A photograph allegedly depicting Meghan Markle’s estranged father, Thomas Markle Sr, having sex with a girl who appears to be underage is reportedly among disturbing material given to police investigating child-abuse allegations.
The image is said to have been discovered alongside hundreds of suspected child-abuse pictures and reportedly shows a man believed to be Mr Markle on a bed with a young Asian girl.
The allegations emerged after the Duchess of Sussex said she was warned in 2018, shortly after marrying Prince Harry, about claims involving her father that she described as “troubling and disturbing.”
Meghan said police shared a letter outlining the allegations with her, leading her to decide that her father should not have contact with her family.
Her half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, 60, has since handed police four large boxes of material removed from their father’s former home in Cebu City, Philippines.
The Sun reported that the material includes an old 35mm film negative showing a bearded man, believed possibly to be Mr Markle, now 82, on a bed with an Asian girl. Another image reportedly features the same man—thought to have been in his late 40s or early 50s—partly obscured by the girl’s arm.
Thomas Jr spent more than nine hours formally submitting the material, which he claims contains “hundreds, if not thousands” of obscene images. Mr Markle has strongly denied the allegations and has not commented on the latest claims.
Scotland Yard was on Friday attempting to locate the letter that reportedly informed the Duchess of Sussex about child-abuse allegations against her father eight years ago.
Meghan Markle with her father, Thomas Markle, in 2011. They have been estranged since 2018.
A photograph allegedly showing Meghan Markle’s estranged father having sex with a girl who appears to be underage is reportedly among disturbing material given to police.
Meghan’s announcement about the letter’s “troubling and disturbing” contents made headlines worldwide on Friday.
She said the allegations were why she had refused to allow Thomas Markle into her family’s life, citing the need to protect Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, from possible harm.
The Metropolitan Police said officers were trying to locate the letter received in 2018, while sources emphasised that the force had never investigated Mr Markle.
The Sussexes said on Friday that they still possessed a copy and would provide it to police if officers were unable to find the original.
Meghan’s statement followed reports that her father was being investigated in the Philippines over allegations that he had kept child-sex images.
Thomas Markle Jr told police he had discovered boxes containing horrifying images of naked children among his father’s belongings. Mr Markle dismissed the allegations as “sick lies” that his son had fabricated for financial gain.
Meghan expressed “deep distress” over the claims, describing them as “more sickening than one could ever imagine” and adding: “My thoughts are with any children who may have been harmed.”
The 45-year-old duchess said she hoped people would now understand that cutting ties with Mr Markle and preventing him from contacting their children had been done for one reason: “to protect them.”
Questions intensified after Metropolitan Police sources said the force had not investigated Mr Markle in 2018 or since then. Officers were reportedly trying to trace the letter referred to by his daughter.
A Met spokesman said: “We are aware of media reports that officers from the Met’s Royalty and Specialist Protection Command were involved in the passing on of a letter in 2018.”
‘We are undertaking inquiries internally in an effort to confirm this.’
Meghan’s statement did not specify exactly when in 2018 the letter was sent to the police or when it was subsequently shared with her. She married Prince Harry in May that year.
Thomas Sr, pictured with nurse Rio Canedo, 46, is now the subject of a child sex probe
Meghan’s brother Thomas Markle Jr (above) claimed to have found the child abuse material
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Other unanswered questions include who sent the letter to the Yard, who assured the duchess that it was being investigated, and which police force had investigated her father if not the Met?
The latest drama unfolded after Tom Jr, 60, told police in the Philippines he had discovered ‘hundreds, if not thousands’ of child-sex images in four large boxes ‘left behind’ at his 82-year-old father’s home, where he had been living until earlier this year.
Tom Jr allegedly saw a computer screensaver with ‘hundreds’ of disturbing thumbnail images, videos of girls under 12 involved in sex acts, and ‘old books that turned out to be full of naked little girls’.
He said he was ‘horrified’ and ‘had no option but to report my dad’, first contacting the FBI in America and the US Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
This week, he took the material to police in the Philippine city of Cebu, accompanied by Sun journalists.
Mr Markle is now under investigation by a child-sex abuse task force in Cebu, with the FBI also poised to join the probe now that he is living in the US in a nursing and rehab centre in Florida.
A source close to Meghan was quoted in The Sun saying: ‘Now maybe people will finally understand why she has had nothing to do with her father since 2018.’
On Friday, Mr Markle told the Mail that the accusations were ‘sick lies’, adding: ‘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.
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 (pictured)
Samantha Markle, left, pictured with her father Thomas Sr and brother Thomas Jnr
Thomas Sr recovering in a hospital bed after surgery in the Philippines last December
‘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.’
Speaking exclusively to this paper, he challenged his son’s account. He claimed the computers had not been in his possession since he left Rosarito, Mexico, in January 2025 and moved to the Philippines ‘for a fresh start’.
Asked by the Mail, ‘Did you download porn on to your computers?’, Mr Markle said: ‘Never. Never. Never. I have never done that.’ Authorities in the Philippines confirmed they were investigating. Interior minister Jonvic Remulla said Tom Jr had given police evidence including a laptop.
Meghan and her father had a very public falling-out before her marriage after he posed for paparazzi pictures on the eve of her wedding to Prince Harry.
Within days he had two heart attacks and was unable to walk her down the aisle.
The Sussexes left the UK in 2020, but returned this month.
In her statement, Meghan said: ‘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.’
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 US law’.
A source close to the Royal Family said: ‘This is a matter for the Sussex household.’
On Friday, The Sun reported that the letter sent to the Met in 2018 alleged Mr Markle sexually abused a child. The author also claimed Mr Markle had admitted travelling to Thailand and the Philippines to abuse children.