Meghan Markle's Statement Triggers Internal Police Investigation Amid 'Disturbing Allegations' Against Her Father
Explosive child porn allegations unveiled Thursday might have solved an eight-year mystery about the estrangement of the U.K.’s Duchess of Sussex from her globe-trotting father.
But with the American actress formerly known as Meghan Markle, little has been simple since she married into the British royal family.
And her statement about her father on Friday has sparked an investigation all its own by London police.
Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle, is reportedly under investigation after alleged child sexual abuse images were discovered among his belongings in the Philippines. According to reports, his son, Thomas Markle Jr., discovered the material while searching for a mobile phone, with the alleged content reportedly numbering “hundreds, if not thousands” of images. Meghan has since released a statement expressing her distress over the allegations, saying her thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed. The allegations have not been proven in court, and Thomas Markle has not been charged at this time. #TSBNews #TSB
— TheShadeBorough (@theshadeborough) October 23, 2026
On Thursday, the U.K. Sun tabloid reported that Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr., 60, reported to police in the Philippines that he’d found huge caches of child pornography on computers and phones belonging to his father, Thomas Markle Sr.
Markle Sr., 82, has strenuously denied the images belonged to him, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, arguing the computers had been out of his possession since he’d moved to the Philippines from Mexico at the beginning of 2025, and that anything on them could have been placed without his knowledge.
His eldest daughter, meanwhile, told the Daily Mail that Markle Jr. is “making up lies” about his father for personal gain.
“‘Whenever Tom is short of cash he makes up lies and sells stories because it’s easy money,” Samantha Markle told the newspaper.
As murky and messy as the whole story is — as of Friday, Markle Sr. had not been charged with any crimes — it’s a statement from Meghan herself that might be the most mysterious.
In it, the wife of Britain’s Prince Harry declared that in 2018, she had received a letter via London’s Metropolitan Police and its unit for protection of royalty that contained “troubling and disturbing allegations against my father.”
BREAKING – A statement from the Duchess of Sussex on allegations surrounding her father Thomas Markle 👇🏼 https://t.co/mMa5vNbqc2
— Roya Nikkhah (@RoyaNikkhah) October 23, 2026
While she did not describe the allegations, she did hint that her distance from her father going back to her 2018 wedding was related to the letter, rather than her father’s behavior before the ceremony and their clearly troubled relationship.
The letter was apparently received in the summer of that year, after Meghan and Harry had married in May, according to the Daily Mail.
Prior to the wedding, Thomas Markle Sr. was accused of staging photos for celebrity journalists in the Mexican city, where he was living at the time. Amid the publicity, and a heart attack potentially related to it, he did not attend the Meghan-Harry wedding in London. Then-Prince Charles ended up giving away the bride to his own son.
The two have not been together since, though Meghan is known to have attacked the Daily Mail in 2020 for “public shaming” of her father that caused him to miss her wedding.
She also managed to write to him after his latest round of medical problems, as People magazine reported.
Her statement on Friday casts her father in a new and much more sinister light.
“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,” the statement said.
“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.”
Harry and Meghan have two children: A son, born in 2019, and a daughter, born in 2021.
According to the Daily Mail, Meghan’s statement has set off its own investigation among London police, who appeared to be taken unawares.
“We are aware of media reports that officers from the Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Command were involved in the passing on of a letter in 2018,” the department said in a statement, according to the Daily Mail.
“We are undertaking enquiries internally in an effort to confirm this.”
Thomas Markle Sr. is not now and has not been under investigation by the London police, the newspaper reported.
However, if Thomas Markle Jr.’s account is correct, the pornographic images would not fall under any U.K. police department’s jurisdiction.
Markle Jr. claims to have discovered the images in a home where his father had lived in Cebu, the Philippines. Markle Sr. left the Philippines after surgery in December 2025 left him with an amputated leg. He is now living in a Florida rehabilitation center, learning to live with a prosthetic limb, the Daily Mail reported.
According to the Daily Mail, the U.S. Department of Justice and Philippine authorities are investigating the child pornography allegations.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
