The Duchess of Sussex has revealed that in 2018, shortly after her wedding to Prince Harry, she was informed that a letter containing allegations against her father, Thomas Markle, had been sent to the Metropolitan Police unit responsible for guarding the royal family.
Meghan said the letter "made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father." She described the allegations as "more sickening than one could ever imagine" and said her "sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served."
She added: "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."
Background of Estrangement
In May 2018, it was announced that Thomas Markle would walk his daughter down the aisle at St George’s Chapel. Days before the wedding, it emerged he had staged paparazzi photographs, followed by news of heart problems, and then confirmation he would not attend. The then Prince of Wales stepped in to walk his future daughter-in-law up the aisle.
In the years that followed, Mr Markle gave interviews expressing hurt, saying he had been frozen out and denied the chance to meet his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet. Meghan’s private letter to her father in August 2018 became the subject of a legal battle with the Mail on Sunday, which she won.
Brother's Claims and Denials
Meghan’s estranged brother claims he discovered a haul of what he described as "hundreds if not thousands" of child abuse images in boxes of belongings left behind by their father, before reporting the matter to police. Earlier this week, reports emerged that images of child sexual abuse have allegedly been found at Thomas Markle’s former home in the Philippines.
Thomas Markle Sr, now 82 and back in the United States after losing a leg following a stroke and blood clot, has strongly denied the allegations, calling them lies and insisting the computers had not been in his possession since he left Mexico. His elder daughter Samantha has also rejected them. No charges have been brought, and he is entitled to the presumption of innocence.
Questions Remain
It is not yet clear whether the 2018 letter was an isolated incident. Questions remain about what happened to the letter once it reached Scotland Yard, who wrote it, and whether the allegations were passed to authorities in the United States or Mexico, where Mr Markle was living at the time.
Meghan had been assured the authorities were dealing with what was - and still may be - a live police investigation. She held on to it while being criticised for keeping her children from their grandfather, when speaking out could have ended the argument in a single sentence.
