Yesterday evening, some repulsive news came out about Thomas Markle. Thomas Markle Jr. discovered a huge cache of child sexual abuse images and videos in his father’s possessions in the Philippines. It seems Thomas Sr. had basically left much of his life behind in the Philippines when he traveled back to the US for rehab, and Jr. went through those boxes and was shocked by what he discovered. Thomas Jr. contacted the FBI and the local authorities and, obviously, several British tabloids. About 12 hours after the story broke, the Duchess of Sussex issued a statement about the father she cut off in 2018.
Meghan Markle is speaking out in response to the child p—graphy allegations against her father, Thomas Markle Sr.
Meghan, 45, reacted to the allegations in a statement shared with PEOPLE. “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,” she said.
“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,” she continued.
Meghan added, “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,” she said in the statement. “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.”
Meghan is Thomas Sr. and Doria Ragland’s only child. He had two other children with his first wife, Roslyn Loveless: Thomas Jr., 60, and daughter Samantha, 61.
Wait… so who wrote the letter to the Met Police in 2018? What did the Met Police do, if anything? Was the letter sent to the Met Police before or after the Sussexes’ wedding? Did Thomas Markle know about the letter and that’s why he suddenly had a “heart attack” just days before the wedding? Honestly, the way everything was going down before the wedding, I doubt the Met Police were in possession of the letter then. But after the wedding… that makes sense. Because suddenly, Thomas Sr. was all over the British airwaves, publicly harassing Meghan and Harry and delivering what sounded like British-tabloid-written scripts and Meghan went completely no-contact then, save for that one letter she sent him (which he ended up selling to the Daily Mail). Anyway, I feel so sorry for Meghan. I feel sorry for all of the children as well. And I feel nothing but disgust and revulsion for all of the media outlets who gleefully platformed this horrific man.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images. Screencaps courtesy of the Telegraph.
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This is really grim. But I wonder what’s been happening in terms of an investigation in the intervening years. Or has this been something else the Met has sat on.
It would certainly explain his absence from the wedding. I never bought the heart attack story either.
I’m not sure what the Met could have done about this information. I don’t really see how they would have jurisdiction over the alleged crimes or Markle himself. Hopefully, they were cooperating with any relevant authorities investigating, but beyond forwarding the information they had received, I don’t think the Met would be of much assistance to any other investigations.
This may well be why Markle never actually came to the UK for one of Samantha’s stunts. Had he entered the UK, they may have had grounds to try to seize and search his devices, but even that would depend on what information they actually had.
Well we dont know what was said in that letter sent to the Met. i hope the Met immediately shared it with the FBI – maybe that’s why he moved out of the country in general – but then why move back?
It makes sense that this is why he never joined any of Samantha’s stunts in the UK though – if he knew he was on a watchlist of some kind.
I do wonder when this came out. If it was before the wedding, I dont think Meghan knew about it when she wrote the letter to him asking him to just come to the wedding etc. Like i dont think she would have pleaded with him to come walk her down the aisle if she knew this about him.
Putting on my lawyer hat for a moment, I will say it is extremely odd that a “letter” would have been sent to the Met, Scotland Yard or any UK law enforcement agency. There doesn’t appear to be any nexus at all to the UK and it isn’t clear why this information would not have been sent directly to the FBI and/or Mexican authorities, depending on where Markle was at the time. I can only speculate that it was sent by someone who was British or in the UK, otherwise it is just strange, frankly makes no sense whatsoever, why you would randomly choose British law enforcement to alert about these allegations.
Without knowing what information was actually communicated, it can’t be said for sure one way or another, but absent some connection either in terms of where the crimes were committed (UK), the nationality of the victims (British) or perpetrator (British- which we know is not the case for Markle), the Met just doesn’t have any jurisdiction over any of this. It’s incredibly random to be sending this information to them.
The use of “letter” is what is confusing, it would make way more sense if another law enforcement agency had communicated this information to the Met or Royal Protection Service. Letter makes it kind of sound like a private individual, but again that’s just very odd.
Anyway, lawyer hat off!
I agree with you that there’s no way Meghan would have asked him to the wedding if she knew about this. As to Markle moving back to the US, well that is probably explained by the hubris of criminals. He probably thought enough time had passed that nothing would happen. And had Markle Jr not reported this new information, he’s sadly correct that it doesn’t appear that the FBI was doing anything about this 2018 information. Though there may not have been enough information for them to act on. An anonymous letter is not going to get you a search warrant, and for good reason. I realize that may be frustrating in this case, but there’s pretty important constitutional reasons why we don’t allow the police to search people’s homes or property without cause.
@LadyE, I agree, the use of letter is very odd bc it doesnt sound like a law enforcement to law enforcement communication.
But, given the unique circumstances of who was involved – I can see the FBI making the Met or whoever aware of these allegations and I guess in that context a formal letter might make sense (with supporting information.) She says the letter was sent to the Met as well as Royalty and Specialist protection, so that’s why I think it was more of a formal communication, not just a random letter. But even if that’s the case, the question still remains – who sent that letter? FBI?
i dont think Meghan would have cut off contact with her father because of a letter alleging sexual crimes unless there was some sort of proof or something else involved.
