Metropolitan Police to Audit Handling of 2019 Letter on Thomas Markle

The Metropolitan Police will conduct a formal review of how it processed a 2019 letter containing allegations against Thomas Markle, the father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. A Scotland Yard spokesperson confirmed the existence of the document to CBS News on Saturday. The review will determine whether the force refers itself to the independent police watchdog.

Police stated that the letter, which contained a number of claims, was forwarded to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for their awareness. The specific details of the allegations were not shared with other law enforcement agencies at that time. This confirmation follows reports published this week that Markle was reported to authorities in the Philippines by his son, Thomas Markle Jr.

The Sun reported on Thursday that the younger Markle found child abuse materials in storage boxes at a family home in the Philippines. By Friday, reports indicated that Philippine authorities were dealing with Markle over alleged possession of child sexual abuse materials. The Daily Mail reported on Friday that Markle had denied the allegations.

In a statement sent to CBS News on Friday, Meghan described herself as deeply distressed by the reports. She stated that she had known of the allegations since 2018 and that they were shared with U.K. authorities at that time. Her statement noted that a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection in 2018 and subsequently shared with her. She said she was given assurances that the troubling allegations against her father were being investigated.

Meghan also explained that she had kept her distance from her father to protect her children. She said she hoped it could now be understood that her decision not to allow him contact with the children had one reason, which was to protect them. She attributed the differing timelines to media distortion over the years.

The two accounts differ on the date of the letter, with Meghan referring to 2018 and Scotland Yard to 2019. A spokesman for the duchess addressed this discrepancy in comments to BBC News, stating that any gap of a few months was an understandable consequence of the passage of time. The Metropolitan Police has now opened the process to audit its own handling of the complaint.