For years, Meghan Markle has faced scrutiny in the British and American media, particularly over her estrangement from her 82-year-old father, Thomas Markle Sr. That rift has been the subject of tabloid fodder ever since the run-up to her wedding to Prince Harry at Windsor Castle in 2018. The Duchess of Sussex’s father, a retired lighting and photography director, did not attend the wedding, saying he had suffered a heart attack days after it was reported that he had staged paparazzi photographs that were sold to media outlets.
He has never met Harry or his grandchildren. But in the years since, he has given numerous interviews to journalists, painting a portrait of a cruel daughter who shunned him after marrying into the British royal family and going so far as to leak a private letter she had written him after the wedding to a newspaper. He has also pleaded in interviews for a reconciliation, saying last year that he did not want to die while still estranged from his daughter.
Meghan and Harry said the relentless scrutiny from the British media was among the reasons they had decided to leave the U.K. when they quit their royal duties and moved to the United States in 2020. Their return to the U.K. this summer with their two children—7-year-old Prince Archie and 5-year-old Princess Lilibet—has, naturally, focussed fresh media attention on the couple, and prompted a wave of negative articles. But a revelation on Friday could change everything.
Meghan revealed her decision to remain distanced from her father and not allow him contact with her children was borne out of a desire to protect them after she learned in 2018 of "troubling" allegations against him that were being investigated by police. The revelation came after The Sun, a British tabloid, reported on Thursday that Markle Sr. was under investigation following allegations made by his son. Thomas Markle Jr, 60, told the newspaper that he reported his father to police after discovering child sexual images while clearing out his father's former home in the Philippines.
Markle Sr. has denied the allegations and has not been charged with any offense. In a statement provided to Newsweek, Meghan said she was "deeply distressed" by the reports about her father. She also revealed that a letter containing "troubling allegations" about her father had been sent to the Metropolitan Police Service’s Royal and Specialist Protection unit in 2018, which later shared the letter's contents with her.
"It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated," she said. "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." Her statement certainly changes the narrative and will attract sympathy as well as explaining why she has refrained from speaking openly about her relationship with her father. It should be pointed out that Meghan’s statement did not specify the nature of the allegations raised by the letter in 2018 or establish whether they were connected to those reported this week.
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