Meghan Markle was alerted to 'disturbing' allegations against her father in the months after her wedding to Prince Harry, it emerged today.
asserted
it → alert → Harry
The Duchess of Sussex revealed claims against Thomas Markle Sr were passed to her in 2018 after a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police's royal protection team.
uncertain
letter → reveal → team
Authorities in Britain are understood to have told Meghan that allegations about her father, which were shared with her by police, were being investigated.
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which → understand → police
The letter is believed to have been sent to the Duchess during summer 2018, soon after she married Harry in May that year at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.
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she → believe → Castle
Meghan, who moved back to Britain with her family over the summer after six years in the US, has been estranged from her 82-year-old father since the royal wedding.
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who → move → wedding
The Duchess has now explained that she never allowed him to meet her children Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, 'for one reason: to protect them'.
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him → explain → them
She said in a statement: '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.
'
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who → say → children
In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection.
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letter → send → Police
That letter was subsequently shared with me.
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letter → share → me
It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated.
'
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these → make → assurances
I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications' distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children, was for one reason: to protect them.
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him → hope → them
I trusted that the authorities were doing the same for other families.
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authorities → trust → families
Although the breadth of what has now been uncovered is more sickening than one could ever imagine, my sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children.'
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priority → uncover → children
A source close to the Royal Family told the Daily Mail this afternoon: 'This is a matter for the Sussex household.'
Before Meghan's statement, her father had vehemently denied possessing child sex images, calling the accusations 'sick lies'.
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father → tell → accusations
Thomas Sr said allegations made by his son, Thomas Jr, that he downloaded a huge stash of child sex abuse images onto computers and cellphones 'is the worst thing anyone could accuse me of'.
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anyone → say → me
The letter is believed to have been sent to the Duchess during summer 2018, soon after she married Harry in May that year at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle (pictured)
Meghan and her father Thomas Sr have been estranged since 2018, the year she married Harry
Thomas Sr recovering in a hospital bed after surgery in the Philippines last December
He spoke exclusively to the Daily Mail from a rehab centre in Florida, where he is learning to walk with a prosthetic limb after his left leg was amputated below the knee last December following a massive blood clot.
He said: 'I'm shocked, I'm hurt and I'm very upset that my son is making these accusations against me.
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son → believe → me
I could never do what I'm being accused of.
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I → do → what
It's the worst thing anyone could accuse me of.
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anyone → accuse → me
I have no idea why Tom is trying to destroy me with these lies.
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Tom → have → lies
Meghan's half-brother Thomas Jr, 60, made the bombshell claims to The Sun saying he found 'hundreds' of child sex images stored on computers and a cellphone in four large storage boxes 'left behind' by Thomas Sr when he moved back to the US from the Philippines earlier this year.
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he → make → Philippines
Thomas Sr challenged his son's account, claiming the computers had not been in his possession since he left Rosarito, Mexico, with his son in January 2025 and moved to the Philippines 'for a fresh start'.
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he → challenge → start
He said: 'Those computers were boxed up in Mexico and put on a cargo ship which took months to get to the Philippines.
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which → say → Philippines
I kept asking Tom for my computers but he wouldn't give them to me.'
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he → keep → me
He added: 'Tom told me they were in the basement of an apartment block we were living in.
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we → add → block
I could never understand why he wouldn't give them to me.
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he → understand → me
I don't know who had access to the computers.
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who → know → computers
We moved to [two adjoining] houses in December 2025 and I was taken ill [with the blood clot] and I was in hospital and then a rehab centre.
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I → move → hospital
Whenever I asked Tom to bring my computers to me he refused.
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he → ask → me
Asked about a quote from a 'source close to Meghan' who reportedly told The Sun: 'Now maybe people will finally understand why she has had nothing to do with her father since 2018,'
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she → ask → 2018
Thomas Sr replied: 'I don't believe that.'
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I → reply → that
He said he and Meghan had a 'great' relationship until she met Prince Harry and he 'stupidly' posed for paparazzi pictures on the eve of their wedding.
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he → say → wedding
Within days, he suffered two heart attacks and was unable to walk her down the aisle.
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he → suffer → aisle
Thomas Sr has been in declining health for years.
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Sr → decline → years
He returned to the US for ongoing medical treatment in May and recently had a third stent inserted into his heart after doctors found it was operating at 30 per cent efficiency.
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it → return → efficiency
When he spoke to the Daily Mail, nurses at the rehab centre had just performed an electrocardiogram because his heart rate was worryingly high because of the stress of learning of his son's accusations against him.
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rate → speak → him
Thomas Jr claimed he looked into four storage boxes containing his father's possessions in July this year to find a mobile phone for his fiancée Rose.
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he → claim → fiancée
When he opened one phone he was horrified to see a graphic child sex image.
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he → open → image
Thomas Sr said: 'I have never downloaded anything like that in my life.'
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I → say → life
The Duchess of Sussex on a visit to the Community Recording Studio in Nottingham last week
The allegations against Meghan's father Thomas have sent shockwaves through the family
Thomas Sr, pictured with nurse Rio Canedo, 46, is now the subject of a child sex probe
Thomas Sr was living in this home in Rosarito, Mexico, at the time of Meghan's wedding
Thomas Sr moved to a home in this apartment block in Cebu in the Philippines last year
Thomas Jr later opened a computer and said he saw a screensaver with 'hundreds' of disturbing thumbnail images.
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he → send → images
He claimed he also saw a video of a young girl engaging in a sex act.
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girl → claim → act
…and 50 more, not listed.
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