Met Police Confirm 2019 Letter About Meghan's Father

London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed on Saturday that they received a formal complaint in 2019 regarding Thomas Markle, the father of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. A spokesperson for Scotland Yard told CBS News that the document contained a series of specific allegations. The force stated that they forwarded the letter to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex so the couple would be aware of its contents. Notably, the specific details within the complaint were not shared with other law enforcement bodies at that time.

This official confirmation comes after a flurry of media coverage earlier this week. Reports emerged on Thursday indicating that Markle had been reported to authorities in the Philippines by his son, Thomas Markle Jr. The younger man allegedly discovered storage boxes at their family home that contained materials linked to child abuse. By Friday, it was reported that Philippine officials were addressing Markle over the alleged possession of such materials. The Daily Mail also noted that Markle denied the accusations during that same period.

Meghan issued a written statement to CBS News on Friday expressing that she was deeply distressed by the recent news cycle. She noted that she had been aware of these allegations since 2018. According to her account, the claims were brought to the attention of U.K. authorities at that earlier date. She explained that a letter was sent to the Metropolitan Police and the Royalty and Specialist Protection unit in 2018. That document was later shared with her, and she was assured that an investigation into the troubling and disturbing allegations against her father was underway.

The duchess also addressed her limited contact with her father in the statement. She said she had kept her distance to shield her children. She expressed hope that the public would now understand that her decision to limit his access to the kids had one primary reason: to protect them. She noted that this goal persisted despite what she described as distortions in certain media publications over the years.

A key difference exists between the two accounts regarding the timeline. Meghan referred to the letter being sent in 2018, while Scotland Yard identified the receipt date as 2019. A spokesman for the duchess commented on this gap for BBC News, a partner of CBS News. He described the discrepancy of a few months as an understandable consequence of the passage of time.

Moving forward, the Metropolitan Police have announced they will review how the matter was handled in 2019. As part of this internal process, they will determine if they need to refer the case to the police watchdog for further examination.