Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, said Friday that she was "deeply distressed" by reports that her father, Thomas Markle, is being investigated in the Philippines over allegations that he possessed child sexual abuse material, according to CBS News. In a statement sent to the network, Meghan said she had known about allegations against her father since 2018 and that they had been passed to British authorities at the time. Philippine state media confirmed the same day that a probe is underway.
The Duchess, who recently returned to Britain with Prince Harry and their children, said a letter outlining the allegations was sent in 2018 to the Metropolitan Police and to Royalty and Specialist Protection, and that the letter was later shared with her. She said it contained serious claims against her father and that she was told an investigation would follow. CBS News said it had asked the Metropolitan Police for comment on her account.
Why it matters
The statement puts one of the most scrutinised family rifts in recent British public life into a new and far more serious frame. For years, the distance between Meghan and her father has been treated in much of the press as a personal falling-out. Meghan now says the separation was driven by allegations she was aware of years ago, and that keeping her children away from her father was a protective decision rather than a private quarrel.
The case also crosses three jurisdictions — the United Kingdom, the United States and the Philippines — which complicates any single account of who was told what, and when. And because the subject matter involves material depicting the abuse of children, the reporting raises questions about how such claims are handled when they involve a public figure's relative.
How the allegations surfaced
The Sun reported on Thursday that Thomas Markle, long estranged from his daughter, was reported to authorities in the Philippines by his son, Thomas Markle Jr. According to that report, the younger Markle came across the material in storage boxes at his father's home in the Philippines.
The Daily Mail reported Friday that Thomas Markle denies the allegations. He was quoted as telling the newspaper that he had never downloaded anything of the kind and described the claims as "sick lies."
According to the Mail, his son made the discovery while his father was in the United States receiving treatment for a stroke and a blood clot. The newspaper reported that Thomas Jr. first saw some of the material after switching on an old mobile phone at the house, and that he later reported it in July to an FBI hotline, to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and to state police in Pennsylvania.
The Philippine News Agency, a state-run outlet, said in a post on Facebook on Friday that the country's Department of Justice was looking into reports concerning an American man in his eighties who is said to have left videos and photographs of child abuse at his home in Cebu province. A justice official told the agency that its anti-trafficking task force was handling the matter and confirmed that Thomas Markle Sr. was the person under investigation.
Meghan's account of what she knew
In her statement, Meghan said she had chosen to keep her distance from her father in order to safeguard her children. She said she hoped it would now be clearer that, whatever distortions she said some outlets had published over the years, her decision not to let him have contact with them had a single purpose: protecting them.
She also said her "sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children."
The Duchess did not describe the contents of the 2018 letter in detail, and it is not established from the reporting what British police did with it. The Metropolitan Police had not publicly responded to her statement at the time of CBS News' report.
What to watch
The Philippine Department of Justice investigation is the central thread. Its anti-trafficking task force has confirmed the subject's identity but has not set out a timeline or said what stage the inquiry has reached. Thomas Markle has denied wrongdoing and has not been charged with any offence.
Two other questions remain open. The first is whether British police will confirm or describe how the 2018 letter was handled, which would test Meghan's account that she was assured of an investigation. The second is whether US authorities act on the report made to the FBI hotline and to Pennsylvania state police, given that the material is alleged to have been found in the Philippines and the reporting party was in the United States.
For now, the public record rests on a statement from the Duchess, a denial relayed through a newspaper, and a confirmation from Manila that an inquiry exists. Further detail is likely to come from the Philippine justice department and from any response by the Metropolitan Police.
