Meghan Markle's Father Thomas Markle Under Investigation After Son Reports Alleged Child Abuse Material

Thomas Markle Sr., the estranged father of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, is under investigation in the Philippines after his son reported discovering a large collection of alleged child sexual abuse material at the family's home in Cebu, according to multiple reports. No charges have been filed, and Markle, 82, has not been arrested.

Thomas Markle Jr., 60, told police he found the material while searching through four large cardboard boxes his father left behind after returning to the United States in May following serious health problems. The boxes, stored at a residence in Cebu City, reportedly contained family photographs, old mobile phones, hard drives, VHS tapes, books and professional documents mixed with the alleged illicit images and videos.

According to accounts first published by The Sun and subsequently reported by outlets including the Daily Telegraph, People magazine and the New York Post, Markle Jr. described finding "hundreds, if not thousands" of images and videos. He alleged that some depicted girls appearing to be no older than 10 or 11 years old engaged in sexual acts, along with still photographs of naked or scantily clad girls of similar ages. One image, he told The Sun, appeared to show a laptop screen photographed in a room he recognized from his father's former home in Rosarito, Mexico. He also described finding a roughly 15-minute video of unclothed girls on an old LG phone while looking for a spare device for his girlfriend's father.

Markle Jr. submitted a sworn statement to Philippine child abuse authorities and agreed to surrender the boxes for forensic examination. Investigators from the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking appointed a task force run by the Women and Children's Protection Centre. The boxes were to be examined at the Cebu City Department of Justice, with lawyers present during the handover.

He first reported the discovery on July 10 to the FBI tip line, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and Pennsylvania state police, where his father was then living. The FBI confirmed receipt of the information. A source close to the case in Cebu told The Sun that an FBI agent had requested contact details for the Philippine investigators, noting that Markle is a U.S. citizen currently in the United States and that similar cross-border cases have previously been investigated by the bureau. Philippine officers declined to comment publicly, and no official findings have been released.

Speaking to The Sun after lodging his statement, Markle Jr. said: "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." He described the computer desktop, after an IT technician helped access the drives, as filled with "row-upon-row of thumbnail pictures linking to the most sickening child abuse imaginable. The worst of the worst." He told a friend the discovery left him "a shaking wreck" and that he felt "betrayed, angry and disgusted."

The allegations add another layer to a long-running family estrangement. Meghan and her father have had no contact since 2018, when he staged photographs for paparazzi in the weeks before her wedding to Prince Harry and later missed the ceremony after claiming a heart attack. He has repeatedly spoken to the press criticizing his daughter while also expressing a desire for reconciliation. In a December interview with the Daily Mail from a hospital bed, he said: "I don't want to die estranged from Meghan. I want to meet my grandkids. It might be nice to meet her husband too." A source close to the Duchess told The Sun: "Now maybe people will finally understand why she has had nothing to do with her father since 2018." Representatives for Meghan and Prince Harry have not commented.

Markle Sr. suffered a stroke in 2022 that required him to relearn speech. More recently, a blood clot led to the amputation of his left leg. He had moved to the Philippines with his son in early 2025, describing the relocation as an effort to find peace. After the amputation, he returned to the United States and is now in a nursing and rehabilitation facility in Florida, where he is being cared for by his daughter Samantha Markle.

Samantha Markle has rejected the allegations. Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said: "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." She alleged that her brother had previously relied on their father for money and that the claims surfaced after funds were cut off. She added that the computers had been out of her father's possession for two years while he was in rehabilitation, creating opportunity for tampering, and that there was no proof he had downloaded any images. She described the claims as unsubstantiated and said she would continue to support her father.

Thomas Markle Sr. has not publicly responded to the reports. Authorities in both the Philippines and the United States have not announced charges or detailed the status of any forensic review. The material remains unproven pending examination, and the investigation is ongoing. The case highlights the complicated intersections of family estrangement, health crises and cross-border law enforcement involving alleged child sexual abuse material, a category of crime that both U.S. and Philippine authorities treat as a priority. Whether the evidence holds up under forensic scrutiny, and whether any prosecution follows, will depend on the findings of the task force and any coordinated work with U.S. agencies. For now, the public record rests on the sworn statement of the son who reported the discovery and the conflicting statements of other family members.