Meghan was first told of allegations against her father Thomas after she married Harry in 2018 - as he faces probe over child sex abuse images

Meghan Markle was alerted to 'disturbing' allegations against her father in the months after her wedding to Prince Harry, it emerged today.

The Duchess of Sussex revealed claims against Thomas Markle Sr were passed to her in 2018 after a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police's royal protection team.

Authorities in Britain are understood to have told Meghan that allegations about her father, which were shared with her by police, were being investigated.

The letter is believed to have been sent to the Duchess during summer 2018, soon after she married Harry in May that year at St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.

Meghan's half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, has claimed to have found a stash of child abuse images belonging to their father at his former home in the Philippines. 

Meghan, who moved back to Britain with her family over the summer after six years in the US, has been estranged from her 82-year-old father since the royal wedding.

The Duchess has now explained that she never allowed him to meet her children Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, 'for one reason: to protect them'.

She said in a statement: 'I am deeply distressed at the news that has come to light in the last 24 hours, and my thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed.

'In 2018, a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection. That letter was subsequently shared with me. It made troubling and disturbing allegations against my father and I was given assurances that these were being investigated.

'I hope it can now be understood that, despite certain media publications' distortion over the years, any distance from my father and my choice to not allow him to have contact with our children, was for one reason: to protect them.

'I trusted that the authorities were doing the same for other families.

'Although the breadth of what has now been uncovered is more sickening than one could ever imagine, my sincerest hope is that justice will be fully served and that the priority remains the safety and protection of innocent children.'

A source close to the Royal Family told the Daily Mail this afternoon: 'This is a matter for the Sussex household.' 

Before Meghan's statement, her father had vehemently denied possessing child sex images, calling the accusations 'sick lies'.

Thomas Sr said allegations made by his son that he downloaded a huge stash of child sex abuse images onto computers and cellphones 'is the worst thing anyone could accuse me of'.

He spoke exclusively to the Daily Mail from a rehab centre in Florida, where he is learning to walk with a prosthetic limb after his left leg was amputated below the knee last December following a massive blood clot. 

He said: 'I'm shocked, I'm hurt and I'm very upset that my son is making these accusations against me. I could never do what I'm being accused of. It's the worst thing anyone could accuse me of.

'This is bulls***. It's just a bunch of lies. It's sick. I have no idea why Tom is trying to destroy me with these lies.'

Thomas Jr, 60, made the bombshell claims to The Sun saying he found 'hundreds' of child sex images stored on computers and a cellphone in four large storage boxes 'left behind' by Thomas Sr when he moved back to the US from the Philippines earlier this year.

Thomas Sr challenged his son's account, claiming the computers had not been in his possession since he left Rosarito, Mexico, with his son in January 2025 and moved to the Philippines 'for a fresh start'.

He said: 'Those computers were boxed up in Mexico and put on a cargo ship which took months to get to the Philippines. I kept asking Tom for my computers but he wouldn't give them to me.'

He added: 'Tom told me they were in the basement of an apartment block we were living in. I could never understand why he wouldn't give them to me.

'I don't know who had access to the computers. We moved to [two adjoining] houses in December 2025 and I was taken ill [with the blood clot] and I was in hospital and then a rehab centre. Whenever I asked Tom to bring my computers to me he refused.'

Asked about a quote from a 'source close to Meghan' who reportedly told The Sun: 'Now maybe people will finally understand why she has had nothing to do with her father since 2018,' Thomas Sr replied: 'I don't believe that.'

He said he and Meghan had a 'great' relationship until she met Prince Harry and he 'stupidly' posed for paparazzi pictures on the eve of their wedding. 

Within days, he suffered two heart attacks and was unable to walk her down the aisle. 

Thomas Sr has been in declining health for years. He returned to the US for ongoing medical treatment in May and recently had a third stent inserted into his heart after doctors found it was operating at 30 per cent efficiency. 

When he spoke to the Daily Mail, nurses at the rehab centre had just performed an electrocardiogram because his heart rate was worryingly high because of the stress of learning of his son's accusations against him. 

