What did the Royal Family know and when?

[LifeIsTooShort247]

With everything that has emerged about Andrew and Epstein, and now the allegations concerning Thomas Markle, I think there are some much bigger questions about what the Royal Family and Palace officials knew, when they knew it, and what they did with that information.

We are looking at two very different situations involving serious allegations of sexual abuse. One concerns a member of the Royal Family itself, Andrew, and the other concerns the father of someone who married into it, Thomas Markle.
In Andrew's case, there are still so many unanswered questions about the extent of the late Queen's knowledge, the protection he received over the years and the role played by senior courtiers. Who knew what, how far back did that knowledge go, and who made the decisions about how matters were handled?

Now with Thomas Markle. What I find particularly interesting is that the Metropolitan Police have confirmed the letter was passed to the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in January 2019, rather than simply being handed privately to Meghan. At that time, Harry and Meghan were still part of the Kensington Palace household structure, which they shared with William and Catherine. Jason Knauf was communications secretary for both couples.

Given the seriousness and sensitivity of the allegations, surely it is reasonable to question whether the matter was discussed with senior Palace officials or brought to the attention of senior members of the Royal Family?

Who within the office received the correspondence? Who handled it? Was Jason Knauf aware? Were William and Catherine briefed? Did the Queen or her private secretary know anything about it?

We don't know the answers, and I'm not suggesting that everyone necessarily knew. But that is precisely the point.

The circumstances involving Andrew are different, but both situations raise questions about how sensitive information was handled within the royal institution.

What did the Royal Family know, when did they know it, and what did they do with that knowledge?

Surely these are questions worth asking of the institution with regards to both situations.

Well he was living in Mexico at the time. And the Daily Mirror was the tabloid that first tracked him down in Mexico 2017 and interviewed him.

If they had a potentially explosive exclusive from Loveless in 2019 I’d have expected them start investigating - talking to people who might be able to corroborate the allegations - following him to the Philippines etc etc

You know, investigative journalism?

Roslyn Loveless was singing Markle ant’s praises?

The Mirrors sold aim in tracking down Thomas and continually interviewing him seemed to be to write articles slagging off Meghan. It was nothing like investigative journalism.

Sorry I meant Megan Markle singing her father’s praises

Ah - the article I linked was the exclusive with Roslyn Loveless.

The only people on your list who Meghan was close to are Doria and Marcus, somehow I don’t think Meghan would be rushing over to Gatcombe Park to share a letter with Zara Tindall which claimed TS was a child abuser, I know posters are desperate to implicate anyone in the RF but seriously please can posters show a degree of common sense.

The Mirror’s sole aim is making money and an explosive exclusive exposing Thomas senior would have been something they’d have put resources into investigating.

What’s really interesting is that Christopher Bucktin who is the US Editor for the Mirror, not specifically a Royal beat reporter is the journalist who initially tracked Markle down in 2017 in Mexico, and who in 2019 got the exclusive with Roslyn Loveless where she talks about how awful he was as a husband and father.

He’s then written many articles about Meghan and the Markles - last one was in 2025.

He’s been awfully quiet with this latest development. I wonder if he’s in trouble with his bosses for letting the Sun scoop them. I’m sure someone is asking him whether Roslyn told him about the CSA claims in May 2019 seeing as she had written to the police about them five months earlier.

But it’s plural - Doria alone is not ‘some people close to us’

Apologies

I wouldn’t set much store by that - people often refer to plural people when they mean just one. I can’t imagine she’d tell anyone else, least if all the RF.

For example, have to ask a group of people to stop doing something which one person has complained about and I will say that ‘some people’ have complained - it’s more diplomatic in this case.

Yes, I laughed at the idea of Zara Tindall as well! Also Prince Philip? What, 98 or 99 and in poor health?
🤔

@BeLemonMoose
The royal protection force should have forwarded the letter as you state.
Thomas was in the US and then the Philippines. I don't see how the paper could have investigated whether Thomas had photos of child abuse in his house abroad.

Well, they were able to go to Mexico and locate a warehouse full of stuff...

Let's hope the IOPC goes into that, and that their findings are published full.

Lets hope we get more answers about other people's involvement with Andrew too especially with the new allegations around Balmoral visits.

Let's be honest - it's not really news that you want to share is it ?

Exactly. She would surely only tell those she felt she had to, or couldn’t avoid telling, and considering her antipathy to the RF, I just can’t imagine her wanting any of them to know. And H, if he was already feeling criticised for his choice of partner, is hardly going to volunteer this devastating information to William or Pa.

How did Meghan get to know Eugene in the first place?
And the tails of Meghan being a yacht girl.

I can't help think her Dad is mixed in with Epstien and Andrew.

One letter doesn't really scratch the surface of all that stuff. And it's not really in the mets jurisdiction, her Dad's American and none of the alleged offences will have happened in the UK.

The people she possibly told were her mum and Eugenie

Why would she tell Eugenie??

I think Meghan knew Eugenie before she knew Harry, I remember her saying that in an interview, and I think the Sussexes were very friendly with the York family?

I know lots of people from way back. There are some things I’d only tell my closest family - and then not ALL of them - about a terrible thing my father had done.

Ok. I'm just saying why she may have told Eugenie! Just an idea!

I’ve just had another thought, Cahandkin!

I didn’t know M knew E before she knew H.

Yet she made a point of asking “who that man was standing next to the Queen “. It was Andrew.

Pull the other one, Meghan!

There's a tension between her saying she told selected people (ie the possibility that your father is a paedophile is not for public consumption) and saying she wanted to go public with the information but was told not to (ie you actively seek a public audience).

I don’t believe she wanted to go public with this information at all. She’s had 7/8 years to say something or even allude to this situation with her father. Instead she chose to blame the media for this estrangement and Harry blamed it all on marrying into the RF.

Well it’s all shifting sands over the last few days and no idea why anyone would want to believe her in this instance when we know she has suffered from and demonstrated Mythomania throughout.

The only consistency with MM is that everything she does and says is 100% self serving, reactive and ill thought through.

The ‘who knew’ has evolved from day 1. Her statement to The Sun was all “I” … then this has moved to now include PH and ‘people close to them’ ….. she has left out TMs who she then told in 2025. This is the most egregious part for me - to give a heads up to the alleged perpetrator of sexual violence against children - so that he could have cleared any evidence, continued abusing and avoided prosecution.

She also has no idea if the RPO told anyone else within the RF machinery - I expect this will come through in the IOPC investigation.

Also she has no idea if any of the ‘people close to them’ told anyone else. Neither of the last two are her fault - but it depends what / if anything she was obligated to do by the Met whilst this was ‘under investigation’.