Now what I am wondering is if he either acquired those pictures while in the Philippines or took them with him, so thought he was safe to return because he had left the evidence behind?
i dont know, there are a lot of missing pieces here that might not ever be filled in for us. But we know that Meghan was shown something that was enough for her to cut off contact and refuse to let him have any contact with her children, so it must have been something very damning.
The Met could have forwarded what they found in their investigation to Mexican authorities (since he lived on Mexico at the time) and the FBI (since he’s an American citizen). They could have authenticated the letter before they ever took it to Meghan.
The Met was likely informed by MI6 because there would have been a lot of behind the scenes background searches of Meghan and her family prior to wedding.
@Nic919 and @Becks1- yes, I agree completely that it makes much more sense that the Met and Royal Protection Services were informed by another law enforcement agency, either MI6, the FBI, Mexican authorities or if this involved online materials really any law enforcement agency. I think some of the comments here are getting confused about Meghan being assured investigations were being carried out. I don’t think that was in reference to the Met or Royal Protection Services. It doesn’t make any sense that they would be doing an investigation, it’s much more likely they were informed of information and kept apprised of whatever investigation was taking place. A lot of comments about the Met “dropping the ball” or not investigating I think are misunderstanding the Met’s jurisdiction.
It would also make sense that it was a law enforcement communication that contained some type of evidence. Typically, there’s a threshold to credible information that has to be met before you inform other agencies, and certainly internationally. Which also makes sense of why Meghan acted immediately as she did.
@LadyE oh definitely agree. based on what we know there doesn’t seem to be anything to indicate that the Met would have been investigating. i’m sure they were notified as a professional and political courtesy.
It is repulsive what Tom has done, as is the behavior of his disgusting oldest daughter, who is trying to blame everyone but her father.
The British press platformed and used him to harass his daughter. I’m so glad Meghan stood firm, and I was proud of her stance even before these allegations were made public.
If the Met knew, the BRF did too. And Jason Knauf and the disgusting, contemptible BM.
But hey, being a pedo isn’t nearly as bad (cf. Andrew) as looking down on and trying to demean an intelligent, successful, charismatic Black woman.
What Meghan has had to deal with all these years, I can’t even. And now she’s back in the vipers’ den because Harry can’t seem to let go of his codependency. Hopefully they’ll move back stateside right after the Invictus games.
Yep, he needs to take better care of her and quit exposing her to so much danger and hatred, she has enough trauma to process without him manufacturing more.
Meghan is a strong woman. She made the choice to move as well. She has agency. He needs to take much better care of her? Okaaay? She’s not a simpering flower. She has let him know in the past when he isn’t stepping up. I would trust her to do the same again if she needed. Maybe we focus on Thomas markle, the man who deserves all the criticism in this thread.
Quit jumping on my comments Jais. Talk to someone else here. Harry has exposed her to danger and hatred and she has been the one rescuing him. I’m sure she wants her children to grow up with a loving father, and that has informed many of her “choices.”
I agree with you @jais , @pouf, you seem to be in the wrong here even though your heart is in the right place. Meghan makes decisions WITH her husband. As it should be.
Decisions are often shaped by circumstances, both past and present. Meghan has had a traumatic relationship with her father, she has never been well taken care of by a man. She takes care of other people. So I stand by my assertion that Harry is letting her take care of his need to “reconcile” while she holds things together — all while she is going through this horrific and public revelation.
You can have your assertion. But it’s also a comment section. You can’t limit who replies to you so if I disagree I’m allowed to comment. Telling me to talk to someone else here? Ummm I’ve been talking to a lot of people here for years now.
When Meghan “sent” Harry to therapy, they were dating, maybe still secretly, and she could be bold about telling him to get help or get out. Now they are married with 2 kids and Harry has brought the eyes of a very hostile media on every move. It’s a lot harder for her to be bold in expressing her agency in that context. She DOES need him to do what is best for her instead of prioritizing his own needs when those needs endanger her wellbeing.
Yes, Jais, I have seen your name policing this site for years now. Meredith, yes he does. But everything changes when your money and children are bound up in marriage, she can’t tell him to get out without a big mess.
@Pouf Jais doesn’t “police” anything. she responded to your comment which is what we’re all allowed to do.
I dont know how many more times Meghan needs to tell people that she and harry are a team and make decisions as a team. And she also makes it very clear that Harry does take care of her and she always knows how much he loves her.
I understand that Becks1. But she has been seeking out my name lately to specifically jump on whatever I had to say. My concern is for Meghan, periodt. She is an awesome person who has been handed a Shhht Sandwich by her own family and the one she married into. I highly doubt she initiated this move, it’s Harry driven.
Well this was reported to authorities by Tom Jr. in July and by the end of that month Harry & Meghan were heading back to UK.
The move seemed random and impulsive but they (the Royal institution) knew this would be a huge story & dredge up more Andrew. They’d likely been watching this since 2018. Could be many reasons why Harry brought them back. 🤷♀️
Andrew isn’t the only pedo in the family or closely tied to the family. Perversion has long been kind of their thing.
