Show Notes
Either Meghan believed in 2019 that her father was a pedophile, in which case she lied to Oprah about what was really tormenting her, or she didn’t, in which case last week’s statement was pure opportunism. There is no third option. In this video I lay out why the Sussexes’ handling of the Thomas Markle allegations (which he denies, and which are a matter for the courts) has turned whatever sympathy initially flowed Meghan’s way into something close to disgust. The whole story hinges on a letter, allegedly sent to the Metropolitan Police in January 2019 by Thomas Markle’s first wife, Roslyn Loveless, accusing him of traveling to the Philippines for sex with children. A copy, we are told, reached Harry and Meghan via their bodyguards. Meghan now says that letter is the one reason she cut off her father and kept him away from Archie and Lili. Yet the police lost it, had to ask the Sussexes for a copy, and then dated it to 2019 rather than 2018, at which point Meghan’s much-vaunted record keeping fell apart and her spokesman had to correct her. So why did nobody follow up? Meghan had five police officers around her for another year. She allowed friends to tell People magazine, a month after the letter supposedly arrived, that she had written to her father: “I love you. I have one father. Please stop victimizing me through the media.” Harry praised Thomas in Spare. Her lawyers blamed the tabloids for the estrangement. Everybody’s actions suggest neither the Met nor Meghan found the letter credible. And if she did believe it? Then she sat opposite Oprah and blamed her suicidal ideation on racist press coverage and a heartless royal family (the bridesmaids’ dresses, the lip gloss, the sofa) while saying nothing about a father she was convinced was an abuser. That narrative built a global brand. A pedophile father would have destroyed it. Meanwhile Meghan has launched a $550 As Ever “Library basket,” signed up for MasterChef Australia, and let staff brief that she has fled the UK in tears. The public verdict is in, and it is grim. In Spare, Harry raged at William for urging him to take his time getting to know “this girl.” If only he had. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
More from The Royalist
The latest allegations surrounding Thomas Markle, Meghan Markle’s estranged father, are raising new questions about one of the royal family’s most publicized family feuds. On this episode of The Royalist, Tom Sykes examines the disputed claims, a letter from 2019, and the complicated circumstances surrounding Meghan’s estrangement from her father. Could this overlooked chapter change how we understand Meghan’s account of the family feud—and the events that shaped her relationship with the royal family? Plus, Tom sits down with Paula Froelich ( @PaulaFroelich , https://thescoopwithpaulafroelich.substack.com/) to discuss Prince William’s appearance on The Graham Norton Show and why the Prince of Wales made such a strong impression.
The Metropolitan Police, the force charged with protecting the royal family, has had to go cap in hand to Meghan Markle and ask whether she still had a copy of a letter it was sent in 2019, because it had lost its own. That letter, according to The Times and The Telegraph, was written by Roslyn Loveless, the late ex-wife of Thomas Markle Sr. and the mother of Samantha Markle and Thomas Markle Jr. In January 2019 it was sent to the Fixated Threat Assessment Centre, the specialist Scotland Yard unit that assesses risks to the royals, and it contained serious allegations of child sexual offences against Meghan’s father, along with a warning that he could pose a security risk to Meghan, Prince Harry and Doria Ragland.
