Harry and Meghan to travel to Brussels to deliver joint speech in first public appearance since Thomas Markle 'child sex abuse' accusations came to light
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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to visit Brussels next week as they resume public appearances in the wake of child sexual abuse image allegations facing Meghan's father.
Prince Harry and Meghan will deliver a joint keynote address at the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial in the European Parliament on Tuesday.
It is expected to be the first time the pair will have been seen in public since Thomas Markle Sr was reported to police in the Philippines and the FBI over a haul of suspected child abuse images.
The brief trip abroad will see Harry and Meghan listen to addresses by European Parliament president Roberta Metsola and MEP Antonio Lopez-Isturiz, the first vice-chairman of the Child Rights Intergroup, before delivering their own speech.
The Sussexes will have between 15 and 20 minutes for their rare dual-address, which they will use to speak about the importance of children's digital safety.
Harry and Meghan will also be shown the memorial exhibition, which remembers children who have lost their lives as a result of the harm they suffered on social media.
The Duke will later join a panel discussion called Beyond Promises: Building A Digital Future That Works For Children to discuss how to protect children online.
Prince Harry and Mehgan arrive for a visit to Himmah Hub in Nottingham on October 15
The Philippine National Police (PNP) has said videos of alleged child sexual abuse and exploitation were among files found in four storage boxes that allegedly belonged to Mr Markle Sr, after he was reported by his son Thomas Markle Jr last month.
Major General Wilson Asueta of the PNP said it had yet to be confirmed who owned the devices, which included nine mobile phones, three memory cards, five hard drives and a camera.
The 82-year-old was reported to police in the Philippines and the FBI last month by Mr Markle Jr, who handed over a haul of alleged child abuse images he said he found in his father's belongings in Cebu City.
A second hoard was discovered last Friday in a storage unit Thomas Markle Sr is said to have rented near his former home in Rosarito, Mexico, during a raid by Mexican police.
Reports have since claimed Mr Markle Sr was moved into a care home for dementia patients in Florida, described as a specialist 'memory care' facility.
It has raised concerns the FBI may never be able to interview Meghan's estranged father because of the legal barriers over interrogating suspects with cognitive issues in care homes.
Meghan was left 'deeply distressed' at the allegations and revealed she was sent a letter via the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection seven years ago which made 'troubling and disturbing allegations' about her father, but that she was given assurances these were being investigated.
Harry and Meghan are set to be seen in public for the first time since her father Thomas Markle was reported to police over a haul of alleged child sexual abuse images
The Metropolitan Police has admitted it never shared the details with other law enforcement agencies, with the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, now investigating the force's conduct.
The Duchess had wanted to 'speak out' immediately after reading the letter but police advised her against this, sources said.
Meghan has been estranged from her father since the run-up to her 2018 wedding when he was caught staging paparazzi photographs and then had a heart attack, meaning the King, then-the Prince of Wales, stepped in to walk Meghan down the aisle.
When former TV lighting director Mr Markle Sr had his leg amputated in the Philippines last year, he made pleas for the duchess to contact him, saying he did not want to die while they were still estranged.
A spokesperson for the duchess confirmed at the time she had 'reached out to her father'.
Last week, it emerged Meghan wrote in this final letter that she knew he was an abuser and that he would never see his grandchildren Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
Mr Markle Sr, who returned to the US in May, has admitted to paying for sex in the Philippines but denied ever possessing child abuse imagery.
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