Meghan Markle cut off contact with her father in a 2025 letter, citing child abuse allegations

The letter that ended the relationship

The Duchess of Sussex cut off contact with her father last year, telling him in a letter that she and the authorities knew of his involvement in abuse of minors, as sources close to Meghan describe it in a BBC News report. According to them, Meghan warned Thomas Markle that he would never meet his grandchildren, Archie and Lilibet, and made clear she would not contact him again. The letter, it is reported, was sent to the 82-year-old Markle while he was in hospital in the Philippines after having a leg amputated. Markle himself, who lives in the United States, denies all such allegations.

The half-brother's claims and the authorities' checks

Details of the letter were first reported in The Sun on Sunday. Meghan's half-brother Thomas Markle Jr told The Sun on Friday that he had found a storage cache of images at his father's former home in the Philippines, which allegedly included videos and photographs depicting child abuse. According to available information, in July he contacted the FBI about the matter, which subsequently confirmed it was aware of the claims. On Sunday, the 60-year-old Markle Jr apologised to Meghan in an interview with The Sun for having supported their father during nine years of conflict: “Now I know that for all those nine years I was defending the wrong person”, he said. Philippine officials confirmed to the BBC on Friday that a special anti-trafficking and child sexual exploitation task force is investigating the claims. The country's interior minister, Jonvic Remulla, separately said that the national police had seized Thomas Markle's computer and would conduct a digital forensic examination.

Thomas Markle's response and the London police

Thomas Markle himself gave an interview to the Mail on Sunday in which he admitted that on past visits to the Philippines he had paid for sex, but denies any involvement with minors and any possession of material depicting child abuse. Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police confirmed on Saturday that in 2019 it received a letter containing “a number of allegations” concerning Meghan's father. According to police representatives, at the time it passed the letter to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex but did not forward its contents to other law enforcement agencies. Scotland Yard said it is now reviewing its handling of the matter.

Meghan's statement and context

On Friday, Meghan revealed the existence of the letter in a statement, saying it contained “troubling allegations” about her father. “I am deeply shaken. My thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed”, she wrote. Meghan expressed the hope that it is now clear why she has largely cut off contact with her father and “did not allow him to have contact with our children”. Meghan is the only daughter of Thomas Markle and Doria Ragland; she has been estranged from her father since 2018, when he withdrew from attending her royal wedding for health reasons. Markle moved to the Philippines last year after a series of strokes and, according to reports, is now undergoing rehabilitation in Florida, learning to walk again after the amputation of his leg.

Why this matters

The development matters because the official account of the reasons for Meghan's years-long estrangement from her father has been made public for the first time — it had previously been a matter of dispute, and is now confirmed by her own statement and by the actions of three law enforcement bodies at once: the FBI, the Philippine police and Scotland Yard. In practical terms, this means ongoing checks: the digital forensic examination of Markle's computer in the Philippines and the Metropolitan Police's review of its handling of the 2019 letter. At the same time, all allegations against Markle remain unproven — he denies them, and the outcome of the investigations is not yet known.

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