I bet thomas senior get along with rest of the royals. All brf are pedo enablers and it’s very sad how virginia died and all of kevin spacey accusers. Also yes andrew is not only one in that family Margret son was in Epstein file and if I remember correctly someone in brf also got arrested for CP. It’s was few years ago between 2020 and 2022. I don’t remeber who .
Let’s count the King’s alleged p*do friends: 1. Jimmy Saville, 2. Bishop Peter Ball, and 3. Laurens van der Post. And then add the King’s alleged p*do family members: 1. Lord Mountbatten, 2. Andrew Windsor-Mountbatten, and 3. now his fellow grandpa Thomas Markle (if Meghan was notified by the Met, so was Charles). That is a lot of alleged p*dos! What did the King know and when did he know it? Why was the Met police not encouraged to charge these men?
@beautifully broken
And those are just the ones we know about. All things considered, disgusting Andrew isn’t even the most prolific or deviant of the lot.
It also means the tabloids knew that in 2018, and still chose to platform Tom Sr. Too many eyes had to have seen this, not to mention that The Met would not have gone directly to Meghan. They would have gone through the courtiers ( KP and BP) before ever getting time with Meghan. The tabloids definitely knew, held the info back, and still kept platforming him.
@Nanea … I agree with you. Palace Courtiers would have briefed the Queen, Charles, and William before Meghan received that letter in 2018. The sad thing is that Meghan may have received the letter while pregnant with Archie.
I wonder if Thomas’ first wife might have sent such a letter back in 2018.
Shame on all these institutions who bullied Meghan when it came to her restricting access with the children. They all knew the truth back in 2018, yet they still persisted in the pile-on.
Finally! ONE member of the Royal Family who did the right thing! Imagine all the heartache she suffered knowing what was really going on! She was excoriated for refusing her father’s overtures, and now we know why. It was an ongoing investigation. She couldn’t say anything without endangering it. She suffered and yet did the right thing.
Take notes, Britain!
Absolutely horrifying, and that Meghan has had hold this knowledge for nearly a decade while the press used Markle to abuse her. My gawd what Meghan has been through.
Was already a fan of hers, but my heart grew 10 times this morning for that woman. She is MY queen.
You REALLY neverrrrrrr know what someone is going through! Holy shitballs!
So terrible for Meghan. She has had to bear so much with respect to this man, while people were attacking her for cutting this disgusting abuser out of her life. His actions we knew of were already enough for her to cut him out–but this?? Sending her a lot of love.
Obviously we don’t yet know whether the allegations were true. But I think it must be true that Meghan received this information in 2018, she would not announce this if it could be contradicted. Therefore – what an even worse time she had of it than people knew. All the tabloid nonsense, the racism, on top of just the general massive adjustment of becoming a royal, her first pregnancy and then at some point during all this to be dealing with hearing this accusation about her father … it’s unimaginable really. No wonder she was in such a bad state. It sounds like sheer hell. I really feel for her.
I’m surprised that the info didn’t leak out to the media, even if they obviously couldn’t print it. But it can’t have because they wouldn’t have risked the platforming and building him up as this reliable source if they’d thought this was coming out.
We knew things were bad for her during that era and had no idea of the magnitude.
Meghan is the very definition of grace under pressure.
The tabloid press would have platformed him, all the same. Too much short-term benefit to pass up.
And none of the reporters who’ve been using Thomas Markle as a stick to beat Meghan with are saying a damn thing. Disgusting.
Exactly, their silence is deafening… TM sr has been a red flag for a long time with his behavior and I have often wondered if Meghan was abused by him as a child because of his abusive behavior towards her with the tabloids.. no one should ever question when an adult child that goes no contact from any parent there is always a reason.. just heartbreaking for Meghan and the victims.
I wonder about the interview on Aussie tv he did where he said the British royals own him.
It’s interesting. At the time, I took it to mean that he thought he deserved protection and compensation for proximity to the family through Meghan. An upgrade to his lifestyle, so to speak. A desire to be elevated as the Middleton’s have been. This has all become so sinister.
He didn’t say they “own him” he said they owe him.
Also, He probably didn’t know a letter had been sent and he was being investigated (or else he would have disposed of evidence).
I’m thinking with all the wedding publicity one of the young girls or a mother of a girl (who knows were these poor kids in Mexico?) sent a letter to Scotland Yard to tell the Royal family what he’d done.
Maybe they didn’t have jurisdiction but it makes the most sense to send it to the royals attention (vs FBI).
Ugh. Just horrible
Photos and videos… it doesn’t mean he had anything to do with the production of those. He may have bought them … It’s hard not to speculate but we know very little.
IIRC, he said they “owe” him.
It’s so obvious that the British media knew about the allegations against Thomas Markle.
Aren’t they supposed to know everything about Meghan’s family? Them and their army of royalist ‘experts’ – did they really miss this one?
Of course they didn’t. They DELIBERATELY stayed silent so they could continue using Thomas Markle and his spawn to attack Meghan. And they did so successfully for years.
