A letter alerting the Metropolitan Police to alleged child sex abuse by the Duchess of Sussex’s estranged father was reportedly sent by his first wife.
Roslyn Loveless, who was married to Thomas Markle between 1964 and 1975, is said to have detailed the allegations in a letter sent in 2019, according to the New York Post.
However, Mr Markle told The Mail on Sunday that he does not believe Ms Loveless, who died in 2024, wrote the letter. He described the claim as “a set-up”.
Responding to the suggestion that his first wife had contacted police, Mr Markle said: “This shocks me. I’m not buying it. Roslyn and I broke up years ago but I was good to her in the divorce.
“I find it hard to believe she would write a letter like that. She was a really bad alcoholic. It’s really sad but she would never have written something like that letter without someone making suggestions to her. She had really bad alcohol problems for years.
“I feel like this is a set-up. I would like to see the letter Roslyn wrote. Roslyn and I were fine. She’s dead so she can’t speak out for herself. Why is this all coming out now? Why is my son trying to destroy me? Why is Meghan dumping on me?”
Mr Markle said Ms Loveless had previously cooperated with what he described as a “really negative” story about him, but insisted he did not believe she would have accused him of being a paedophile.
“My first wife and I had an OK relationship for many years because of our kids. I don’t believe she would say bad things about me. She’s not around to defend herself. I think this was something that was maybe put in place to discredit me after my death. I’m alive and I am calling b*******.”
Roslyn Loveless, the first wife of Meghan Markle’s estranged father Thomas, reportedly wrote the letter that alerted police to allegations against him in 2019
Mr Markle denies the child sex allegations and told The Mail on Sunday he was “not buying” the claim that his first wife, who died two years ago, sent the letter
The 82-year-old also told the newspaper that he had paid for sex in the Philippines, but denied having sex with underage girls.
He vowed to “do whatever it takes” to clear his name after being accused of serious child sex offences.
Authorities in the Philippines are investigating the former Hollywood lighting technician over allegations that he possessed child sex images.
The claims emerged as the Metropolitan Police faced questions about why it reportedly held the letter raising concerns about Mr Markle for more than seven years.
Meghan initially said she learned of the allegations in 2018 through the letter, which Met detectives passed to her. The force has since said it actually informed her the following year.
The duchess said she had been “given assurances” that the allegations were under investigation.
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She described the allegations against her father as “more sickening than one could ever imagine” and added: “My thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed.”
Mr Markle has consistently denied the allegations since The Sun reported that he was being investigated in the Philippines.
Child sex images reportedly linked to Mr Markle were handed to police last week by his son, Thomas Markle Jr.
His son said he discovered the alleged abuse images on computers his father had left in the Philippines before returning to the United States earlier this year.
Mr Markle Jr told The Sun: ‘When I found this material, I was horrified and I had no option but to report my dad. I have supported, cared for him and helped him for years, but that stops now. I won’t speak to my father ever again unless I’m called to give evidence against him.’
Mr Markle, pictured with nurse Rio Canedo, is the subject of a child sex investigation after being reported to police by his son
Thomas Markle Jr, Meghan’s half-brother, claimed to have found the child abuse material packed up in boxes at his father’s Philippines home
Speaking to the Daily Mail on Friday Mr Markle called the allegations against him ‘sick lies’ and said he was ‘very upset that my son is making these allegations against me’.
Meghan’s half-sister Samantha, who is Mr Markle’s main caregiver, also defended their father and accused her brother of fabricating the allegations for financial gain.
She told the Mail this week: ‘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.’
Mr Markle and Ms Loveless shared Samantha, 61, and Thomas Jr, 60, before he fathered the now-duchess with Doria Ragland in 1981.
He was married to Meghan’s mother from 1979 to 1987, with the couple separating when their daughter was around two years old.
Days after Prince Archie’s birth in May 2019, Ms Loveless described her ex-husband as an ‘awful father’ who should never be allowed to meet his grandson.
She said Meghan ‘would be a fool to have him in her life’ and added: ‘Repeatedly he has shown to Meghan he cannot be trusted. She must know that now. I speak not out of bitterness, my life moved on many years ago, but out of concern.
‘Archie deserves to be brought up in a happy home, not in this vengeful situation that has been created. Tom was an awful father. What makes him think he’d be a great grandfather to Archie?’
At the time Mr Markle dismissed his ex-wife’s comments as ‘not valid’.