Duchess reveals she was warned about Thomas Markle before police inquiry
The Duchess of Sussex says she was informed of allegations against her estranged father in 2018 and trusted authorities were investigating them
The Duchess of Sussex has said she was informed of "disturbing allegations" concerning her estranged father in 2018, after reports that images of child sexual abuse allegedly belonging to Thomas Markle were found at his former home in the Philippines. In a statement, Meghan said a letter setting out the allegations had been sent to the Metropolitan Police that year and subsequently shared with her.
Her remarks follow reports, first published by The Sun, that prompted what she described as deep distress. Thomas Markle, who is based in the United States, has denied possessing child sex images, telling the Daily Mail that the accusations were "sick lies".
The duchess said: "I am deeply distressed at the news that has come to light in the last 24 hours, and my thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed." She said that when she received the letter outlining the allegations, she was "given assurance that these were being investigated".
She added that she hoped it could be understood why she had kept her distance from her father and did "not allow him to have contact with our children". This was "to protect them", Meghan said, adding that she had "trusted that the authorities were doing the same for other families". She described the allegations as "more sickening than one could ever imagine" and said her "sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children".
Meghan's half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, has alleged to The Sun that he found child abuse images at his father's home in the Philippines and reported the matter to police. Nicholas Ty, an undersecretary at the Philippines Department of Justice, told the country's state news agency that authorities were "currently investigating the matter". The BBC has approached Thomas Markle Snr and the Metropolitan Police for comment.
The allegations cast a new light on the duchess's complicated relationship with her father. Her statement makes clear that information about him was shared with her in 2018, the year she married Prince Harry. It is understood that Meghan first learnt of the allegations after the wedding.
The claims add a further dimension to questions about why Prince Harry and the couple's two children appear never to have met her father, and why relations became so strained. With such question marks hanging over Thomas Markle — who denies any wrongdoing — the matter also raises the issue of whether it played a part in the Sussexes' hurried return to Britain in late summer. Their spokesman has not responded to questions about whether it was a factor in their decision to leave the US, where her father had been living.
Meghan is the only child of Thomas Markle's marriage to Doria Ragland, but he has two other children, Samantha and Thomas Markle Jr, from an earlier marriage. Relations between Meghan and her father, a former television lighting director, broke down in the run-up to her wedding in 2018. At the time, Thomas Markle was found to have colluded with photographers, accepting payment to stage pictures of himself preparing for the ceremony. The resulting fallout saw him withdraw from the wedding, citing health problems; Meghan was instead walked down the aisle by King Charles III, then Prince of Wales.
In 2025, Thomas Markle moved to the Philippines after a series of strokes. He is reportedly now living in a rehabilitation centre in Florida, where he is learning to walk again after having a leg amputated during surgery in December 2025.