The short version
- The Metropolitan Police confirmed it received a letter in January 2019 detailing allegations of offending by Thomas Markle outside the UK and passed it to Meghan’s office without sharing it with other agencies.
- Meghan Markle stated she was informed of the claims in 2018, a discrepancy her team attributed to the passage of time, while maintaining that the information motivated her decision to restrict contact between her father and her children.
- Authorities in the Philippines are currently investigating reports that Thomas Markle’s former residence contained child sexual abuse material, an accusation he has denied as false.
The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that it received a letter in January 2019 containing serious allegations regarding Thomas Markle, the father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Scotland Yard stated that while the document was forwarded to the Duke and Duchess’s office for their awareness, the specific details were not shared with other law enforcement agencies. This admission follows recent media reports alleging that child sexual abuse images belonging to Markle were discovered in his former home in the Philippines.
In a statement released on Friday, Meghan said she had been made aware of these disturbing claims several years ago and was given assurances at the time that they were being investigated. She expressed deep distress over the new developments and emphasized that her decision to maintain distance from her father and prevent him from having contact with her children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, was driven solely by a desire to protect them. The duchess noted that she had trusted authorities to safeguard other families during this period.
A minor discrepancy emerged regarding the timeline of events. Meghan initially stated in her Friday remarks that she received the information in 2018. However, a spokesperson for the duchess later clarified that any difference of a few months was an understandable consequence of recalling events from more than seven years ago without contemporaneous records. The spokesperson urged that the Metropolitan Police’s time-stamped record confirming receipt in January 2019 be treated as the accurate reference point.
Scotland Yard explained that the letter was sent to its Protection Command to raise concerns about the security of the Duchess of Sussex. After reviewing the document, officers decided it should be passed to the royal couple’s office but did not distribute the allegations to other police forces or international partners. The force is now conducting a thorough review of how this matter was handled in 2019 and is considering whether to refer itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct for an independent assessment of its approach.
The allegations first gained public attention through reports from the Sun newspaper, which cited Thomas Markle Jr., Meghan’s half-brother. He claimed to have found a significant number of images on computers and mobile phones stored in boxes at his father’s residence in Cebu, Philippines. Markle Jr. reportedly informed detectives in the Philippines about the discovery and also contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States in July.
Thomas Markle Sr., who is 82 years old, has firmly denied possessing any such images. He described the accusations as sick lies in an interview with the Daily Mail. The elder Markle had moved to the Philippines last year after suffering a series of strokes. He is currently residing in a rehabilitation center in Florida, where he is learning to walk again following the amputation of a leg in 2025.
Authorities in the Philippines have confirmed that an investigation is underway. The Interior Minister stated that national police had secured Markle’s computer for digital forensic examination. Additionally, the matter is being handled by an anti-human trafficking and child sexual exploitation task force. This development adds a new layer of complexity to the long-standing estrangement between Meghan and her father, who withdrew from attending her wedding to Prince Harry in 2018 citing ill health.
Meghan and Prince Harry stepped down as working royals in 2020 and relocated to the United States. They recently returned to the UK with their children after six years abroad. The duchess’s statement sought to clarify her past actions, noting that media publications had distorted the reasons for her distance from her father over the years. She expressed hope that justice would be served and that the safety of innocent children would remain the priority as investigations proceed.
Sources behind this briefing
Go to the original reporting
- BBC News↗Met Police says letter with claims about Meghan's father not shared with other law enforcement
- The Guardian World↗Met says it shared allegations about Meghan’s father with her but not other forces
