according to daughter and Meghan’s half sister, Samantha.

“He will be able to get the best prosthetics here and be surrounded by friends and family to support him. Even though he has been through such traumatic times, this has been a positive spiritual experience for dad,” she told The Mirror.

While he has been in the US, Mr Markle has reportedly been video calling Ms Canedo almost daily.

If he does walk Ms Canedo down the aisle, it would be his third marriage after his 1964 union with Roslyn Loveless and his 1987 marriage to Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland.