Police Probe Handling Of Markle Allegations

London's Metropolitan Police confirmed Saturday that it received a 2019 letter containing a number of claims regarding Thomas Markle, the father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. The force further stated that the correspondence was forwarded to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness, adding that the specific details of the allegations were not disseminated to other law enforcement agencies.

This confirmation arrives amid reports published throughout the week concerning allegations involving Markle and child sexual abuse material. On Thursday, The Sun reported that Markle had been reported to authorities in the Philippines by his son, Thomas Markle Jr., who allegedly located such material within storage boxes at the family residence in the Philippines. Subsequent reports indicated that officials in the Philippines were dealing with Markle regarding the alleged possession of such material, while the Daily Mail reported on Friday that Markle had denied the allegations.

In a statement sent to CBS News on Friday, Meghan expressed being deeply distressed by the reports concerning her father. She stated that she had been aware of the allegations since 2018 and noted that this information had been shared with U.K. authorities at that time. The statement read, "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."

Meghan further addressed her relationship with her father in the statement, explaining that she had kept her distance to protect her children. She expressed hope that it could now be understood that, "despite certain media publications' distortion over the years," her decision to deny him contact with her children had "one reason: to protect them."

A discrepancy exists regarding the specific year the letter was received, with the Duchess referring to 2018 while Scotland Yard identifies 2019. A spokesman for the duchess addressed this point in comments provided to BBC News, a CBS News partner, stating that "any discrepancy of a few months" was "an understandable consequence of that passage of time."

Looking ahead, Scotland Yard stated that the Metropolitan Police will review how this matter was handled in 2019. As part of this process, the force will determine whether it should refer itself to the police watchdog for independent oversight.