MEGHAN’S SUSSEX SQUAD MELTDOWN: Online Mob Accuses Dying Thomas Markle of “Faking” Hospital Stay Because They Can’t Google “UCMed” – You Can’t Make This Up!Cebu City, Philippines – 7 December 2025In yet another jaw-dropping display of online delusion, Meghan Markle’s most rabid supporters – the self-styled “Sussex Squad” – spent the weekend frantically insisting that Thomas Markle Sr is NOT actually in a Philippine hospital fighting for his life… because the blanket in his bedside photo apparently “proves” he’s lying.
Their “smoking gun”? The embroidered logo on the hospital blanket reads “UCMed”.According to dozens of now-deleted (but screen-captured) posts across X, Instagram and private Sussex Squad Facebook groups, “UCMed” can only possibly stand for University of California Medicine – and since Mr Markle is clearly in a hospital bed in Cebu, thousands of miles from California, the entire medical emergency must therefore be a cruel hoax orchestrated by “the palace” and “the British tabloids”.One prominent Squad account with over 180,000 followers posted late Friday night:
“UCMed = University of California Medicine. Thomas is literally wrapped in a UCLA blanket while pretending to be in the Philippines. The grift never ends. ”The post racked up 42,000 likes and 9,000 retweets before being quietly deleted on Saturday afternoon after followers in the Philippines began flooding the replies with photographs of the actual hospital.UCMed is the University of Cebu Medical Center – a 300-bed private hospital in Cebu City that has been operating under that exact name and logo since 2017.
A thirty-second Google search – or literally just reading the giant sign behind Thomas Markle’s head in the viral photo – confirms it.But facts have never been the Sussex Squad’s strong suit.By Saturday morning the conspiracy had spiralled into full-blown psychosis.
Collage “evidence” circulated showing zoomed-in pixels of the blanket, side-by-side comparisons with alleged UCLA linen (that were, in fact, from completely different hospitals), and wild claims that Thomas had been “Photoshopped” into a fake ward “somewhere in Los Angeles” to embarrass Meghan during her holiday Netflix launch.“Notice how the lighting doesn’t match,” wrote one Squad detective. “Classic Kris Jenner-level crisis PR.”Another declared: “If he was really in the Philippines the blanket would say ‘St Luke’s’ or something. Everyone knows that.”Philippine journalists and even Cebu locals tried in vain to explain. One nurse who works at UCMed posted a selfie holding the exact same blanket with the caption: “Hi Sussex Squad, I get off my shift in 20 minutes, happy to give you a tour if you still think this place is fake.”It was ratioed into oblivion within minutes by accounts accusing her of being a “paid Palace plant”.Thomas Markle Sr, 81, remains in critical condition at UCMed after suffering a major stroke last Tuesday. Doctors say he is unable to speak and is being fed through a tube. His only companion at the bedside has been a long-time friend from Rosarito, Mexico, who flew to Cebu immediately and has been posting updates trying to counter the avalanche of abuse.
That friend, photographer Karl Larsen, told The Mail on Sunday last night:
“I’ve never seen anything like it.
The man can barely move, he’s got tubes everywhere, and these people are calling him a liar because they think a blanket says UCLA. They’re accusing an 81-year-old stroke victim of faking his own illness for clout. It’s sick.”Even some moderate Meghan supporters have started to turn on the Squad. One former prominent account posted: “I love Meghan but this is embarrassing. Please stop. Just Google the hospital.”
As of Sunday evening, none of the major Squad accounts have issued corrections or apologies. Instead, several have doubled down, claiming the University of Cebu Medical Center “changed its name to UCMed literally last week to help Thomas pull off the scam”.
Meanwhile, staff at the real UCMed say they are now receiving hundreds of abusive messages and calls from overseas numbers demanding to know why they are “helping Thomas Markle lie to the world”.A hospital spokesperson laughed when approached by local media:
“We have been UCMed for eight years. Maybe the Sussex Squad should focus their detective skills on something that matters – like sending the poor man a get-well card instead of harassment.”
As Thomas Markle fights for his life 8,000 miles away from his daughter, one thing is painfully clear: the online mob that claims to protect Meghan Markle’s mental health has once again become the most toxic force in her orbit.And all because they confused Cebu with California.
