Thomas Markle Sr, the father of the Duchess of Sussex, has admitted to paying for sex in the Philippines but continued to deny allegations he had a hoard of child sex abuse images.
According to The Sun, Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, alleged that he found a stash of images belonging to their father at his former home in the Philippines.
He reportedly told police in the country that he discovered the child abuse pictures and videos mixed up with innocent family mementos.
The newspaper said he also contacted FBI investigators in the US in July.
Authorities in the Philippines said they are investigating the allegations.
In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Thomas Markle Sr said he has “never had sex with anyone under the age of 18”.
He told the paper that when he was single he travelled to the Philippines at least twice and “slept with prostitutes”.
“I like Asian women but that is not a crime,” he said.
“I am not well enough to go to the Philippines but I will speak to anyone who wants to talk to me. I have nothing to hide.”
Mr Markle is learning to walk again at a nursing facility in Florida after he had his leg amputated during life-saving surgery in 2025.
He said he would also welcome any forensic examination of his computer, telling the Mail on Sunday: “If there is anything bad on there it was put there by someone else.”
Thomas Sr’s eldest daughter Samantha Markle defended her father, telling the paper: “I believe this is a set-up.”
It comes after the Metropolitan Police on Saturday confirmed it passed a letter featuring claims of alleged offending outside the UK by Thomas Markle Sr to Meghan and the Duke of Sussex but did not share details with other law enforcement agencies.
The force said it received a letter in 2019 about a “number of claims” relating to Mr Markle, adding it was “reviewing the handling of this matter” including whether the force needs to be referred to the police watchdog.
On Friday, Meghan said she was made aware of “disturbing allegations” about her father in 2018.
She said she was shown a letter sent to Scotland Yard eight years ago making “troubling” allegations against Thomas Markle Sr and she was assured that these were being investigated.
A spokesperson for the Duchess of Sussex said if police had a time-stamped record confirming the letter was reviewed in 2019, then that “should be treated as the accurate reference point for when it was received and shared with the Duchess”.
They said on Saturday afternoon that it was “understandable” because of the passage of time that Meghan “may have been mistaken by a few months”.
A Met Police spokesperson said on Saturday afternoon: “Following a thorough review of Met Police systems and records, we have confirmed that in January 2019, we received a letter containing a number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom.
“It was sent to the MPS Protection Command to raise concerns in relation to the security of the Duchess of Sussex.
“The letter was reviewed and a decision was made that it should be passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness.
“The details of the allegations in the letter were not shared with other law enforcement agencies.
“The MPS is reviewing the handling of this matter in 2019 and considering whether a referral to the IOPC is necessary to review our approach.”
The Duchess of Sussex said she had been made aware of allegations about her father (Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA)
PA Wire
A spokesperson for the Duchess of Sussex said: “In recalling events from more than seven years ago, without the benefit of a diary entry or contemporaneous record, it is understandable that she may have been mistaken by a few months.
“If the MPS holds a time-stamped record confirming that the letter was reviewed in 2019, that should be treated as the accurate reference point for when it was received and shared with the duchess.
“I think it is reasonable to recognise that she is doing her best to recall the precise timing of events that were not diarised at the time, and that any discrepancy of a few months is an understandable consequence of that passage of time.”
The Telegraph reported the duchess is “upset and frustrated” over the Met’s failure to act.
According to The Sun, Meghan sent a letter to her father last year which reportedly said she knew of the accusations against him and that she would never allow him to meet his grandchildren.
Meghan became estranged from her former TV lighting director father in the run-up to her 2018 royal wedding after he was caught staging paparazzi photographs.
Mr Markle did not attend the wedding, leaving the King to accompany Meghan down the aisle and meaning the only member of her family present was her mother, Doria Ragland.
Meghan was the only child of Mr Markle’s marriage to Ms Ragland, though he has two children, Samantha and Thomas Jr, from an earlier marriage.
In 2021, Meghan won a High Court privacy and copyright claim against Associated Newspapers Limited (ANL) over articles that reproduced parts of a “personal and private” handwritten letter she wrote to Mr Markle in a bid to get him to stop talking to the press.
She wrote the emotional five-page letter to him in August 2018 after taking advice from two unnamed senior royals.
In 2025, Mr Markle moved to the Philippines for a new life after suffering a series of strokes.