Meghan distressed over dad’s child abuse images in Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — British Prince Harry’s wife Meghan is “deeply distressed” by allegations that her father had possessed images of child abuse, adding that she had blocked contact between him and her children over previous “troubling and disturbing” allegations.

Reports said Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr., allegedly discovered the images while clearing out their father’s former home in Cebu and reported them to Philippine police.

The father denies the allegations, describing them as “sick lies.”

In comments to the Daily Mail, Markle denied the allegations.

“I’m shocked, I’m hurt and I’m very upset that my son is making these accusations against me?” he was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying. “I could never do what I’m being accused of. It’s the worst thing anyone could accuse me of.”

After the reports, Meghan revealed that in 2018 she had seen a letter sent to London’s Metropolitan Police Service and its Royalty and Specialist Protection unit making similar accusations.

“It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated,” she said in a statement.

However, a source close to the matter told AFP that the Metropolitan Police had not investigated the matter and was not investigating it.

Police probe

Following the allegations, Philippine authorities are investigating the 82-year-old man, according to Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Ty.

“Our Anti-Trafficking and Anti-OSAEC (online sexual abuse and exploitation of children) task force in Cebu is currently investigating the matter,” Ty told Reuters.

Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla also told Reuters Markle Jr. had provided authorities with evidence, including a laptop. He also confirmed that Meghan’s father was believed to have returned to the United States.

Melvin Matibag, director of the National Bureau of Investigation, told AP that the FBI had sought the agency’s assistance in examining the allegations.

The FBI office in Manila had transmitted a letter from Markle Jr. to several Philippine law enforcement agencies, including the NBI’s Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Division.

The letter detailed his alleged discovery of materials that appeared to depict children or minors in sexually explicit or exploitative circumstances, Matibag said.

Markle Jr. indicated that he was prepared to surrender the alleged materials and said in an affidavit that his father was in an assisted living facility in Florida, Matibag added.

The FBI requested that Philippine authorities notify it “once any of the victims are identified,” he said.

In a statement, 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,” it added.

The Metropolitan Police said it was aware of media reports that officers from its Royalty and Specialist Protection Command had been involved in passing on a letter in 2018.

“We are undertaking enquiries internally in an effort to confirm this,” a police spokesperson said.

Meghan said she hoped people would understand that her decision to prevent her father from having contact with her children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, was intended to protect them.

“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,” she said.

“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,” she added.

Family estrangement

Harry, the younger son of King Charles III, married Meghan, an American former actress who starred in the television drama “Suits,” at Windsor Castle in May 2018. Her father did not attend the wedding.

Days before the ceremony, Markle said he would not attend because of ill health after admitting that he had posed for staged paparazzi photographs for payment.

The wedding and the subsequent estrangement between father and daughter drew extensive media coverage. Markle had never met his grandchildren.

In December, however, a spokesperson for Meghan said she had been in contact with her father while he was in a hospital in the Philippines after having his left leg amputated.

Markle later returned to the US, where he reportedly lives in a rehabilitation or assisted living facility in Florida.

In 2021, Meghan won a privacy and copyright claim in Britain’s High Court against Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers over articles that reproduced parts of a private letter she had written to her father, asking him to stop speaking to the press.

Harry and Meghan stepped back from royal duties in 2020 and moved to California. They later returned to the United Kingdom with their children in August.