Thomas Markle Sr, the 82-year-old father of Meghan Markle, has been arrested by federal agents in the United States on charges related to child sexual abuse material. He was taken into custody near Tampa, Florida, where he is expected to appear in court today (November 6).
Arrest and Charges
The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said on Friday that Mr Markle, of Lakeland, Florida, has been charged with one count of possession of child pornography. He is expected to appear today in United States District Court in the Middle District of Florida in Tampa.
First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli said: "Mr Markle is accused of possessing child sexual abuse material, including photographs depicting himself with minor girls. These allegations are extremely serious, and we will prosecute Mr. Markle to the fullest extent of federal law."
Investigation and Discovery
The arrest follows a report to police in the Philippines and the FBI last month by his son, Thomas Markle Jnr, who allegedly found illegal images in his father's belongings in Cebu City. A second hoard was reportedly discovered last week in a storage unit Mr Markle is said to have rented near his former home in Rosarito, Mexico, during a police raid.
FBI Director Kash Patel said: "The FBI and our partners have arrested Thomas Markel Sr. after an FBI investigation revealed he was in possession of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM). Mr. Markle allegedly targeted innocent children and sought to steal their innocence through his criminal actions. Working with our Justice Department partners, our agents moved quickly, identified and located the explicit material, and arrested Mr. Markle in Florida. This FBI will use every single resource at our disposal to protect innocent kids – any predator who targets children will have zero safe haven in this country or anywhere they try to hide. Thank you to FBI Los Angeles, FBI Tampa, our Mexico and Marshall Islands Law Enforcement Attaches, and our partners who executed quickly in this case."
Storage Unit Search
Federal agents seized nearly 80 items from inside storage units rented by Thomas Markle Sr, including slides, film negatives, and books that contained suspected child sex abuse images, the DoJ said. According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, in October 2026, law enforcement learned that an individual signed an affidavit regarding their discovery of suspected CSAM among Markle's possessions in the Philippines.
Law enforcement also interviewed another individual who disclosed that Markle rented a storage unit in the Los Angeles area. Information from the first individual later led agents to a second unit. Pursuant to judicially authorised warrants, FBI special agents searched two storage units registered to Markle, which he has rented since 2008, with his most recent payments on both made last month by auto-pay.
Inside the units, agents seized approximately 78 items, including slides, film negatives, and books that contained suspected CSAM. The affidavit describes three of those images: two depict an adult man – whom a witness identified as Markle – with a nude prepubescent girl, and the third depicts a nude prepubescent girl in a room that appears to be part of a motel chain in the Philippines. The affidavit also describes additional photographs that appear to show Markle with children in various stages of undress.
Family Response and Legal Consequences
Mr Markle Sr, who was living in a dementia care home in the US, has admitted to paying for sex in the Philippines but has denied ever possessing child abuse imagery. Meghan, who moved back to the UK with Harry in August, said she was "deeply distressed" at the allegations about her father, from whom she has been estranged since the run-up to her 2018 wedding.
She revealed she was sent a letter via the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection in 2019 which made "troubling and disturbing allegations" about her father, but that she was given assurances these were being investigated. The Met has admitted it never shared the details with other law enforcement agencies, with the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), now investigating the force's conduct.
The duchess had wanted to "speak out" immediately after reading the letter but police advised her against this, sources said. When former TV lighting director Mr Markle had his leg amputated in the Philippines last year, he made pleas for the Duchess to contact him. Meghan is said to have written him a final letter in which she said she knew he was an abuser and that he would never see his grandchildren Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
If convicted, Markle would face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