Now it’s come back to bite them in the backsides. They’re trying to downplay how cosy they were with Thomas Markle all these years – no-one should let them get away with this!!!
The British and right-wing media deliberately turned a blind eye to Thomas Markle’s likely crimes, making themselves complicit. Their attempts to try to use this to drag Meghan are simply not going to fly.
Meghan’s fighting back in some ways with her statement today, but she should go further and ask the question: What Did All These Journalists Crawling All Over Her Life Know And Deliberately Keep Quiet?????
In addition to everything you’ve mentioned, a member of the BM lived with Thomas Markle in the Philippines, but she did not figure out any of this paraphernalia that was in the house with him? Once again proof of the quality work the BM does.
EXACTLY. I mean it’s not the most outrageous part of this by any stretch, but seriously can we stop referring to the tabloid royal reporters as “journalists”? These people are so not journalists, it’s laughable. That idiot woman, whatever her name is, had the audacity to refer to Markle as like a “father” to her. She can have him!
wonder how long it will take for an apology from the Daily Mail. /s
I’m interested in Caroline Graham’s take on this lol. Will she say “No, he’s a great man!” or “I knew there was something skeevy but I couldn’t put my finger on it”
The 12th of Never?
Proud of Meghan for setting boundaries with that man and his children early on. Also proud she did not publish or allude to the allegations ever. She kept her stance well allowing the process to work itself out with the authorities. My concern is for the innocent children.
One thing stood out to me in her statement – she believed that allegations in the letter, makes you wonder what she saw growing up that made her instantly make the choice to keep her children from him. We know he has a history of visiting the Philipines as a s@x tourist – Jr let that cat out of the bag years ago.
The BM clearly KNEW about the allegations but choose to sit on them and use Bad Dad as a stick to beat her while – know we know what they had on him to make him dance to their tune.
Good point. If someone said to me that they had suspicions that my father was involved in these kinds of crimes – I would laugh in their face (at least at first.) But either the met et al had additional proof for her that there was merit to these allegations, or she believed it because of other knowledge she had, even maybe something she hadn’t processed for what it was if that makes sense.
Well said. Very thoughtful insight.
The horror of hearing this about your father is unimaginable. I have a strained relationship with my father for a few reasons but would NEVER suspect something like this. I’m sure Meghan didn’t know anything before the allegations but she made good choices in going zero contact. At the very least we know she didn’t have reasons to loyally defend him either.
Exactly. I hope she had a safe and healthy childhood as far away from that vile creature.
This certainly also gives a sinister cast to his campaign to see Meghan’s children.
It also makes you wonder the real reason for Doria noping out of that marriage and also sheds light on his ‘fixation’ with Meghan – he’s made no secret that she was his favourite esp over Scammy.
The first wife had nothing good to say about him!
But the parents did split custody and Meghan had time alone at Tom’s home. My sense – and I stick with this – is that Tom wanted full psychological control of Meghan. Narcissists often focus on one child to the neglect of others. But I maintain his abuse of Meghan was psychological. The children he actually abused weren’t real people to him. (I have the same theory about another public figure with a creepy daughter obsession).
Which is to say that I’m sure Doria had very good reasons for noping outta that marriage and never marrying again, but she clearly didn’t think Meghan was unsafe with him.
This is awful. I really feel for Meghan. She did the right thing making sure her kids have zero interaction with him. I wonder if the press will finally stop with the “Why are you keeping your kids from your sick father?” stories? Doubt it. The British press have a lot of sympathy for pedos.
Nope. They won’t and they don’t – if there’s one thing guaranteed to have readers up in arms, it’s that. I know you’re probably thinking “oh but what about all the times Andrew has been grouped with Harry as if what they’ve done is equivalent” and that’s true, but Andrew himself is INCREDIBLY unpopular and unsupported in the UK. And that’s after years of royal propaganda about him before it all came out. Thomas Markle is some nobody, he will be dropped like a hot potato. You’ve got to remember as well that libel laws and defamation are different in the UK. If the media knew, they couldn’t print it until now – but they definitely wouldn’t have built up his platform. Plenty of other ways to attack Meghan and stoke up outraged comments.
Meme the media in the UK don’t care about defamation lawsuits. They were sued and lost to Meghan because of defamation and illegally publishing her private letter to her dad. Besides their target was never her dad, but Meghan. With this information they would be able to blackmail him into doing whatever they wanted him to say to or about his daughter. I always suspected that they were blackmailing him and so they would suddenly bring him out at the most opportune times to attack Meghan when she was shining. They didn’t need to print the allegations, they just needed to threaten him that they would.
So true. My very first thought (besides Oh My God!! Horrifying!!) was of all those comments over the years beraiding Meghan for “keeping a grandfather from seeing his grandchildren ”
Now everything makes sense.
I have NO doubt that the British tabloids knew this information and used it to blackmail Tom Sr. into repeatedly torment Meghan through the media. Ditto the royal family who probably tried to leverage it against Meghan as well to stop the wedding.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the letter from Meghan that Tom Sr sold to the Daily Mail probably referenced the allegations and was basically Meghan telling him she’s cutting him out of her life.
