A week ago, the revelations were met with shock and disbelief, while cautious voices urged people not to rush to judgment. Today, however, the disclosure by Our News Outlet of a second cache of material allegedly linked to the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father demands a different response.
The books and magazines concerning paedophilia, along with photographs—including images of young children on a beach—have been reported by the Mail to the FBI. Their discovery is likely to be another devastating blow for Meghan.
One disturbing photograph appears to show Thomas Markle Sr sitting on a hotel bed with his arm around a young Asian girl. Both are clothed, although other images reportedly show the same girl alone, naked and posed in sexual positions.
What makes the latest discovery particularly troubling is that the material was not found at Markle’s temporary home in the Philippines. In interviews with The Mail On Sunday last week, he admitted to being a sex tourist in South-East Asia. Instead, the cache was located in a storage unit near the apartment in a Mexican border town where he appeared to be living an otherwise blameless life when Meghan first met Prince Harry.
There is another significant distinction. The boxes found in Cebu, the Filipino city where Markle had been living with his father, were discovered by his son, Thomas Jr, Meghan’s half-brother.
His involvement led to an acrimonious exchange with his sister Samantha, who accused him of fabricating the ‘disgusting’ claims in an attempt to make money.
By contrast, the sensational discovery in Rosarito, Mexico, involved no member of the Markle family and was not accompanied by allegations of domestic score-settling. Our News Outlet reporters made the discovery independently and verified through invoice receipts that Markle had rented the 5ft-by-10ft unit after moving to the town, ten miles south of the US border, in 2011.
The question now is what effect this deeply troubling development could have on the duchess—and on the wider Royal Family.
What appears clear is that the original claims can no longer simply be dismissed as part of a bitter dispute between the feuding Markles.
Thomas Sr, who is undergoing rehabilitation in Florida after having part of his leg amputated and being fitted with a prosthetic limb, has denied any wrongdoing.
Meghan, her mother Doria and Prince Harry introduce baby Archie to the Queen and Prince Philip shortly after his birth in May 2019
The discovery of books and magazines about paedophilia allegedly linked to the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father is likely to be another devastating blow for Meghan, writes Richard Kay
One disturbing photograph in the newly discovered cache appears to show Thomas Markle sitting on a hotel bed with his arm around a young Asian girl
Our News Outlet has alerted the FBI after uncovering sexually explicit books, magazines and photographs in a Mexican storage unit rented by Mr Markle
Markle’s home in Rosarito had an important place in the story of Harry and Meghan. The award-winning former Hollywood lighting director lived there in seclusion within a gated community.
It was also where he became caught up in the worldwide interest surrounding his daughter’s relationship with the late Queen Elizabeth’s grandson. Markle notoriously worked with a photographer to stage photographs of himself preparing for the royal wedding. After the stunt was exposed, he was humiliated and declined to attend the ceremony, having suffered a heart attack.
His relationship with Meghan never recovered.
Yet as further troubling details about Markle’s private life emerge, it is difficult not to sympathise with Meghan and understand why she has chosen to distance herself from the Markle family.
With hindsight, she must be relieved that there are no wedding photographs showing her and members of the Royal Family smiling alongside the man now facing such disturbing allegations.
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If he had escorted his daughter down the aisle at St George’s Chapel in 2018, Thomas Markle would have appeared in all the official photographs, probably seated in the front row with Meghan, the then Prince Charles, the Queen and Prince Philip. Those images could look very different today.
Could that also help explain some of Meghan’s decisions to protect her children’s privacy, including her choice not to pose with Prince Archie after his birth in 2019?
We now know that, four months before Archie was born, Meghan was shown a letter written by her father’s first wife, Roslyn Loveless. The letter is said to have warned a specialist police unit responsible for assessing threats to royals and public figures about Markle’s alleged proclivities.
The letter was reportedly shared with other senior officers connected to the Royal Family before later being ‘lost’ by the authorities. It is now at the heart of another dispute involving Scotland Yard, which has referred itself to the police watchdog over its alleged failure to alert other law-enforcement agencies to the contents.
It is difficult to avoid asking whether, had the Yard acted at the time, authorities in Mexico and the US might have investigated Markle seven years ago. Instead, Our News Outlet has uncovered what it describes as his disturbing secrets. Meghan must have been under immense strain if she received such information while preparing to become a mother for the first time.
Seen in retrospect, the disclosure appears highly significant. Meghan had often described herself as a ‘daddy’s girl’; the letter must have been profoundly distressing.
In retrospect, Meghan must be relieved that there are no wedding photographs showing her and the Royal Family alongside the man now facing such disturbing allegations, writes Kay
The then Prince Charles, rather than Mr Markle, walked Meghan down the aisle for the second half of her wedding procession at St George’s Chapel in 2018
Attention will now focus on the contents of the 20 boxes found in Mr Markle’s storage unit, which could influence how the Royal Family is viewed, says Kay
This context may also cast a different light on a remark Meghan made during her notorious 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey. Discussing her estrangement from Markle, she said: ‘I grieve a lot. I mean, I’ve lost my father.’
Against the backdrop of the Mail’s discovery, Meghan’s efforts to shield her children—including declining to release newborn photographs and continuing to obscure their faces in images shared online—may appear more complex.
Can private christenings, obscured photographs and the children’s absence from royal events fairly be treated as proof that Meghan was, as some critics claimed, a ‘Duchess Difficult’? Another interpretation is that she was a mother determined to protect her young family from disturbing secrets, despite intense public pressure.
It seems Meghan put her family ahead of royal expectations. In light of the latest claims, who could easily condemn her for doing so?
For the King, the new disclosures will also require careful consideration. Buckingham Palace is unlikely to blame Meghan for the allegations overshadowing his important Caribbean tour. They are not her fault.
He will naturally feel a Christian duty to support her and Harry. Whether that support leads to reconciliation or a renewed role within the Royal Family—particularly alongside the Prince and Princess of Wales—remains uncertain.
‘There will be considerable sympathy for Meghan, but that alone will not erase the feelings of family members about the way she and Harry have behaved,’ says a close figure.
The remaining question is whether public opinion will soften as well.
For now, attention will centre on the contents of the 20 boxes recovered from Markle’s storage unit. Those materials could influence not only questions of innocence or guilt in Mexico, but also the way the Royal Family and its recent history are understood.
