Meghan says she kept her father from her children to protect them

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, says she did not allow her father, Thomas Markle, to meet her children because she wanted to protect them. Her statement came as a specialist taskforce in the Philippines investigated a complaint involving alleged child sexual abuse images. Markle denies possessing such images.

The complaint followed an account given to The Sun by Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr. He said he had found the images among belongings at their father’s former home in Cebu. Philippine justice undersecretary Nicholas Ty told ITV News that a taskforce in Cebu was investigating the matter. An investigation does not establish what the material is or who possessed it.

Markle told the Daily Mail that the accusation was false. He also said the computers in question had not been in his possession since he left Mexico in January 2025.

Meghan said a letter making “troubling and disturbing” allegations about her father was sent to the Metropolitan Police and its Royalty and Specialist Protection unit in 2018, then shared with her. She said she was assured the allegations were being investigated. Her decision not to allow him contact with her children was, she said, “for one reason: to protect them”.

ITV News says it has seen the 2018 letter and that it contains no allegation of a crime committed in the UK. It is unclear whether its allegations relate to the complaint now being investigated in Cebu. The Met says it is checking internally whether officers in its protection unit passed on the letter; Sky News reports that the force has not previously investigated Markle and is not doing so now.

Meghan’s account explains why she says the distance continued, but the relationship was strained before she received the letter. The BBC reports that it had cooled by the announcement of her engagement in 2017; the letter was reportedly shared with her after her wedding in May 2018.