The bitter family feud between Meghan Markle and her estranged father, Thomas Markle, has taken a dramatic new turn following allegations of child sexual abuse and possession of child sexual abuse material against the 82-year-old, who is now under investigation by authorities in the Philippines.

In an extensive interview with Britain’s Mail on Sunday, the father of the Duchess of Sussex admitted that he had previously paid for sex during visits to the Philippines, but categorically denied ever having sexual relations with underage girls or possessing illegal material on his computers.

Meghan Markle’s father Thomas admits: ‘I paid for sex in Far East, but I’m no child abuser’ – as Met reveals it sat on claims for SEVEN years https://t.co/HSyZw7xE7i

— Daily Mail (@DailyMail) October 24, 2026

“I have never had sex with anyone under the age of 18,” he insisted, adding that he was willing to cooperate fully with police, including taking a lie detector test to prove his innocence.

Meanwhile, according to reports by the BBC, Meghan sent her father a letter in 2025 making clear that she wanted no further contact with him and would never allow him to meet her children, seven-year-old Archie and five-year-old Lilibet.

The letter was reportedly delivered while Thomas Markle was in hospital in the Philippines following the amputation of his left leg. It also referred to allegations of child sexual abuse, which Meghan told him had been brought to the attention of the authorities.

The case has also raised serious questions about the conduct of London’s Metropolitan Police, which acknowledged on Saturday, 24 October, that it had received a letter containing allegations against Thomas Markle as early as January 2019 but had not passed the information to other law enforcement agencies.

The allegations remain under investigation, and no finding of guilt has been made against the 82-year-old.

🗞️ Tomorrow’s Scottish Mail on Sunday front page: EXCLUSIVE Meghan dad: I paid for sex in Far East – but I’m no child abuser #TomorrowsPapersToday #scotpapers 👉 Read more on #MailOnline https://t.co/Co19VF0WyR https://t.co/9ZkfSHevGy

— Scottish Daily Mail (@MailOnlineScot) October 24, 2026

‘I paid for sex in the Philippines, but I am not a child abuser’

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday during a two-hour interview, Thomas Markle discussed his private life and admitted that, while single, he had travelled to the Philippines on at least two occasions and paid for sex.

“I like Asian women, but that is not a crime,” he said, maintaining that all the women with whom he had sexual relationships were adults.

The former Hollywood lighting director insisted he had nothing to do with the allegations and was determined to clear his name.

“I will do whatever it takes to clear my name. I am not well enough to travel to the Philippines, but I will speak to anyone who wants to speak to me. I have nothing to hide. I am innocent, and my daughter never gave me the chance to defend myself,” he said.

Markle also denied appearing in a photograph which, according to the newspaper, allegedly shows a bearded man resembling him engaged in a sexual act with a young girl of Asian appearance.

“I have never been in a photograph like that,” he insisted.

He acknowledged that he enjoyed looking at photographs of attractive women but maintained that his romantic partners had always been adults.

“Do I like beautiful young women? Yes. Do I like looking at photographs of beautiful women? Yes. But I have always dated women of an appropriate age,” he said.

He expressed confidence that his former wife, Doria Ragland, and previous partners would confirm that there had been nothing inappropriate about his private life.

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed it received a letter in 2019 about a “number of claims” relating to the Duchess of Sussex’s father Thomas Markle Read more: https://t.co/b0ik2INCv6 https://t.co/D7nyHU632H

— The Independent (@Independent) October 24, 2026

Meghan’s letter: ‘You will never meet your grandchildren’

According to reports by the BBC and The Sun on Sunday, Meghan Markle decided to sever all contact with her father permanently, sending him a letter in December 2025.

At the time, Thomas Markle was being treated in hospital in the Philippines after undergoing an amputation of his left leg following serious health complications.

According to sources close to the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan referred in the letter to allegations of child sexual abuse, telling her father that she was aware of the claims and that the police had also been informed.

She reportedly made clear that she would never communicate with him again and would not allow him to meet his grandchildren.

Today, a story broke that Thomas Markle jr, Meghan’s brother, called the police and the British press to denounce his own father as a pedophile. Today, on the same day this story is publicly announced in the British press, Meghan has a statement at the ready claiming that she has known since 2018, conveniently before her wedding, that her dad was a pedophile WHEN the Met police alerted her of an ANONYMOUS letter, they conveniently received in 2018, right before the royal wedding, about Thomas Markle. Today, the Metropolitan Police responded that they are not currently investigating Thomas Markle over allegations he possessed indecent images of children, nor have they previously investigating him since they do not recall any letter being sent to them on this matter in 2018, nor do they recall ever passing information to Meghan about her father in 2018🔥 This is another PR stunt, another attempt at attention by Meghan Markle, this pathological liar who is always caught lying. If there is a letter that was ever sent to the Met police in 2018, then Meghan was the only one who had motive, means and would have benefited from this letter in order to use it as a reason to justify NOT inviting her father to her own wedding. She wrote that letter accusing her own father of pedophilia👌🏽 Meghan did not want him nor ANY other family members at her royal wedding, at the exception of her conniving and grifting mother Doria, who covers for her numerous lies. Why? Because she feared her family would embarrass her and expose the truth about the fake PR image she has fabricated to lie to Harry and the RF in order to infiltrate their midst. Yes, Meghan has gone to great lengths in 2018 to prevent her father from ever meeting the RF and Harry. It is because she has gone to desperate lengths to exclude her father that I know for a fact that This entire story of pedophilia is a convenient set up🔥 Walk with me down memory lane… • It was Jason Knauff, chief of communication of KP at the time, who exposed in High court, the emails correspondence between meghan and him, where she was planning to set up her own father by writing a "letter to daddy" that she would conveniently leak to the press, to "pull at public’s heartstrings", all the while accusing her father of leaking it. The goal was to use this reason to cut off her father and effectively ban him from her life and royal wedding, while blaming him as the reason and painting herself as the victim. So she wrote wrote a five-page letter, in Calligraphy no less, and sent it to her father and leaked a copy to People magazine of all magazines and the daily mail, of all newspapers😏 In her letter, she NEVER mentioned any pedophilia or abuse as the reason why she cut off her father. She actually mentioned the most selfish, vain and childish reason why she no longer want a relationship with him: she blames him for betraying her by giving interviews and staging photos that she felt embarrassed her. THAT is why meghan cut off her father out of her life, NOT pedophilia she has known since 2018, but because he did EXACTLY what meghan likes to do, give interviews, leak to the press and stage paparazzi photos; this is the crime that to meghan, Thomas has commited🤡 There was NEVER any story of pedophilia ever mentioned, until today. DO the math🤷🏽‍♀️ Another very telling proof that Meghan is lying is that back in 2018, the entire RF and Harry still expected her to invite her father to the Wedding. Thus, Meg had to invent the most desperate lie she could to convince Harry. And Dim Harry, wrote that embarrassing lie in Spare, exposing it to the world. In Spare, Harry accused Thomas Markle of abandoning his daughter at the altar and being a bad father because Meghan had told him that she had invited her father to the wedding, and even booked a flight for her father on "Air New Zealand, first class, booked and paid for by Meghan, from Mexico to UK".😵‍💫 Well my dears, that massive lie was exposed when the Airline itself tweeted, right after this lie was published in Spare that " Air New Zealand has NEVER operated flights between those 2 countries."🔥😂 I am asking you, if truly Thomas was a pedophile and that Meg had known all along, WHY would meghan need to invent such LIES when she had the perfect excuse all along? She wouldn’t. Meg’s own desperate actions are the proof that this entire story about the anonymous letter and the pedophilia is MADE UP by BOTH Meghan and her grifter of a brother.🔥 In 2025 when her father was amputated, Meg went through a circus and lied that she had been in communication with him, and checked on him, which was exposed as a lie by Samantha Markle. Then she lied she emailed him instead because she could not find a flight to the Philippines, absolute poppycock. Again, WHY would meg need to make up ALL these lies, if she could simply say he is a pedophile which is the perfect ammunition against him? Meghan LOVE to be the victim, she CRAVES public support and attention. WHY would she have sat on such a big story that could gain her support? Very simple. there is no story, Thomas lives in the Philippines. The one crime that is pervasive in the Philippines is child pornography, so that is the bandwagon she and tom jnr hopped on. Meghan Markle is a LIAR, a manipulator and she is a malevolent. Her actions NEVER match her words becaue all she does is lie and attempt to detroy the lives of the people she envied the most or the ones she feel are in her way. She did that to the RF, she did that to the Wales and their marriage, she did that to her own father, and eventually she will do that to Harry🔥 Well and so, stop troubling yourselves with these gimmicks for press attention. Knowing the Truth in every scandal and drama surrounding meghan is very simple: the Truth is ALWAYS the opposite of whatever meghan is saying☕️ #MeghanMarkleisALiar

— Canellecitadelle (@Canellelabelle) October 23, 2026

The letter appears to have marked the final breakdown of a relationship that had effectively ended in 2018, shortly before Meghan married Prince Harry.

Thomas Markle did not attend the royal wedding, citing health problems. His absence followed revelations that he had cooperated in staging photographs for paparazzi.

Meghan is Thomas Markle’s only daughter from his marriage to Doria Ragland. He has two other children, Samantha and Thomas Markle Jr, from his previous marriage to Roslyn Loveless, who died in 2024.

‘Why didn’t she give me the chance to defend myself?’

Thomas Markle said his daughter had never told him about the original complaint received by British police.

“Meghan never said a word to me about this letter accusing me of such terrible things. If she or anyone else had spoken to me in 2018, I would have had the opportunity to defend myself,” he claimed.

The 82-year-old questioned why his daughter had chosen not to ask him for an explanation and why it had taken so many years for the allegations to become public.

“Why didn’t Meghan ask me? If she saw this terrible letter in 2018, why didn’t she contact me or send someone to speak to me? She has the ability to go to the police or the FBI. Why did she wait eight years? Why did she shut me out of her life over a letter full of lies without allowing me to defend myself?” he asked.

Markle said he still hoped to see his grandchildren before he died, maintaining that his exclusion from the family was based on allegations he insists are false.

Markle’s son reports his own father: ‘I will never speak to him again’

A central figure in bringing the allegations to light is Thomas Markle’s 60-year-old son, Thomas Markle Jr, Meghan’s half-brother.

Speaking to Britain’s The Sun, he claimed to have discovered photographs and videos containing child sexual abuse material among personal belongings his father had left behind in the Philippines.

According to his account, he had been looking for a mobile phone for his fiancée, Rose, when he switched on one of the devices stored in boxes. He claims he then discovered images depicting the sexual abuse of children.

He subsequently switched on a computer and allegedly found that its screensaver displayed hundreds of sexual images involving children.

“When I found this material, I was horrified and had no choice but to report my father. I supported him, cared for him and helped him for years, but that stops here. I will never speak to him again unless I am called to testify against him,” he said.

Thomas Jr claims he informed the Philippine authorities and contacted the FBI in July.

On Friday, 23 October, police in the Philippines collected four boxes of items regarded as potential evidence.

According to the Mail on Sunday, officers spent approximately nine hours with Thomas Jr cataloguing the material.

‘If anything is found on my computer, someone else put it there’

Meghan’s father denies knowing anything about illegal material and has suggested that files may have been placed on his devices by someone else.

During his interview, he also appeared to cast suspicion on his own son, suggesting that Thomas Jr might have been responsible for the earlier letter containing allegations against him.

Thomas Markle explained that his electronic devices and personal possessions had been packed in Mexico and shipped to the Philippines when he decided to relocate there.

He and his son arrived in the country in January 2025, hoping, he said, to make a fresh start.

They initially stayed at a hotel in Cebu, where the boxes containing their belongings were stored. They later moved into a nearby high-rise building before relocating to two different properties outside the city.

The 82-year-old claimed that, despite repeatedly asking his son to return his computer, he never received it.

“I kept asking my son for my computer, and he kept telling me it was coming. He never gave it to me, and I couldn’t understand why,” he said.

Shortly after moving into his new home, Markle suffered a serious health emergency involving a major blood clot and was admitted to hospital.

He was subsequently transferred to a long-term care facility before returning to the United States in May 2026 for further treatment.

“I haven’t had my computer or phones in my possession for almost two years. If there is anything bad on them, somebody else put it there,” he claimed.

He said he wanted a full forensic examination of the devices to establish where any files had originated.

Samantha Markle defends her father: ‘I believe this is a set-up’

The 82-year-old has received support from his eldest daughter, Samantha Markle, who has taken on much of the responsibility for his care.

Samantha claimed that her brother had been in possession of the boxes containing their father’s computers and mobile phones, and that the items had been kept in storage facilities potentially accessible to other people.

“Thomas Jr had those boxes in his possession. They were in storage facilities, and who knows how many people had access to them. I believe this is a set-up,” she said.

She also addressed the photograph allegedly showing a man resembling her father with a young Asian woman.

Samantha suggested that, if such a photograph existed, it might show one of her father’s adult former partners.

She explained that her father had previously been involved with a Japanese woman named Carolyn, who was approximately 30 years old but looked considerably younger.

She also mentioned another former partner, Gail, who was of Asian descent.

Samantha stressed that her father was in an extremely fragile physical and psychological condition and described her brother’s actions towards him as cruel.

“My father is extremely fragile, both physically and mentally. I think what my brother is doing to him, now that he is 82 and probably nearing the end of his life, is unbelievably cruel,” she said.

Thomas Markle has suffered a succession of serious health problems, including strokes and the amputation of his left leg in December 2025.

He is currently living in a rehabilitation facility in Florida, where he is learning to walk with a prosthetic limb.

Philippine investigation, forensic examination and FBI involvement

Authorities in the Philippines have confirmed that an investigation is under way into allegations that Meghan Markle’s father possessed child sexual abuse material.

Deputy Justice Secretary Nicholas Ty told Reuters that a specialised unit dealing with human trafficking and the online sexual exploitation of children in Cebu was investigating the case.

Philippine Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla also confirmed that police had recovered a computer that was undergoing digital forensic examination.

According to remarks reported by Agence France-Presse, officers searching Thomas Markle’s former residence discovered material described by the authorities as sexual images of children, along with a laptop.

The results of the digital forensic examination are expected within approximately one week.

Authorities have stressed that any legal action will depend on whether sufficient evidence emerges to support criminal charges.

Meanwhile, the FBI has confirmed that it is aware of the allegations and will assist Philippine investigators where necessary.

The US agency has also indicated that it will examine any evidence suggesting possible violations of American federal law.

Thomas Markle has said he is prepared to cooperate with both Philippine authorities and the FBI if requested.

The investigation remains ongoing, and the allegations against him have not been proven.