That’s exactly what happened. But I’m so frustrated with how many people must have known, including authorities in the US, UK, and Mexico and NO ONE prevented him from moving to the Philippines.
The other thing is, weren’t allegations made against Tom jr too a few years ago? Kinda feel they were.
Anyway, the tabloids totally knew, sick fucks. Putting this piece of garbage on a pedestal to trash Meghan. I can’t imagine what she’s been going through.
I also think the timing is suspicious after their recent successes. There’s no way it’s brand new information.
Where was the fails’s babysitter during all this?
I’m not too sure about Tom Jr.’s motives in this situation either. Knowing his father’s predilections, why did he move to the Philippines with him?
@Chiron – Caroline Graham’s head should roll. She has been Thomas Markle Snr’s cheerleader at the DM for years. It’s typical that when the Mail broke the news of the allegations against him yesterday, her byline was included in the article. Of course she had to include Samantha’s rebuttal. Scammy and Thomas Jnr are now fighting like rats in a sack.
Following up with a timeline
Timeline of Meghan’s communications with her father
May 2018 Calls and text messages around the royal wedding
Meghan and Harry attempted to contact Thomas amid the staged paparazzi photographs, his reported heart problems, and his withdrawal from the wedding.
This is the period when questions arose about whether Thomas was personally receiving and responding to their messages
Summer 2018 Police warning shared with Meghan
According to today’s statement, a letter sent to the Metropolitan Police and its Royalty and Specialist Protection unit made disturbing allegations about her father.
Meghan’s spokesperson has clarified that she learned about the letter during summer 2018, after her wedding. She says she was assured the allegations were being investigated.
August 2018 The five-page handwritten letter
Meghan wrote Thomas a deeply personal letter addressing his conduct, the media interviews, and the deterioration of their relationship.
It was intended as private correspondence. Portions were published by The Mail on Sunday in February 2019, leading to Meghan’s successful privacy litigation.
This is just awful for her, one more thing for the press to beat her with – because while she obviously has zero to do with it…..that’s not how the British press works.
This statement is very good though, and i like how she pointed out that she learned about these allegations in 2018 FROM BRITISH LAW ENFORCEMENT. So any investigation or lack thereof – any sharing or not sharing with FBI – is not on her.
and of course I appreciate how she pointed out that this is why she has had no contact with him, but again….british press…
Someone like Caroline Graham may need to consider getting legal advice because of all of them she was following him around to different countries.
Richard Eden needs to have his support of Tom thrown in his face too.
I’m so confused by the timeline. If this was known about in 2018..what was the result of that investigation? They said Thomas Jr gave this info to the fbi in July, and they have yet to raid his apartment?
In the Oprah interview, Harry and Megan said the royal family forced them to stop contact with Thomas, is this why? And not the whole pap disaster?
The letter Meghan wrote her dad in 2018 that was published in People made no reference to this and was all about the paparazzi shots and etc etc. the letter is still available online.
Messy and awful
Being told in 2018 means she was told anytime between January 2018 to December 2018. We don’t know when. She hasn’t stated.
So it could be she initially cut him off over the paparazzi situation. But after was told about this and it reaffirmed her belief that she and the kids are gonna stay far, far away from him.
Or she was told before then but was told to not say anything to him since he’s under active investigation and he doesn’t know it. Obviously telling someone they’re under investigation is a bad idea.
Why didn’t anything happen in 2018? That’s for the Met to answer. Not Meghan? And as for why the FBI haven’t either? Again, for the FBI to answer.
Thomas Markle Sr. has always given me the ick. It is sickening to now find out what he has been doing to innocent children. In my opinion the BRF and BM knew about the 2018 allegations and this makes it even worse that they didn’t protect Meghan all these years. The Daily Mail in particular now looks like the most disgusting piece of sh-t for all they have done. Heads should roll for this!!!
Tom also said he raised meghan and disparage doria. So repulsive. Thank heavens for doria she is always there for meghan
There’s the ick about him being a manipulative narcissist and there’s … this. I had no idea. This is next level horrifying.
@Chiron – Especially Caroline Graham’s. She has been Thomas Markle Snr’s cheerleader for years. It’s typical that when the Mail broke the news of the allegations against him yesterday, her byline was included in the article. Of course she had to include Samantha’s rebuttal. Scammy and Thomas Jnr are now fighting like rats in a sack. Sorry, this comment is in the wrong place. I was replying to @Chiron.
This poor woman cannot catch a break with her family. Reminder to all of us when we say our family is the worst. Meghan says, hold my beer.
True! At least she has her mother.
This story is horrifying! Shame on everyone in the UK who sat on this obviously stalled Met “investigation”, and esp the BM, who undoubtedly knew about it, yet remained silent while constantly demonizing the Black Duchess for just existing and daring to marry their favorite Prince. And how disgusting that they used Sr as a battering ram to continually abuse and bully Meghan.
