The Duchess of Sussex has explained why her father has never been allowed anywhere near her two children.
Meghan, 45, issued a statement through her spokesperson on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, after a British newspaper reported late Thursday, Oct. 22, that her half-brother had found child sexual abuse images among their father’s belongings at his former home in the Philippines. Thomas Markle Sr., 82, denies possessing any such images, and no charges have been reported.
In a statement, Meghan said she was “deeply distressed” by the news and that her thoughts were “with any children who may have been harmed.”
She said a letter sent in 2018 to the Metropolitan Police and its Royalty and Specialist Protection unit was later shared with her. It contained “troubling and disturbing allegations” against her father, she said, and she was assured they were being investigated.
Keeping her father away from her children, she said, “was for one reason: to protect them,” and she had trusted the authorities “were doing the same for other families.”
She called the scope of what has now emerged “more sickening than one could ever imagine” and said she hopes “justice will be fully served.”
Why She Could Not Speak Then
The 2018 letter is understood to have been passed to Meghan by the Metropolitan Police’s Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) unit. She is understood to have learned of the allegations after her May 19, 2018, wedding to Prince Harry at Windsor Castle — the ceremony her father skipped, citing heart problems, after it emerged he had been paid for staged paparazzi photographs.
It is understood the Met has not previously investigated Thomas Markle Sr. and is not investigating him now. The force said it is aware of reports that officers from its royalty and specialist protection command were involved in passing on a letter in 2018, and that it is making internal inquiries to confirm that.
Sources close to the Sussexes said Meghan could not speak publicly when she first learned of the allegations without risking any future investigation, and that doing so could have exposed her to legal action. Harry and Meghan stepped back as senior royals in January 2020 and returned to live in the U.K. with their children in August 2026 after six years in the United States. Their spokesman said the allegations about her father were not a factor in that move.
Four Boxes Left Behind in Cebu
According to the newspaper’s report, Thomas Markle Jr., 60, gave a sworn statement to specialist child abuse officers in the Philippines describing a large collection of images and videos found in four large cardboard boxes of his father’s belongings, which included mobile phones and three computer hard drives. The boxes had been left behind when his father was flown back to the United States in May, following the stroke and blood clot that cost him his left leg in December 2025.
He said the discovery was accidental. He had been rummaging for a spare phone, and went through the rest of the material later with a local IT technician.
“When I found this material I was horrified and I had no option but to report my dad,” Thomas Markle Jr. told the newspaper. On July 10 he reported what he had found to the FBI tip line, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and Pennsylvania state police, where his father was then living. He said he heard nothing back. His sister, Samantha Markle, Thomas Markle Sr.’s daughter from an earlier marriage, denied the allegations, said her brother made up the story for money and said their father had no access to those computers for two years.
Her Father Denies It From Florida
Thomas Markle Sr., a former TV lighting director who won Emmy Awards for his work, called the accusations “sick lies” that had left him “shocked” and “hurt.”
He is now at a nursing and rehabilitation center in Florida. In December 2025, a spokesperson for Meghan said she had been in touch with her father while he was in a hospital in the Philippines after the amputation.
The Computer Now in Police Hands
Nicholas Ty, undersecretary of the Philippines Department of Justice, told the BBC that an anti-human trafficking and child sexual exploitation task force in Cebu is investigating the matter. Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said national police have secured Thomas Markle Sr.’s computer for a comprehensive digital forensic examination and that results would take a week. The claims have not been independently verified.
Thomas Markle Sr. has never met his grandchildren, Archie, seven, and Lilibet, five.