Angela Rayner sympathises with Meghan Markle over family rift: 'I can understand the difficulty'

Angela Rayner says that she sympathises with the Duchess of Sussex over the furore surrounding her estranged father, Thomas Markle Sr.

Authorities in the Philippines are investigating allegations that Mr Markle kept a hoard of child sex abuse images at his former home there.

Mr Markle has denied the claims, calling them a “bunch of lies”.

On Saturday, it emerged that the Metropolitan Police received a letter in January 2019 featuring claims of Mr Markle’s alleged offending.

The force admitted that it passed the letter to Meghan and her husband Prince Harry, but did not share details with other law enforcement agencies.

On Sunday, Ms Rayner, the housing secretary, told Sky News that the matter was an “operational issue”.

She said: “The police have a very robust system in place of independence, where they will act to ensure that where they need to share information, it’s appropriate, they will do that.

“That is an operational issue for the police. They’re independent, I’m sure that they’re making those decisions based upon people upholding the law and especially protecting children.”

Meghan said this week that she kept a distance from her father after learning of the alleged offending, and chose not to allow him to have contact with her children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in order to protect them.

It has also been reported that Meghan wrote to her father in 2025, telling him that she knew of the sex abuse claims against him and that she would never allow him to meet his grandchildren.

The letter was understood to have been sent while Mr Markle was in hospital in the Philippines after having his leg amputated.

Sources close to Meghan told the BBC that she wrote it was the last time she would contact him.

Ms Rayner, asked on Sunday if she felt sorry for the duchess, said: “Meghan Markle has faced a tremendous amount of intrusion into her family. It must be difficult as as a daughter to have all this out in the open.

“She’s made a statement and she’s been very robust in that statement.

“As a mother myself, I can understand the difficulty that that is for Meghan, and for it to be all over the news every day.

“Her estrangement from her father has been something that’s been in the press for some time. But she’s been really clear now, I think, on the reasons, some of the reasons, why that is the case.

“But at the heart of this, you’ve got a mother who is trying to raise her children and protect them, and to have a great family life, and that is obviously very difficult when you’re in the public eye.”