Meghan remains as classy and dignified as ever (pun intended) in her statement, which called out the Met and also kept the focus where it should be, on the exploited and abused children. And she is finally vindicated for going no contact and protecting her children from Sr. Kudos to Jr for doing the right thing and contacting the authorities in both countries. I won’t fault him for going to the media about his alarming discovery bc now the BM can’t bury it. Scamantha’s statement defending Sr just shows that she is panicking that the BM gravy train has completely stopped for her and Sr.
.
I remember lady Campbell wanted to invite Tom to stay with her for a Jubilee event . He was a no show. Campbell is another who complains about meghan and wrote a nasty book about her. It all backfired on her now
I know people here aren’t going to like me saying this and this is by no means a “all is forgiven, you are awesome!” statement, but this information puts in a very different light Charles’ offer to walk Meghan down the aisle. If the BRF knew about this before the wedding (agree that it’s not clear if this is the case), I am sure there was a lot of concern of this becoming public in 2018. Again, IF Charles knew about this, I have a lot of appreciation for his very meaningful show of support to Meghan. And, tbh, if he did know, Charles has more of a backbone then I suspected, as I am sure that the courtiers were *strongly* advising against such a display (and probably trying to get the wedding delayed or canceled because of this information). I also wonder if this doesn’t provide more context for Harry’s love of his “Pa”, despite his otherwise objectionable behavior.
You make really valid points. It also reframes Meghan’s support for Harry bringing them back to England at this time in Charles’s life.
This is an interesting theory. My only hangup is that she wrote that letter to him before the wedding pleading with him to attend, and Charles advised her to write him again in the summer of 2018. I’m not sure those things would have happened if they knew these allegations at that point. Maybe Meghan was told after that letter in the summer, because the Met etc didn’t want her reaching out to him again, or pursuing a relationship?
I do wonder if Charles was told that there were legal or criminal problems with Thomas in general and he shouldn’t come to the wedding.
But overall this makes sense to me. Meghan has always been so guarded in what she says publicly about her father, which makes sense if she can’t divulge the real reason she went no contact with him. it also explains why she did reach out to him a few times and then stopped.
Also, while I know she protect’s the children’s faces because there are crazy stalkers out there – I wonder if her father’s depravity had anything to do with it.
Yeah, I agree her letter to him doesn’t make sense if she knew about this. I don’t think there’s any way she would have done that. I also know I may not be popular saying this here lol, but I truly do not believe Charles would have encouraged her to write him again if he knew this information. So, yeah, Meghan’s letter does make me think it must have only been learned post-wedding. As to law enforcement, I can see Meghan not being told until later, but I’m not sure that would be the case with Charles? This seems like something that he would have been informed of in his “official” capacity as heir, not as FIL.
I just feel so terrible for Meghan. Ugh thinking back to all the interviews Markle did specifically about begging to see his grandkids. Makes me ill. That’s so chilling and must have been incredibly horrifying for Meghan to hear him say.
Yes, don’t post your child’s face online. Especially now with AI porn. Charles may have stepped up once, but then he threw Meghan to Camilla’s wolves. F the BRF and everyone associated with it.
I believe, the only reason they couldn’t expose it was because the authorities were looking into the allegations. As a matter of fact, I think the media and the royal family used that information to get Markle to completely trash Meghan every chance he got. Thomas Markle was compromised and did whatever they told him to do.
This is an awful situation. And as @Becks1 points out above, it’s just another stick to beat her with. I already see her being blamed for not doing anything when she was told by the authorities themselves. Nothing happening after is on them. Not her.
And I have no doubt the media who painted her as a heartless villain for cutting him off are going to wash their hands of him and claim they never liked him and/or blame it all on Meghan.
Lord have mercy. Meghan! I just want to wrap my arms around her and Doria too! Markle sadly I’m
Not surprised I don’t trust old white men who travel to the Philippines and Thailand.he needs to be beaten to a pulp and the thrown in jail to rot.
As for the British media oh they knew and nevertheless used the pervert sperm doner to denigrate and abuse Meghan knowing she couldn’t say anything in case of compromising any investigation. Sick and demonic. Aligning with paedophile because you’re racist. What a world we are living in folks would rather align with a child abuser then treat a black/biracial woman with basic humanity.
Lord, time to send the flood because this world ain’t it!
My heart goes out to all the children harmed, and to everyone who’s been reliving their own trauma this week between this story and the Amy Acton attack ad.
Thank you Chaine. It’s been a rough time.
While I’m shocked by this turn of events, I’m not surprised. My heart goes out to Meghan and her family, finding out this about your father is horrific and now it appears that the Met did nothing with this information, making it all the worse. I hope that all those who scorned her for breaking contact with her father, rot in hell.
Meghan & Harry did exactly what Scotland Yard, The Met and the Royal family told them to do.
At that point it was only claims in a letter (from whom we don’t know?) and H&M were assured they were being investigated.
She can’t call him out in the media based sheerly on an accusation….it’s defamation.
The hard evidence on computers will be essential now.
The British press and Palace have a lot to answer for. The Royal Family allowed Meghan to be attacked by the press for being estranged from her father when they knew the reason why and the press propped up this scumbag to attack Meghan. How long did the press know about this?