Thomas Jr claimed he looked into four storage boxes containing his father's possessions in July this year to find a mobile phone for his fiancée Rose. When he opened one phone he was horrified to see a graphic child sex image. 

Thomas Sr said: 'I have never downloaded anything like that in my life.'

Thomas Jr later opened a computer and said he saw a screensaver with 'hundreds' of disturbing thumbnail images. He claimed he also saw a video of a young girl engaging in a sex act. 

When asked directly by the Daily Mail: 'Did you download porn onto your computers?' Thomas Sr replied: 'Never. Never. Never. I have never done that.'

He said he would welcome a computer expert to 'autopsy' the computers (later clarifying he meant they could forensically examine the machines) to determine whether he was in possession of the computers when the alleged vile content was downloaded.

'These terrible lies are being made against me with no proof,' he said. 'How can you accuse a man of something like this with no proof?

'I have not spoken to Tom in months. I don't know where this has come from. I can only think he's doing this to make money. I go between feeling very sad to feeling very angry.'

Thomas Sr has had a turbulent relationship with his son, who left his home in Oregon in 2022 to move to Mexico where his father retired after an award-winning career as a lighting director in Hollywood.

Thomas Sr said: 'Tom came to live with me after I had a stroke. I supported him financially. I've supported him financially for most of his life. That money stopped in July this year when a family member found he had been taking money from my account.'

Thomas Jr made the first claims of finding the alleged child abuse images a few days later, both to the American FBI and to the US Center for Abused and Exploited Children.

This week, he took the material to local police in the city of Cebu in the Philippines in the company of a Sun journalist. Cebu Police have launched an official probe. 

Thomas Sr said: 'I welcome an investigation because I didn't do this. I'm scared because I don't feel safe any more. People believe accusations, even if they are not true. This is the worst thing you can accuse someone of. 

'I would like to ask Tom, why? I have not spoken to my son in several months but our last conversation was friendly. He didn't ask for money but if he had I probably would have given it to him like I always have in the past.' 

His eldest daughter Samantha, 61, who is her father's main caregiver in Florida, is 'outraged' by her brother's accusations.

She and Thomas Jr are the children of Thomas Sr's first marriage to Roslyn Loveless. After their divorce, he married Doria Ragland and Meghan was born in 1981. 

Samantha accused her brother of 'making up lies' to make money. 

She said: 'There is no merit in these disgusting allegations whatsoever and my brother is disgusting for making them up. He wants to destroy our dad. Shame on him. 

'My brother first came out with these lies days after the cash from my dad was cut off. He has used dad as a cash cow for years and once the money stopped he made up the most outrageous lies he could to make money from the media.

'Those computers were out of dad's possession for two years. That leaves a lot of room for tampering. These are unsubstantiated allegations. Anyone could have been in contact with those computers over the past couple of years. Dad did not have access to these computers. Anyone could have set dad up.'

She accused her brother of nursing a 'vendetta' against their father saying: 'Whenever Tom is short of cash he makes up lies and sells stories because it's easy money. My brother has an eighth-grade education [meaning he left school at 14].

'It's very cruel of him to do this to dad when dad is so physically and mentally fragile. 

'Tom thinks dad never loved him enough. He was jealous dad had more money when Meghan came along and he thinks Meghan got everything. But dad did the best he could for all of us. He was very generous to Tom and I too. 

'There is a suggestion that Meghan knew about this. I can't speak for Meghan but she publicly bragged at the UN and on her website Tig about what a wonderful father he is and she wouldn't have done that if she suspected anything like this. 

'Tom has a history of lying about dad. He said my dad did cocaine with hookers in Thailand. That was a lie for money too. He lies to get money. Tom has a history of drinking. He is doing this to get revenge. 

'For Tom to try and destroy dad this way is cruel beyond belief.' 

Thomas Sr said he is considering legal action but admitted: 'I don't know what I can do to defend myself? When someone accuses you of something like this it goes all over the world in seconds and some people will believe it forever. It's devastating. 

'I'm angry, I'm hurt and I want the world to know these are terrible lies.'

The Daily Mail has contacted the Metropolitan Police for comment.