Police confirm they received letter containing ‘a number of claims’ relating to Meghan Markle’s father
The Metropolitan Police say they have carried out a thorough review of of their records and confirmed they did send a letter to Meghan about her father
In a statement Scotland Yard said: “Following a thorough review of Met Police systems and records, we have confirmed that in January 2019, we received a letter containing a number of claims about alleged offending outside the United Kingdom. It was sent to the MPS Protection Command to raise concerns in relation to the security of the Duchess of Sussex.
“The letter was reviewed and a decision was made that it should be passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness. The details of the allegations in the letter were not shared with other law enforcement agencies.
“The MPS is reviewing the handling of this matter in 2019 and considering whether a referral to the IOPC is necessary to review our approach.”
Thomas Markle Sr has not spoken to his daughter Meghan since she married Prince Harry(Image: Netflix)
The Duchess had said that she saw the letter containing the claims in 2018 – a year before the date mentioned in today’s Met Police statement.
A spokesman for the Duchess of Sussex said: “In recalling events from more than seven years ago, without the benefit of a diary entry or contemporaneous record, it is understandable that she may have been mistaken by a few months.
“If the MPS holds a time-stamped record confirming that the letter was reviewed in 2019, that should be treated as the accurate reference point for when it was received and shared with the Duchess.
“I think it is reasonable to recognise that she is doing her best to recall the precise timing of events that were not diarised at the time, and that any discrepancy of a few months is an understandable consequence of that passage of time.”
The Duchess of Sussex had hinted that “disturbing allegations” about her dad are the reason she has not allowed him to meet her children.
Meghan claimed yesterday that she saw a letter containing claims about Thomas Markle Snr in 2018, just weeks after she married Prince Harry.
She says the letter, sent to the Metropolitan Police’s Royalty and Specialist Protection branch, was shared with her and that she was told the allegations were being investigated.
Meghan has been estranged from her father since just before her wedding and he has never met her and Prince Harry’s children, Archie and Lilibet.
She said in a statement: “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.”
The Mirror understands Meghan received the letter from Scotland Yard in the summer of 2018, weeks after the royal wedding, which took place in May.
The duchess made her bombshell statement after it emerged that Mr Markle Snr is under investigation by police in the Philippines over alleged child sex images.
Authorities in Cebu City, where Mr Markle Snr had been living, are reported to be investigating after being contacted by his son, Thomas Jnr. Mr Markle Snr denies possessing such images.
Mr Markle Snr has not been charged by police in the Philippines
The 82-year-old moved to the south east Asian country last year from Mexico, before returning to Florida in May. He told the Daily Mail the computers where it was claimed images were found had not been in his possession since he left Mexico, 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.
“It’s the worst thing anyone could accuse me of. It’s just a bunch of lies. It’s sick. I have no idea why Tom is trying to destroy me with these lies.”
Meghan, 45, is the only child of Mr Markle Snr’s marriage to her mother, social worker Doria Ragland, 70. He has two other children – Samantha, 61, and Thomas Jnr, 60.
The duchess became estranged from her dad in the run-up to her wedding after he was caught staging paparazzi photographs.
He did not attend the wedding at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, saying he was unwell.
In August 2018, Meghan wrote an emotional five-page letter to her dad, a former TV lighting director, in a bid to stop him giving negative stories about her to the press. In 2021 she won a High Court privacy and copyright claim against the publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday for reproducing parts of the letter.
Mr Markle Snr moved to the Philippines in January 2025. Last December, he had his leg amputated during life-saving surgery.
He is reportedly now living in Florida. Mr Markle Snr has not spoken to Meghan since she married Harry, 42, and has never met Archie, seven, or five-year-old Lilibet. He said last year: “I don’t want to die estranged from Meghan.”
