Meghan Markle says a 2018 letter containing troubling allegations about Thomas Markle shaped her decision to protect Archie & Lilibet. Here is what it revealed

Meghan Markle’s decision to separate her father, Thomas Markle, from the prince, Archie, and the princess, Lilibet, is based on issues regarding the safety of the children and not the deteriorating relationship with her father. The letter with disturbing claims about her father was received by the British police before it was forwarded to her. Its presence and its handling have led to the recent scrutiny of a family estrangement before she got married to Prince Harry.

The Duchess of Sussex has claimed that the claims made her change her mind about interacting with her father.

Recent developments such as an arrest in the US add another important aspect to the story.

What did the letter about Thomas Markle reveal?

A person affiliated with the Markle family wrote it and addressed it to the Metropolitan Police. It reportedly contained pages of handwritten allegations about Thomas Markle's behaviour.

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While ITV has seen the letter, they decided not to release any of the allegations made in the letter and also did not name anyone mentioned in it.

The point is that the details of this letter have never been published publicly, and therefore these allegations can't be considered true.

In an interview with CBS News in October 2026, Meghan said that she knew about the letter since it was shown to her by the police. She stated in an official announcement that the letter contained very troubling allegations about her father, and she was reassured that everything in this letter was under investigation.

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Additionally, there is a problem with the dates. At first, Meghan mentioned that this letter was sent to her in 2018, while the Metropolitan Police stated that they received it in January 2019.

Why did Meghan Markle keep her father away from Archie and Lilibet?

Meghan has provided her own straightforward answer: she wishes to protect her children.

In her statement to the press, she pointed out that her intention to keep away from Thomas Markle and ensure that he does not come into contact with Archie and Lilibet has only one reason behind it.

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Timing sheds light on the matter as well, since Meghan and Harry got married in May 2018 and Thomas Markle did not attend their wedding, which meant that relations between the couple had deteriorated due to disputes and the media coverage of the event.

Archie was born in May 2019, while Lilibet came into this world in June 2021.

According to ITV News, Thomas Markle never even met his grandchildren before. As per Meghan's statement, there is more to the story than a dispute stemming from the wedding and her worries that appeared to her years ago.

To Meghan, it seems like a difference between a family dispute and a matter of protection since she has disputed attempts to depict it in the former light.

Did British police investigate the allegations against Meghan's father?

The Metropolitan Police confirmed that it received the letter in January 2019. It said the document was sent to its Protection Command because of concerns relating to the Duchess of Sussex's security.

The force reviewed the letter and passed it to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

However, it did not share the allegations with other law enforcement agencies, including authorities outside the United Kingdom.

ITV reported that the letter did not contain allegations of offences committed in Britain.

The Met has since reviewed its handling of the document and said it was considering whether a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct was necessary.

The issue is now one of institutional accountability as well as family history. If the letter contained allegations of possible criminal activity abroad, questions remain about why the information was not passed to relevant authorities at the time.

What has happened to Thomas Markle since the letter surfaced?

The story took another turn in October 2026 when information came out regarding an investigation into possible allegations of child sexual abuse involving materials believed to be found in Thomas Markle's home.

Meghan was upset about the allegations and feared for the welfare of any children affected by this scandal. Thomas Markle refuted the claims, saying they were baseless.

Thomas Markle was arrested on Friday in Florida by the federal government. There is a criminal complaint filed against him in US District Court in the Central District of California for possession of child pornography.

The FBI affidavit reveals that there were searches conducted in two storage facilities where slides, film negatives, and books were seized.

It is still an ongoing case and not a conviction yet. The presumption of innocence applies to Thomas Markle.

Is the 2018 letter the same as Meghan's private letter to her father?

This is an important differentiation that is often overlooked in the discussions of the Markle family controversy.

In August 2018, Meghan sent a confidential letter directly to her father regarding their relationship.

Later on, the letter became the object of the privacy and copyright lawsuit involving Associated Newspapers, which printed excerpts of it.

The letter at stake was written by someone else and sent to the Metropolitan Police regarding accusations against Thomas Markle and forwarded to Meghan.

The confusion between the two letters could distort the chronology of events. One letter was a personal message from a daughter to her father; the other was an accusation about a father that had reached the police department.

Thus, the reasoning behind keeping Thomas Markle away from his grandchildren is associated only with the second letter.

Further investigations could reveal more information about the accusations, but the main point is quite evident: according to Meghan, it was necessary to protect Archie and Lilibet rather than continue the family feud.