One thing is certain: Meghan is one incredibly tough lady, wow! Shame on the DM for giving a pedophile a megaphone!
I’m confused? She wrote him a letter when he had his leg/foot amputated? I wouldn’t ever talk to him again if I knew that.
Everyone was tormenting her about the state of her father at the time. I don’t think anyone has implied that her letter contained anything but acknowledgment of the situation and reiterating that nothing would change in regard to her strict boundaries about his current place in her life. Meghan has been put in impossible situations time and again, and she has certainly been dealing with the most complicated and heart breaking emotions due to her father’s behaviour.
I’m also sparing a caring thought for Doria. I can’t imagine discovering a man with whom I was once intimate was also raping children. I don’t know how many showers I’d need, regardless of the decades that have passed. Thoughts of the children would haunt me, as I’m doubtless is does her. What a horrible, horrible man. And as for the behavior of those who have known for almost a decade? I simply don’t have the words.
Poor poor Meghan. Once again they can’t get to her so “they” use her terrible father to get to her. The question has to be why now? Is there a bigger story threatening to come out which the BRF are trying to hide? Is this another way of conflating the BRF protection of Andrew and arguing that Meghan (and Harry) are doing the same? None of this is making any sense.
That awful Caroline Graham woman who was so say like a daughter to Thomas Markle must have had some inkling about what was going on. Is this why she wanted Meghan to go over and visit him in hospital, and if Meghan had visited the Mail would break the story. They could then use something other than their racism to damage Meghan and use the scandal as another reason as to why Harry shouldn’t have married her.
I just hope Meghan knows that even though this has made front pages, her followers (and most decent minded people) know that she had nothing to do with her father’s terrible behaviour and has been vindicated for keeping her distance from him.
If (as many believe) Thomas Markle is owned by the BRF, I will be VERY surprised if he is around to “tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth”.
If Caroline Graham knew about all of this — and she probably did — how disgusting is it that she spent so much time with this monster, propping him up??
What a vile, soulless woman.
It’s probably too much to ask the British media to feel shame, but I hope that their readers are wondering about all of the ( likely paid) media interviews and appearances of TM over the years to disparage Meghan and Harry and begging to see the children. And what about the DM reporter (Caroline Graham) who traveled to the Philippines to stay with Markle for weeks in return for exclusives about his surgery. There are a ton of photos of the two of them and she was very sympathetic in her portrayal – I wonder if the DM will keep mum or if Graham will try to write an “I always knew he was a bad ‘un” story.
I’m glad Meghan pointed out that the British police, through the royal protection services, shared the allegations about her father with HER. The royals would absolutely have known (although, as we’ve seen, such crimes aren’t a problem for them) and the rota probably did, too. Even as they tried to paint Meghan as a monster for keeping her children away from TM.
The big positive is Meghan and Harry have strong legal grounds to keep Archie and Lili away from Bad Dad. No court in the US will grant him access to the kids with this vile stuff over his head.
There was never a chance that would have happened.
I remember Thomas’s threats to Meghan about seeking visitation of her children on the grounds of grandparents’ rights.
Grandparents’ rights is a very hard claim to prove and many states don’t even recognize the concept. i think California does but generally speaking the grandparent has to have a prior relationship with the grandchild (for example, a grandparent is raising a grandchild while the parent is unavailable – rehab, incarcerated, heck even deployed and then the parent tries to separate and alienate grandchild from grandchildren when they have custody again.) That’s obviously not the case here.
I don’t understand how we can conclude that the press knew this about Tom all along. Wouldn’t the attacks on Meghan been different if they’d known?
I think it’s one of those stories where they knew something was going on but, didn’t have concrete proof. Therefore, it was better for them to hint to him what they knew to keep him on a tight leash. Unlike William, Boris Johnson and other wealthy wrong doers, Thomas doesn’t have the money to slap an injunction on the press to silence them.
The press had no problem smearing Meghan as “just out of Compton” and no problem smearing Doria – a letter about Tom would have been catnip to the press, so they could continue building their narrative about Meghan’s less than royal family. The only way I can imagine the press backing off is if the palace ordered it.
@Eurydice – I can absolutely see the palace ordering it, because reporting on it would’ve risked drawing more attention to Andrew’s disgusting proclivities, or even the lesser-known allegations against others close to the BRF like Lord Mountbatten.
Yeah, I agree that i don’t think the press knew. I think they might have known there were some legal concerns regarding him, but not like this – because they didn’t back off him using him as a weapon to hurt Meghan – and I think the palace would have ordered a complete shutdown of him if they thought the press knew. (honestly I’m surprised the palace didnt order a complete shutdown anyway…….)
@ Becks1, Oh the press knew alright. This is why the Daily Mail assigned Caroline Graham to stay with him in Mexico and The Philippines. They were waiting for the perfect moment. The wanted to pull Meghan in closer to the scandal. This is why they were crying she should see her father. If she still had contact, they could make a better claim that she knew. And don’t forget Meghan’s Oprah interview. “ I lost my father.”
I doubt it. They are not interested in reporting truth. They are selling advertising space. Interesting stories, true or fiction, drive readership. Readership drives revenue. They really don’t care about anything else.