The Thomas Markle story has taken its darkest turn yet. The Sun reports that Meghan’s estranged father is under investigation over claims he kept child sexual abuse images at his former home in the Philippines, allegations he flatly denies (he told the Daily Mail they are “sick lies”). The claim is said to have come from his own son, Thomas Markle Jnr, who alleges he found the material at the house his father left after moving there in 2025 following a series of strokes. Now the Duchess of Sussex has broken her silence, and her statement is extraordinary. Meghan says she is “deeply distressed” by what has emerged, but the real bombshell concerns 2018. According to Meghan, a letter was sent that year to the Metropolitan Police and to Royalty and Specialist Protection (the unit that guards the royal family) containing “troubling and disturbing allegations” against her father. That letter was later shared with her, and she says she was assured the claims were being investigated. It is understood she received it in the summer of 2018, in the months after her wedding to Prince Harry that May. That timeline matters. For eight years Meghan’s refusal to speak to her father, and her decision to keep him away from Archie and Lilibet, has been painted as cold, calculating, even cruel. Today she says there was only ever one reason: to protect her children. In this video I go through exactly what Meghan has said, what Thomas Markle has said in his own defence, and the questions this raises for the police, for royal protection officers, and for the palace. What was known in 2018, who knew it, and what, if anything, was done about it? Thomas Markle is now reportedly in a rehabilitation centre in Florida after having his left leg amputated last year. Meghan wrote to him in December after he said he did not want to die estranged from his daughter. Any hope of reconciliation now looks a very long way off. These remain allegations under investigation, not findings, and Thomas Markle denies them in the strongest terms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Emergency live. The Sun reports tonight that Thomas Markle Sr., the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father, is under investigation by police in the Philippines over an alleged hoard of child sex abuse images, and that the person who reported him is his own son. Thomas Markle Jr., Meghan’s half-brother and until this week his father’s carer and most loyal defender, has lodged a sworn statement with specialist child abuse officers in Cebu. The Sun’s Nick Parker was with him as he did it. Thomas Jr. says he found “hundreds, if not thousands” of abuse images and videos in four boxes of his father’s belongings, left behind when Thomas Sr. was flown back to the United States in May after losing his leg. Old phones. Three hard drives. Photography books. Film negatives. He says he reported it to the FBI in July, heard nothing, and went back to the boxes himself. The Sun says a task force has been appointed, the boxes are going for forensic examination, and an FBI agent has asked for the Philippine investigators’ details. The police declined to comment. No charges have been brought. Thomas Sr., now in a Florida nursing home being looked after by Samantha, has not responded. And a source close to Meghan has already told The Sun: “Now maybe people will finally understand why she has had nothing to do with her father since 2018.” That quote needs explaining, because nothing in this story suggests Meghan knew anything about what her brother says he found. Which brings me to the part I think matters most. This whole story rests on the word of one Markle about another. Thomas Jr. has a gun arrest, a drunk-driving arrest, a father who once said he “has a serious problem,” a sister who said “he always drank,” and a YouTube rant from last December in which he encouraged people to throw excrement at Meghan. Thomas Sr. has admitted lying on television. Samantha sued her sister and lost. All three have spent eight years monetizing Meghan. None of that makes the allegation untrue. A sworn statement cannot be deleted in the morning, and if those boxes contain what he says they contain, the forensics will prove it. But tonight, nobody outside the Markle family has looked in them. Full write-up in tomorrow morning’s newsletter. Tell me what you make of it in the comments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The law firm at the heart of Prince Harry’s war on the British tabloids has gone bust. Thomson Heath Jenkins & Associates (the boutique London practice that acted for Harry, Sir Elton John, David Furnish, Elizabeth Hurley, Sadie Frost, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Sir Simon Hughes in their failed privacy claim against Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail) has reportedly shut its doors and called in insolvency practitioners. According to the Telegraph, the collapse came as a shock to staff. Just a week ago, the firm was still boasting on its website about its rankings in the Chambers & Partners 2027 guide. This was no bit-part player. Founded in 2009 by Cambridge graduate Mark Thomson, the firm built its reputation on phone hacking litigation and helped prove the generic case against Mirror Group Newspapers. Seven of its solicitors worked on the case against the Mail. But in July, after an eleven-week trial, Mr Justice Nicklin threw out every single one of the claimants’ allegations, ruling that suspicion is not proof. Harry and his co-claimants were then ordered to pay £9.5 million as a first instalment towards Associated’s legal costs, with the total bill for both sides estimated at £40 to £50 million. So where does this leave Harry? The claimants are pursuing an appeal, and they must now do so without the firm that ran their case, while staring down a potential multimillion-pound costs liability should they lose again. It is hard to imagine a more humiliating coda to what Harry called his “mission” to reform the British press. In this video, I explain what we know about the firm’s collapse, what it means for Harry’s appeal and his finances, and why the Duke’s long crusade against the tabloids is proving so ruinously expensive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices