Prince Harry to address European Parliament as Meghan pulls out of speech saying she is not 'strong enough' in first appearance since her father's arrest
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Prince Harry will give a speech about online child safety today, four days after his father-in-law Thomas Markle Sr was charged with possession of child abuse material.
The Duchess of Sussex will also be in Brussels for the event, but will no longer deliver a speech because she is 'not strong enough' following her father's arrest.
Harry and Meghan had both been due to deliver the keynote address to the European Parliament today.
The duchess will still join Harry, but has decided not to speak after Mr Markle Sr appeared in court last Friday, charged with possession of child abuse material.
'She's just not strong enough, emotionally, to be doing any public speaking right now,' a source told The Telegraph.
The event will be the first time Meghan will have been seen in public since the allegations surrounding Markle Sr.
He appeared in court in the US on Friday, charged with possessing child sexual abuse images.
Harry's now-solo speech will take place at the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial, an art installation honouring children who have died after being subjected to harm online.
Meghan and Harry visit the Community Recording Studio in Nottingham on October 15
Thomas Markle was arrested in Florida last Friday over child sexual abuse image allegations
Meghan with her father Thomas Markle in 2011, who was arrested by FBI agents last Friday
A spokesman for the duchess confirmed: 'The duchess is travelling with the duke to Brussels and will accompany him to the event but will not speak.'
It is understood Harry's speech will not touch on Markle Sr's arrest.
The brief trip abroad will see Harry and Meghan, who returned to the UK in August, listen to addresses by European Parliament president Roberta Metsola and MEP Antonio Lopez-Isturiz, the first vice-chairman of the Child Rights Intergroup.
The couple were due to have between 15 and 20 minutes between them for a rare dual address to speak about the importance of children's digital safety, but this task will now be taken on by Harry.
They will also be shown the memorial exhibition, which features smartphone-shaped light-boxes each displaying a lock screen photograph of a child or young person who died due to online harm.
Harry and Meghan previously unveiled the temporary Lost Screen Memorial installation in New York City in 2025.
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.
Questions will be permitted from the audience, but not the media.
Markle Sr, 82, was arrested by FBI agents after they seized a haul of material from two Los Angeles storage units he rented for nearly two decades.
He is charged with one count of possession of child pornography and is subject to home detention and electronic tagging following his release on bail after his court appearance on Friday.
He came under investigation after he was reported to police in the Philippines and the FBI last month by his son, Thomas Markle Jr, who allegedly found illegal images in his father's belongings in Cebu City.
Meghan said she was 'deeply distressed' at the allegations surrounding her father, from whom she has been estranged since the run-up to her 2018 wedding.
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