The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that it received a letter in 2019 containing “a number of claims” about alleged wrongdoing involving Meghan Markle’s father, Thomas Markle.
The force said the information was forwarded to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex but was not passed to other law enforcement bodies. It has now begun reviewing how the matter was handled.
Meghan said on Friday that she was alerted to “troubling and disturbing” allegations about her father in 2018, soon after her marriage to Prince Harry.
Her comments came after reports that Thomas Markle was under investigation in the Philippines over claims that he had stored child sexual abuse images.
According to Meghan, police gave her a letter detailing the allegations. She said the information influenced her decision to prevent her father from having contact with her family.
The Met had previously said it was attempting to locate a letter received in 2018, while sources maintained that officers had never formally investigated Mr Markle.
On Friday, the Sussexes said they still possessed a copy of the document and would provide it to police if the force was unable to find its own record.
The Met has now verified Meghan’s account that a letter was received and confirmed that its handling of the issue is being examined.
In a statement released on Saturday, a police spokesperson said: “Following a thorough review of Met Police systems and records, we have confirmed that in January 2019, we received a letter containing a number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom.
Meghan Markle pictured with her father, Thomas Markle, in 2011. The pair have been estranged since 2018
Thomas Markle has strongly denied claims that he possessed child abuse images
“It was sent to the MPS Protection Command to raise concerns about the security of the Duchess of Sussex.
“The letter was assessed, and it was decided that it should be sent to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their information. The allegations outlined in the letter were not shared with any other law enforcement agencies.
“The MPS is reviewing how this matter was handled in 2019 and is considering whether a referral to the IOPC is required to examine our approach.”
Meghan’s account of the letter and its “troubling and disturbing” contents prompted headlines around the world on Friday.
She said the allegations were the reason she chose not to allow her father into her family’s life, saying she wanted to protect Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five.
The Duchess of Sussex described feeling “deep distress” over allegations she called “more sickening than one could ever imagine” and added: “My thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed.”
Meghan, 45, said she hoped people would now understand that ending contact with Mr Markle and refusing to let him see her children was motivated by one concern: protecting them.
Her statement followed reports that her father was being investigated in the Philippines over allegations that he possessed child sexual abuse material.
Police were reportedly shown an image that allegedly depicted Mr Markle having sex with a girl who appeared to be underage.
According to The Sun, the alleged stash includes an old 35mm film negative showing a bearded man considered possibly to be Mr Markle, now 82, on a bed with an Asian girl, while another image reportedly shows the same man, believed to have been in his late 40s or early 50s, partly obscured by the girl’s arm.
Megan’s half-brother Thomas Markle Jr, 60, handed four large boxes of material from his father’s former home in Cebu City, in the Philippines, to police.
Thomas Jr spent more than nine hours formally submitting the material, which he claims contains ‘hundreds, if not thousands’ of obscene images.
Mr Markle has vehemently denied the allegations so far and is yet to comment on the latest accusations.
Markle Jr, told police there that he had found horrifying photos of naked youngsters in boxes belongings to their father, who branded the claims ‘sick lies’ made up by his son for money.
The mystery deepened when sources at the Metropolitan Police revealed it had not carried out any investigation into Mr Markle, either in 2018 or since, and that officers were previously trying to trace the letter his daughter mentioned.
Meghan’s statement did not specify exactly when in 2018 the letter was sent to the police or when it was subsequently shared with her. She married Prince Harry in May that year.
FIND OUT MORE: Is It Time to Feel Sorry for Meghan Markle?
Thomas Sr, pictured with nurse Rio Canedo, 46, is now the subject of a child sex probe
Meghan’s brother Thomas Markle Jr (above) claimed to have found the child abuse material
Other unanswered questions include who sent the letter to the Yard, who assured the duchess that it was being investigated, and which police force had investigated her father if not the Met?
The latest drama unfolded after Tom Jr, 60, told police in the Philippines he had discovered ‘hundreds, if not thousands’ of child-sex images in four large boxes ‘left behind’ at his 82-year-old father’s home, where he had been living until earlier this year.
Tom Jr allegedly saw a computer screensaver with ‘hundreds’ of disturbing thumbnail images, videos of girls under 12 involved in sex acts, and ‘old books that turned out to be full of naked little girls’.
He said he was ‘horrified’ and ‘had no option but to report my dad’, first contacting the FBI in America and the US Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
This week, he took the material to police in the Philippine city of Cebu, accompanied by Sun journalists.
Mr Markle is now under investigation by a child-sex abuse task force in Cebu, with the FBI also poised to join the probe now that he is living in the US in a nursing and rehab centre in Florida.
A source close to Meghan was quoted in The Sun saying: ‘Now maybe people will finally understand why she has had nothing to do with her father since 2018.’
On Friday, Mr Markle told the Mail that the accusations were ‘sick lies’, adding: ‘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.
The letter is believed to have been sent to the Duchess during summer 2018, soon after she married Harry in May that year at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle (pictured)
Samantha Markle, left, pictured with her father Thomas Sr and brother Thomas Jnr
Thomas Sr recovering in a hospital bed after surgery in the Philippines last December
‘It’s the worst thing anyone could accuse me of. This is bulls***. It’s just a bunch of lies. It’s sick. I have no idea why Tom is trying to destroy me with these lies.’
Speaking exclusively to this paper, he challenged his son’s account. He claimed the computers had not been in his possession since he left Rosarito, Mexico, in January 2025 and moved to the Philippines ‘for a fresh start’.
Asked by the Mail, ‘Did you download porn on to your computers?’, Mr Markle said: ‘Never. Never. Never. I have never done that.’ Authorities in the Philippines confirmed they were investigating. Interior minister Jonvic Remulla said Tom Jr had given police evidence including a laptop.
Meghan and her father had a very public falling-out before her marriage after he posed for paparazzi pictures on the eve of her wedding to Prince Harry.
Within days he had two heart attacks and was unable to walk her down the aisle.
The Sussexes left the UK in 2020, but returned this month.
In her statement, Meghan 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. 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.
‘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.
‘I trusted that the authorities were doing the same for other families. Although the breadth of what has now been uncovered is more sickening than one could ever imagine, my sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children.’
The FBI said it was ‘aware of the allegations and will provide support, as appropriate, to the Philippine authorities. We will also investigate any related allegations of federal violations of US law’.
A source close to the Royal Family said: ‘This is a matter for the Sussex household.’
On Friday, The Sun reported that the letter sent to the Met in 2018 alleged Mr Markle sexually abused a child. The author also claimed Mr Markle had admitted travelling to Thailand and the Philippines to abuse children.
