Met Police Confirm 2019 Letter on Meghan Markle's Father Was Shared With Her Office

The Metropolitan Police confirmed on Friday that they provided the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's office with a document from 2019 detailing allegations of offending against Meghan Markle's father.

The force stated that the letter, received in January 2019, contained claims about offenses committed outside of Britain. While the information was forwarded to the royal couple's representatives for their awareness, Scotland Yard said it did not share the details with other law enforcement agencies at the time.

The disclosure follows reports that Thomas Markle Sr possessed child sexual abuse images. His son, Thomas Markle Jr, told detectives in the Philippines that he found hundreds or thousands of such images on computers and mobile phones stored in four boxes at the family home in Cebu. Markle Sr lived in the Philippines until returning to the United States in May following a stroke. Markle Jr also stated that he contacted the FBI in the US regarding the findings.

Markle Sr has denied the accusations, describing them as sick lies in an interview with the Daily Mail. A Met spokesperson said the force conducted a thorough review of its records. The letter had been sent to the Met's Protection Command to raise security concerns about the Duchess. The spokesperson noted that a decision was made to pass the letter to the Duke and Duchess's office, and the force is now considering whether to refer itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Meghan Markle said through a spokesperson that she was deeply distressed by the news. She stated that a letter containing troubling and disturbing allegations had been shared with her and that she was given assurances an investigation was underway. She explained that her decision to limit her father's contact with her children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, was made to protect them. The couple has recently moved back to the UK from the US.

Markle initially said the letter was sent in 2018 but later corrected her to 2019. Her spokesperson said the mix-up was understandable given the passage of time and the lack of a contemporaneous diary entry. Sources indicated that Meghan could not speak publicly about the allegations in 2019 to avoid jeopardizing a potential investigation or facing legal action.