The latest discovery has transformed the case.
What began last week with shock and skepticism—after Thomas Markle Jr said he had found a cache of child sexual abuse material at his father’s home in the Philippines—has now escalated into widespread revulsion and alarm.
Following that initial report, Samantha Markle, Meghan’s half-sister, alleged that her brother may have planted the material.
“There is no merit in these disgusting allegations whatsoever and my brother is disgusting for making them up,” she told the Daily Mail. “He wants to destroy our dad. Shame on him.”
Thomas Markle Sr also rejected the claims, describing them as “sick lies.”
However, the Daily Mail’s discovery this week of a second cache of alleged child sexual abuse material in a storage unit belonging to Thomas Markle Sr in Mexico has intensified the scrutiny.
The material, which has been brought to the attention of the FBI, reportedly included:
– A black-and-white photograph showing Markle Sr seated on a bed with his left arm around a female who appears conspicuously young. He is holding a lit cigarette in his right hand, while both individuals are clothed and he looks directly at the camera, raising questions about who else may have been present in the bedroom.
– Additional photographs of the same female, naked and posing alone in sexually suggestive positions in the same room.
The Daily Mail alerted the FBI after finding sexually explicit books, magazines and photographs—including images of Asian females who appear conspicuously young—in a Mexican storage unit rented by Thomas Markle
– An image from Pretty Baby, the 1978 film featuring Brooke Shields at age 11 as a young girl raised in a brothel and groomed to become a child prostitute. The movie was based on a true story.
– More than 50 videotapes, including titles such as “Boys — Brother and Sister — Russian XX” and “Manila Nites.”
– Several books and magazines, among them The Invisible Children: Child Prostitution in America, West Germany and Great Britain.
Investigations are now taking place in the United States, Mexico, the Philippines and the UK. In London, the Metropolitan Police have referred themselves to a government watchdog over their handling of a 2019 letter from Thomas Markle Sr’s late former wife, Roslyn Loveless, which alleged that he had a sexual interest in children.
Loveless, who struggled with alcoholism, divorced Thomas Markle in 1975. She died in 2024.
One day after reports of the disturbing discovery in the Philippines emerged last week, Meghan issued a statement saying that the Metropolitan Police had shared Loveless’s letter with her and Harry in 2019.
“I am deeply distressed at the news that has come to light in the last 24 hours,” Meghan said. “My thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed.”
One undated photograph reportedly shows Markle seated on a bed with his arm around a young Asian female; both are fully clothed. In several other images, she appears alone and naked
On Thursday, the Metropolitan Police acknowledged that they had decided “not to inform other law enforcement agencies” about the letter.
The force reportedly could not locate the original correspondence and asked the Duchess whether she had retained a copy. Meghan subsequently provided one to investigators.
Many questions now need to be answered.
It beggars belief that the Met would have shared the letter with the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and not also with other more senior royals.
And what about the loss of said letter: Was that truly accidental?
Surely, law enforcement should treat allegations of child abuse with urgency. Was that not the case here?
Also: who knew what, and when?
Markle Sr is in a Florida rehab center, receiving physical therapy since the amputation of his left leg in the Philippines last year.
He did not respond to requests for comment about these latest allegations.
Nor did Samantha Markle, but Samantha’s boyfriend, Mark Phillips, spoke to the Mail outside their home in Florida.
What he had to say will surely not redound to Markle Sr’s benefit.
‘The only statement you’re going to get is that Thomas Markle [Sr] doesn’t even have fingerprints on the stuff in the Philippines,’ he said.
‘He didn’t ever even touch it the whole time it was there. He can’t be charged. [Thomas] Markle never had it in Mexico, either.’
‘The FBI has no jurisdiction in Mexico,’ Phillips continued. ‘Thomas Markle hasn’t lived in the States in 10 years. Even if there was bad [material], the statute of limitations ran out five years ago. This is all bulls**t.’
As for the British Royal Family: There hasn’t been a reputational threat this existential since Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was implicated in the Epstein scandal. Yet the Palace is silent.
King Charles is currently off on a nine-day royal tour of the Caribbean.
Buckingham Palace will surely have to account for what they knew and when.
Did they not do their due diligence when Meghan was poised to marry into the family, at a very high level?
Who is ultimately responsible for a potential failure to properly investigate?
The Royal Family may insist that this latest scandal has nothing to do with them – ‘This is a matter for the Sussex household,’ a royal source told the Mail last week – but as we learn more, that seems inconceivable.