I think some of the press knew because certain rota didn’t discuss Tom Markle after the letter lawsuit was done. People like Becky English or Roya Nikkah would have known what the high level courtiers know and there is no way Charles doesn’t know about this letter to the Met.
Also let’s bring Jason Knauf into this discussion. He left his position around the time the letter lawsuit went poorly so we attributed it to his active participation in helping the tabloid. But he was also working with Tom, especially during the wedding events.
I cannot imagine anything more earth-shattering than learning this about your own father, even if he’d already been awful to you for years beforehand. I don’t think anything in her experience could possibly have prepared Meghan for that shock at the time, and then to be forced to stay silent while the unfathomably vile BM (who likely had at least some idea!) used this monster as a stick to beat her with for f–king YEARS!?!? She is owed SOOOO many apologies, but I’m sure she’s not so naive as to actually EXPECT them by now.
I also really feel for Doria. I have a friend whose former husband was convicted of similar crimes over a decade after they’d already divorced, but she still became genuinely physically ill when she heard about it. She’d seen no signs of it during their relationship, couldn’t possibly have done anything to prevent or stop it, and knew intellectually that none of it was her fault, but was so disturbed that she could ever have loved someone like that.
I still say broken clocks and all because I do think that Thomas Jr. got cut off and went digging for stuff to sell and then found this, was horrified, and reported his father. But honestly if the Met knew in 2018 or at least told her he was under investigation, where did the ball get dropped? And Caroline Graham looks a lot worse now than she did before this came out.
Not a lawyer, don’t know, but there are NGOs that monitor in countries like Thailand, Philippines and Mexico for child trafficking, child pr*stitution and s@x abuse and maybe he was flagged by something like that. Maybe the royal protection services were informed because someone potentially could’ve used it to blackmail H & M. I already suspected her father because of his living in these specific countries. This pedophilia thing is deeply rooted, a global network, and has its own info channels – it’s beyond nauseating, it’s deeply horrifying. I am so sorry for Meghan that she’s had to live with this and has to deal with the royalists on top of it who are sick and dysfunctional people in their own right, gleefully weaponizing anything they possibly can against her because they’re so enraged that Harry married for love instead of duty.
Meghan bears absolutely no responsibility for her monster of a father, and neither does Doria, but of course this will be used as a cudgel against her. Because everything is.
In a normal world, the rota would say, “Oh, we get it now, that’s why she’s distanced herself from her father … and yikes, the British royals have seedy connections to child abusers, too, so we should keep that in mind.” But we all know the rota doesn’t operate with any sense of proportion or understanding or even basic human decency.
The 2018 revelation likely happened toward the end of the year–right after the abuse of Meghan revved up during her pregnancy. It makes the royal family’s unwillingness to allow her to seek help for mental health even more sinister. On top of the media pile-on, the isolation from friends, god knows what kind of horrible treatment by royal authorities, the challenges of pregnancy, Meghan had to contend with this as well? No wonder she sought in-patient treatment by any means necessary, even by claiming she was an employee of the firm and due her rights as an employee. The royals refusal to help her in any way is despicable. It’s proof that they never had her interests at heart, that they only cared about destroying her, and they remain angry that every single rotten nasty thing they tried hasn’t worked. The royal institution is vile. They are cruel, racist, reactionary, entitled, and destructive. They are no better than a cult.
Oh my gosh, poor Meghan. I wonder when she got that letter and learned about the allegations but my guess is it had to be after the wedding. She wouldn’t have tried so hard to contact him to get him to attend if she had known then. She probably learned about it while pregnant with Archie. How horrific.
Also, even if Meghan had been aware of the allegations, she had zero proof of anything. She assumed the Met Police would do their due diligence and at least share the info with the relevant authorities. At least now the British media can stop the “Meghan is so cruel for not letting her children meet their grandfather” narrative. And on top of it, she cut off her dad and has stuck to it. The same cannot be said for Eugenie and Beatrice who should have cut off their dad a long, long time ago over the Epstein stuff. (I obviously don’t know what the relationship is like now between Andrew and his daughters but if they still have any kind of contact with him, it makes them look bad in comparison if they have their kids for any amount of time in Andrew’s presence).
What a disgusting pig. That’s all I’ve got since my feeling of revulsion is making me sick.
Those beautiful Sussex children have led such sheltered lives. I’m sure by know they have some knowledge of the estrangement with the BRF and their positions. But someday not long from now they will read everything about both sides of their families. That’s an unreasonable amount of ugliness. And there’s no way to shelter them forever. But H & M and hopefully Doria will be there as a support system.
People magazine cannot bring itself to say “pornography“?
Meghan’s statement about protecting her children suggests she believed the allegations she was presented with, in 2018. Did she know something about her father’s behavior toward juvenile members of his own family? Had he done something to her?
I have nothing to add to these horrors except I hope any children this monster abused are taken care of. And I worry that the Philippines is not known for taking these kinds of allegations seriously which is why Markle was there in the first place. That both H&M have pedophiles in their immediate families shows how common this crime is.