LONDON — Police in the British capital said Saturday that they received a letter containing allegations about the estranged father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, in 2019, but did not tell other law enforcement agencies.
Authorities in the Philippines confirmed this week that they are investigating Thomas Markle over claims that he kept child sexual abuse images at his home. He has denied the allegations.
Meghan said in a statement Friday that she was “deeply distressed” by the allegations and that she was previously informed by police of “disturbing allegations” against him in 2018.
A spokesperson for London’s Metropolitan Police said a review of records confirmed that the force received a letter in January 2019 “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 statement added. “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 statement did not say whether any investigation took place or if any further action was taken.
The force said it was reviewing the incident and considering whether to refer itself to the United Kingdom’s Independent Office for Police Conduct.
Asked about the discrepancy between the two statements on the date of the letter, a spokesperson for Meghan told NBC News she “may have been mistaken by a few months.”
The allegations against Thomas Markle were first reported Thursday by The Sun, a British tabloid, which reported that his son had informed police after he said he found “hundreds, if not thousands” of child sex abuse images in boxes at his father’s home.
The Sun published a photo it said showed the son, Thomas Markle Jr., signing a sworn statement it said he had submitted to police and quoted him as saying: “I won’t speak to my father ever again unless I’m called to give evidence against him.”
In a statement Friday, Meghan addressed the report that her father was being investigated.
“The breadth of what has now been uncovered is more sickening than one could ever imagine,” said Meghan, whose relationship with her father has been limited and fraught in recent years. He did not attend her wedding to Prince Harry in 2018, drawing widespread media scrutiny.
She said the letter sent to the British police and other authorities in 2018 “made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated.”
Meghan added that she had chosen to keep her children, Prince Archie, 7, and Princess Lilibet, 5, away from her father “for one reason: to protect them.”
The elder Markle, 82, denied the reported allegations, calling them “sick lies” in a statement to Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper. He added they were “the worst thing anyone could accuse me of.”
His daughter Samantha Markle also dismissed her brother’s allegations, telling the Daily Mail that “there is no merit in these disgusting allegations whatsoever. ... He wants to destroy our dad. Shame on him.”
NBC News did not immediately receive responses to requests for comment from Markle Jr. or Samantha Markle — Meghan’s half-siblings.
NBC News was not immediately able to identify a contact for Markle Sr., who the Daily Mail reported was now in a Florida rehab center recovering from surgery.
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 U.S. law.”
The Philippines’ justice department confirmed Friday that “the matter is under investigation” but otherwise declined to “provide further details at this time.”
Meghan, 45, and Harry, 42, moved back to the United Kingdom earlier this summer after several years in the United States.
The couple last week made their first joint public appearance since returning to the U.K., visiting charities in central England. King Charles III has made clear that their return does not signal a return to active royal life. Harry, however, has said recently that he wants his disagreements with his family to “work out.”