Meghan Markle says she is deeply distressed by reports that her father faces a Philippine investigation over alleged child abuse material, while he calls the accusations sick lies.
The Duchess of Sussex issued a statement Friday after news surfaced that authorities in the Philippines are examining claims tied to her father, Thomas Markle Sr., and alleged child abuse videos and photos connected to a home in Cebu province.
ABC News reported that the Philippine News Agency, run by the country’s government, said the Department of Justice is investigating reports involving an octogenarian American national who left child abuse videos and photos in his home there. No charges or arrest were described as filed.
Meghan said the developments left her shaken and pointed first to possible harm to children rather than family drama.
"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," she said.
"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,"
She also said the allegations were not entirely new to her. In 2018, she said, a letter went to London’s Metropolitan Police and its Royalty and Specialist Protection unit. That letter was later shared with her.
"In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection. That letter was subsequently shared with me. It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated," she said.
"In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection. That letter was subsequently shared with me. It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated,"
The Metropolitan Police responded that it knows of media reports about that 2018 letter and is checking its own records. Buckingham Palace declined to comment.
Philippine Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Ty told the government news agency that the department’s anti-trafficking and online sexual abuse and exploitation of children task force “is currently investigating the matter” involving Thomas Markle Sr.
The Sun reported that Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr., went to police in the Philippines and alleged he found images on his father’s phone and computers. ABC News said it could not reach Thomas Markle Sr. or Thomas Markle Jr. and had reached out to Philippine authorities.
Thomas Markle Sr. rejected the accusations in comments to the Daily Mail. He called them “sick lies” and said they were “the worst thing anyone could accuse me of.”
"I'm shocked, I'm hurt and I'm very upset that my son is making these accusations against me. I could never do what I'm being accused of. It's the worst thing anyone could accuse me of," he said.
"I'm shocked, I'm hurt and I'm very upset that my son is making these accusations against me. I could never do what I'm being accused of. It's the worst thing anyone could accuse me of,"
He also said the computers at issue had not been in his possession since he left Rosarito, Mexico, in January 2025. The Philippine News Agency said he had traveled from the Philippines to the United States for medical treatment.
The dispute sits against a long estrangement. Thomas Markle Sr. did not attend Meghan’s 2018 wedding to Prince Harry at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor after a reported paid paparazzi arrangement. King Charles III walked her down the aisle. Meghan and Harry have two children. Public attention on Meghan has often swung back to her entertainment work, including periods when Meghan Markle sifted through scripts while weighing a Hollywood return.
Serious allegations of child sexual abuse material demand careful police work, not celebrity spin. Possession claims of this kind, if proven, are among the gravest offenses on the books. If disproven, they still wreck reputations and families. Either way, evidence has to lead.
An FBI official said the bureau knows of the allegations and will support Philippine authorities as appropriate. The same official said the FBI will also investigate any related allegations of federal violations of U.S. law.
"The FBI is aware of the allegations and will provide support, as appropriate, to the Philippine authorities,"
That dual track matters. Cross-border cases involving alleged abuse material often stall when agencies treat them as someone else’s problem. Here, Philippine investigators are on the record, and U.S. federal agents have left the door open on any domestic law angle.
The Metropolitan Police, for its part, limited its Friday statement to process. Officers said they 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” and are “undertaking enquiries internally in an effort to confirm this.”
What became of those 2018 assurances Meghan described remains unanswered in the available record. So do basic case facts: whether devices were seized, whether any files were forensically confirmed, and whether prosecutors in Cebu or Manila have moved beyond an inquiry. Meghan’s own public profile has stayed busy on other fronts, from reports that a WME boss still sees TV bookings for her to separate coverage of royal-family distance.
None of the material in the Friday wave of statements establishes guilt. It establishes an active Philippine investigation, a son’s allegation as carried by British tabloids, a father’s categorical denial, a daughter’s public distress, and parallel notices from the Met and the FBI.
That is enough to justify scrutiny. It is not enough to treat the accusation as settled fact. Readers should hold both points at once. Child victims deserve a complete investigation. Accused adults deserve a process that tests evidence instead of headlines.
Meghan’s statement put children first in its opening line. That is the right order of concern when abuse material is alleged. It does not resolve the underlying claim against her father, and it does not erase the years of family fracture that followed the 2018 wedding.
Her career moves have drawn their own headlines, including accounts that she lost a Guy Ritchie casting after British backlash and later reporting on a dropped Netflix role. Those projects sit far from a Cebu evidence question. They do show how quickly her name pulls coverage into entertainment lanes even when the underlying issue is a criminal inquiry.
Thomas Markle Sr. remains, on the public record provided, an American in the middle of a foreign probe and a bitter family fight. Philippine officials describe an investigation, not a conviction. He insists he could never do what his son alleges and says key computers left his control after he departed Mexico in early 2025.
Separate coverage has also tracked Meghan as she eyed an acting return while the Sussexes weighed time in the U.K. None of that answers whether Philippine investigators will produce charges, clear him, or leave the file unresolved.
Open questions still dominate. Formal charging documents have not been described. The full text of the 2018 letter has not been published in this reporting. Thomas Markle Jr. has not been quoted directly beyond the secondary account of his police report. Absolute dates for the tip, the travel for medical care, and any device seizures were not fixed in the Friday coverage.
Law-and-order basics still apply when famous names are involved. Agencies should follow the evidence across borders, protect any child harmed, and refuse to let estrangement or celebrity harden into a substitute for proof. Families can be broken for many reasons. Child sexual abuse material cases are not a stage for score-settling; they are a test of whether institutions still put victims and facts first.
