CLEMMIE MOODIE Have we misunderstood Meghan? Horrifying allegations against her father Thomas will feel like a thumping vindication
Clemmie Moodie , Assistant Editor, The Sun
Published: 12:08, 23 Oct 2026
THIS changes everything.
And maybe, just maybe, we all owe Meghan Markle a collective apology.
Thomas Markle and Meghan Markle smiling at her graduation.
This newspaper’s unimaginably grim discovery that Thomas is being investigated by police over a depraved stash of child sex abuse images is significant for a plethora of reasons Credit: James Breeden
That her father, a man everyone understood, on some level, was something of a wrong’un is not just wrong, but apparently beyond the absolute pale.
It was the late poet Philip Larkin in his 1971 ode This Be The Verse, who wrote, presciently: “They f* you up, your mum and dad”.
Now, similarly, it is crystal clear Thomas has done a world of damage to those in his orbit.
This newspaper’s unimaginably grim discovery that he is being investigated by police over a depraved stash of child sex abuse images is significant for a plethora of reasons.
Today, it explains so, so much.
Just why, for instance, she vehemently cut off her father, once her idol – as so many young girls place their dads on pedestals – from 2018 onwards.
This morning, Meghan shared an incredibly brave, honest and impactful statement with The Sun.
It also vindicates her – not that she will feel she needs vindication – and shows how she was quietly working with the authorities, behind the scenes, to seek justice.
Or, at the very least, away from the clutches of these poor kids.
For someone who has been accused, endlessly, of being some sort of rampant narcissist, she has put the children, the blameless victims, at the heart of her sentiment.
“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 writes.
“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.
“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.
“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.”
That nothing has happened until now must feel like the ultimate betrayal, from a woman already so frequently let down by the public.
More vile revelations may well follow. They are not for me to share.
But, again, they will likely garner Meghan immeasurable public sympathy.
At the heart of The Sun’s involvement in this unfolding situation is the exposing of wrongdoing, and bringing justice to light; to give a voice to the victims of this insidious area of child exploitation.
Meghan was informed on Thursday this story was breaking. She could have moved to stop it. She did not.
Again, this tells you a lot about the woman, one we may now assume has been misunderstood for a long time.
Be sure, though, that other horrifying details are sure to come out, but only Meghan should be able to share her side of this story, her story, if and when she wants to.
Naturally, Markle apologists have already come out swinging.
Incredibly, their “defence”, such as it is, is that he has not been in possession of any of the material for “a couple of years”.
This in itself is sick.
Meanwhile, the US-based family are reportedly “furious” about the allegations, insisting it is all a stitch-up job.
They claim Meghan’s half-brother, Thomas Jr, is an unreliable witness, simply “inventing” the story for nefarious reasons.
It takes a lot to shock our esteemed foreign reporter, Nick Parker, a man who has covered war zones across the land and witnessed unimaginable horrors, but he has been deeply upset by this investigation.
Of course, that 81-year-old Markle – who has denied the claims – has chosen to live in the Philippines, a country which Unicef and Save the Children estimated in 2022 that around one in five Filipino children are now at risk of sexual exploitation, is not a smoking gun.
Neither is the fact its President Bongbong Marcos has previously been forced to declare “all-out war” on child sexual abuse and the industry it has spurred.
Reportedly there are four boxes of evidence containing literally HUNDREDS of child sex abuse images.
We must now rely on the Philippines’ law enforcement officers to do their job, and get to the truth. And expose it, whatever it may be.
Among the material they are understood to be investigating is a 15-minute video of young girls, who appeared younger than 11, performing sex acts – alongside a number of still pictures of semi-naked kids.
His desktop was believed to be “full of row-upon-row of thumbnail pictures linking to the most sickening child abuse imaginable: The worst of the worst.”
Now, just imagine being Meghan Markle, one of the planet’s most famous women, a woman absolutely everyone seems to have an opinion on. Many of them unflattering, and deeply unkind.
Imagine finding out around the time of your wedding, one being played out on a global scale, that your father, someone whose DNA is supposed to make you feel safer and more loved than anyone, has done these things.
No wonder she blocked him from seeing the couple’s two beloved kids, Archie and Lilibet.
We are not privy to the precise machinations of what happened in the build-up to her Big Day on May 19th, 2018.
Because, until now, we have only had chequebook-loving Thomas’s version of events.
Famously, he has repeated the claims Meghan left him high and dry after two suspected heart attacks.
From these rounds of paid-for interviews, we have all inferred she cut him out because he was an embarrassment, not good enough for her new life of royalty and unimaginable privilege. He didn’t fit the mould.
Now, we must question it all.
Critics – myself included – have been quick to knock the Duchess.
That Oprah interview, Harry’s tell-all memoir, the return to Instagram, the cosy YouTube chats and the saccharine Netflix series’, all seemed designed to inflict maximum damage on an already vulnerable and arguably slightly archaic Royal family.
And, to be clear, Meghan has made mistakes. She HAS inflicted damage and hurt.
But then again, haven’t we all? Isn’t that what it is to be human?
Unarmed with all the facts, certainly I accused her of deserting one side of her family, thinking she was ashamed of them.
Now we know she WAS ashamed – but for very, very different reasons.
Meghan, I am sorry.